Beavers open at Crookston

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

Sept. 5, 1998

By Devlyn Brooks

The BSU Beavers football team will open its 1998 campaign on the road today versus the University of Minnesota-Crookston Eagles.

The Eagles, presently an NAIA school, will join the ranks of Division II's NSIC conference next year, meaning BSU and UMC will soon be conference foes.

Today's match-up will be the first in what both schools hope to be a budding rivalry, according to head coach Jeff Tesch.

Both schools are hard at work developing some type of promotional traveling trophy that could be fought for in future years -- much like the battle ax that BSU and Moorhead State compete for annually. This season will mark the 50th anniversary of that competition.

"It's a natural with (Crookston) only an hour and a half away," Tesch said Friday in an interview. "We want to start something to get their town and ours involved."

The Eagles return a lot of experienced talent from a team that qualified for the NAIA playoffs last year and averaged 28 points per game.

Sporting a balanced offensive attack -- averaging 176.8 yards on the ground and 138.9 yards in the air per game last year -- BSU's defense will have its hands full.

The Beavers are fortunate that UMC's starting quarterback, Scott Strohmeier, moved on. However, much of the Beavers' success will depend upon how well they stop UMC's All-American tailback, Mark Olsonawski. He gained nearly 1,500 yards in 1997, while compiling 19 touchdowns.

"Anytime you're a playoff team, you're a good football team," Tesch said about UMC. "Their tailback will get yards, but you don't want him to have a big day."

Tesch said UMC's three-year head coach Scott Oliver won't do anything fancy offensively today, but he will pound the ball. BSU's front line could see Olsonawski carry the ball 30-35 times. So they will need to plug up the holes.

On the Beavers side, Tesch said his team is healthy with no major injuries to his starters.

In fact, he added, the team's skills have progressed further, at this point in the season, this year year than they did last year.

Tesch said the two squads are quite evenly matched. So the Beavers will have to keep turnovers to a minimum and maximize special teams opportunities.

"We've got to take care of the ball," he said.

The Beavers, who ranked last in the conference in offense last year, need to produce this year to win. And the hope is that junior college transfer Ben Morie of Santa Rosa (Calif.) Community College will provide the added spark.

Morie passed for more than 1,300 yards and 11 touchdowns last season as he led his team to a 7-4 record. He is scheduled to start for the Beavers today.

BSU must also have a solid performance from returning tailback Chris Meyer who is BSU's first 1,000-yard rusher in more than a decade.

He is so explosive that he gained 214 yards and one touchdown against Northern State University in BSU's 25-22 late-season upset victory over NSU.

A good ground game by Meyer could relieve tremendous pressure from newcomer Morie.

Kickoff at Ed Widseth Field in Crookston is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.