ST. GEORGE, KS (MSU) – The Minot State Beavers fell 7-6 in a 10-inning matchup to the Emporia State Hornets on Sunday, just missing out on the series sweep. Sophomore Tim Carlson (0-1) came out of the bullpen for Minot State (3-1 overall) and took the loss. Junior Gage Yost was a bright spot for the Beavers, starting the ballgame and throwing six innings, giving up three runs, two earned, on six hits, with two walks and seven strikeouts. At the plate, the Beavers were paced by senior Derek Kay, who went 2-for-5 on the day with two home runs and three RBI. Junior Gunnar Kozlowitz compiled a standout performance at the dish as well, going 2-for-4 with a home run, a walk and an RBI. Junior Javier Gutierrez also helped out for Minot State, putting together two hits in four trips to the plate while adding a home run, a walk and an RBI.

 

Trailing 1-0, the Beavers first put runs on the board in the second inning. Kozlowitz put Minot State on the board with a leadoff home run off sophomore Ian Lanik. The score stayed at 1-1 until the fourth inning, when the Beavers put runs on the scoreboard once again. Minot State scored twice on solo home runs from Kay and Gutierrez, which brought the score to 3-1 in favor of the Beavers. Emporia State narrowed Minot State’s lead to 3-2 before the Beavers stretched the advantage to 4-2 in the sixth inning. The Beavers picked up a run on junior Mark Ossanna’s two-out RBI double. The Hornets fought back, closing the gap to 4-3 until Minot State added some insurance in the eighth. The Beavers scored twice on Kay’s two-run homer, bringing the Minot State advantage to 6-3. The Beavers were unable to hold the lead, as Emporia State scored four times over the remaining two innings to grab the 7-6 win.

 

The Beavers continue a two-week, season-opening road trip through Kansas playing a single game at Washburn on Wednesday, then starting a four-game series at Newman on Thursday.

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MINOT STATE SOFTBALL

 

LUBBOCK, Texas (MSU) – Minot State was on the wrong side of a dominant pitching performance Sunday as senior Taylor Franco threw a no-hitter with five strikeouts for Lubbock Christian, leading the No. 21 Chaparrals over the Beavers 5-0. Sophomore Reegan Floyd (2-2) started and took the loss in the circle for Minot State (5-4 overall). Freshman Calley Olson was a bright spot out of the bullpen, going two shutout innings while allowing one hit, walking one and striking out one. Minot State now returns home to host its second Bubble Invitational of the season on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, opening the action at 5 p.m. on Friday hosting Bemidji State in a non-conference contest.

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NFL-SUPER BOWL 57

 

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes was magical when the Kansas City Chiefs desperately needed him to pull off another Super Bowl comeback. Playing on an injured ankle, Mahomes threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter and scrambled 26 yards on the go-ahead drive before Harrison Butker kicked a 27-yard field goal with 8 seconds left to give the Chiefs a 38-35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night. The Chiefs won their second NFL title in four years and two-time NFL MVP Mahomes earned his second Super Bowl MVP award. “I thought guys just embraced the moment,” Mahomes said about rallying from a 10-point halftime deficit. “In that first half, we were playing and doing some good stuff, but I felt like the guys were getting consumed by everything around us.”

Mahomes and Jalen Hurts excelled in the first Super Bowl matchup featuring two Black starting QBs. But Mahomes turned it up in the second half after reaggravating a sprained right ankle. “It took everybody to win the game,” Mahomes shouted as red and yellow confetti littered the field. Coach Andy Reid, who couldn’t win the big game in Philadelphia, beat his former team to earn his second ring with Mahomes and the Chiefs. “We wanted to get this so bad for him,” Travis Kelce said. “His legacy in Philly lives on forever. … There’s a lot of pride in knowing that he’s had success in two different organizations, but this was the better one.”

 

With the score tied at 35-35, the Eagles tried to let the Chiefs score a touchdown with under two minutes left so they could get the ball back after a defensive holding call on cornerback James Bradberry on third-and-8 gave Kansas City a first down. But Jerick McKinnon slid at the 2, forcing the Eagles to use their last timeout. “It was holding. I tugged his jersey. I was hoping they would let it slide,” Bradberry said. After Mahomes took a knee twice, Butker nailed his kick, sending thousands of red-clad Chiefs fans into a frenzy. “It feels amazing just to see the confetti,” said Butker, who missed a 42-yarder in the first quarter. “I just tried to focus on one kick and focusing on the process.”

 

The Chiefs won their second Super Bowl following the 2019 season, 50 years after the first one. Mahomes led them back from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter against San Francisco in that one. It took just three years to get another Lombardi. Chiefs fans were outnumbered in the stadium, but did their part to silence the boisterous Philly fans with the tomahawk chop chant. Down 24-14 with a limping Mahomes, the Chiefs (17-3) followed up halftime with a sensational offensive outburst. Mahomes, who suffered a high ankle sprain in the divisional round, hurt it again on a 3-yard scramble late in the second quarter. He limped off the field but showed no ill effects on Kansas City’s next possession. “I knew it was pretty bad when he got up limping but I knew it wasn’t gonna be bad enough to where he was gonna pull himself off the field,” Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy said. “If we would’ve pulled him off, I would’ve had to fight him. He would’ve probably fought me. And so it wasn’t worth entertaining.”

 

Mahomes slipped — several players lost their footing on the natural grass surface — in the pocket yet somehow regained his balance and scrambled 14 yards to the Eagles 4, setting up Isiah Pacheco’s 1-yard TD run that cut the deficit to 24-21. Mahomes then tossed a 5-yard TD pass to a wide-open Kadarius Toney to give Kansas City its first lead, 28-27, early in the fourth quarter. After the Chiefs tightened up their defense, forcing Philly to punt, Toney returned a line-drive kick 65 yards to the Eagles 5 for the longest punt return in Super Bowl history. On third down from the 4, Mahomes connected with Skyy Moore to extend their lead to 35-27. Moore also was wide open on the play.

 

But the Eagles wouldn’t go away. Hurts hit DeVonta Smith for a 45-yard gain to the Chiefs 2 and ran in for his third score of the game. He also ran in for the 2-point conversion to tie it at 35-35 with 5:15 to go. As “Fly! Eagles! Fly!” reverberated throughout the stadium, Mahomes and the Chiefs went back to work. The 27-year-old Mahomes became the third player to win his second NFL MVP award before age 28. He also became the youngest QB to start three Super Bowls. Mahomes finally broke the MVP curse, becoming the first player to win the Super Bowl the same season after nine straight players lost.

 

Just five years after winning the first Super Bowl in franchise history, the Eagles (16-4) came close with a different coach and new quarterback. Nick Sirianni replaced Doug Pederson in 2021 and Hurts took over for Carson Wentz in late 2020. Hurts set a Super Bowl record with 70 yards rushing and tied a record with three rushing scores. He also threw for 304 yards and one TD. “We use this pain, we use this failure to motivate us so we can make it a strength,” Sirianni said. Hurts, who missed two games late in the season with a shoulder injury, had TD runs of 1 and 4 yards in the first half along with a 45-yard TD pass to A.J. Brown. But Hurts also made a rare mistake when he fumbled without being hit while scrambling away from pressure. Nick Bolton picked it up and raced 36 yards for a score that made it 14-14. Hurts had just eight turnovers this season, six picks and two fumbles.

 

Mahomes finished 21 of 27 for 182 yards with three TDs and no turnovers. He ran for 44 yards. Mahomes connected with Kelce on an 18-yard TD pass in the right corner to tie it at 7-7 in the first quarter. The Chiefs’ All-Pro tight end and Eagles All-Pro center Jason Kelce became the first set of brothers to play against each other in the Super Bowl. Their mom, Donna Kelce, wore a half-red, half-green jersey with No. 87 on the front for Travis and No. 62 on the back for Jason. She sat in a suite between NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Damar Hamlin. Eagles fans turned State Farm Stadium into a sea of green, chanting “E-A-G-L-E-S!” and singing the team’s fight song after each score. But they left disappointed.

 

Reid won more games than any coach in team history during 14 seasons with the Eagles but the one knock against him was that he couldn’t win the big one. Reid finally earned his ring in his seventh season with the Chiefs. They went back the next year and lost to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Reid, who turns 65 next month, ended any speculation about his potential retirement. “If they’ll have me, I’ll stick around,” he said. The first Super Bowl involving both No. 1 seeds since the Eagles beat the Patriots 41-33 in February 2018 lived up to its hype. It was the third-highest scoring Super Bowl and the Eagles scored the most points by a losing team.