When head coach Brian Bergstrom was hired in January as the new leader of the Winona State football program, the mantra around the weight room, locker room and practice field was to take each day, each workout, each meeting, one a time. The goal? To go 1-0 each day, regardless of the task at hand.  

On Saturday, Winona State made the 620-mile trek to Minot State looking to make good on that plan in the 2022 season - and after enduring one of the longest trips in the NSIC to open the year - WSU defeated MSU 24-10 to go 1-0 on the young season.

The host Beavers drew first blood on the scoreboard after a Winona State fumble led to a first-quarter touchdown by the home team.  Minot State gambled on an unusual decision to go for two points, converted, and put Winona State down 8-0 in the first quarter.

Fortunately, Winona State responded with a touchdown of their own when Cooper Nelson hauled in a six-yard pass from Trevor Paulsen following a 13-play, 75-yard drive, and after Jacob Scott added the PAT, Winona State was down just 8-7. 

And then, Ty Gavin got going.

After a Minot State punt pinned WSU in the shadows of their own goalposts, the Beavers looked poised to begin writing a week one upset story. But, Gavin thought otherwise, reeling off an 81-yard run over the left side of the Warrior line, both a key play in the contest and a marker of things to come on the day for the sophomore from Niles, Ill., who missed much of the 2021 season through injury. 

Winona State notched the only TD of the second quarter for either team, when Darryl Williams scored on a 4-yard run, claiming the first rushing TD of his career and his third score overall at WSU. The 14-8 lead marked a turning point in a game that - up to that point - had been a back-and-forth affair with both teams hamstrung by turnovers. 

As the first half ended, Winona State quarterback Paulsen ran a two-minute offense almost to perfection, leading to a Jacob Scott 26-yard field goal as time ran out in the second quarter, giving the Warriors a 17-8 lead heading into the locker room.

Following the break, both teams were stymied on their opening drives of the third quarter. After the two teams traded stops, Winona State suffered a safety, when a long snap sailed over punter Tristan Root's helmet and into the end zone. Root made a heads-up play however, scrambling back to cover the football and surrender just two points, rather than allowing MSU to recover the football and score a touchdown. MSU's Isaiah Bigby was credited with the safety. 

However, Winona State turned the special team's table in the third quarter, buckling down to hold MSU scoreless on a goal-line stand and then smothering a short field goal attempt by the Beavers. The defensive stop was one of the plays of the game, with WSU snuffing out what could have a momentum-builder for the hosts.

Almost immediately, Winona State transferred the energy from the big goal-line stop into offensive output, marching down the field to score a touchdown through Tyler Anderson on a jet sweep, moving the scoreboard to 24-10 in favor of the Warriors.

In a game that featured some unusual moments, quarterback Trevor Paulsen pulled off a pooch punt in the early part of the fourth quarter, pinning the Beavers deep in their own half with 11 minutes left in the contest. That gutsy call, combined with a solid three-and-out effort from the WSU defense on the ensuing drive, put the Warriors in the driver's seat for the remainder of the game.

Although Winona State missed a 40-yard field goal attempt with just over six minutes to go in the game, Minot State was unable to convert after a well-orchestrated drive following the missed kick, as Winona State held the Beavers scoreless in the late stages of the game with another goal-line stop. 

Once Winona State earned the ball back on downs, WSU ground out the rest of the fourth quarter, and the game, claiming the 24-10 road victory. 

On offense, Winona State was led by Ty Gavin with 159 yards rushing, a significant chunk of it coming on his 81-yard first-quarter rumble. Trevor Paulsen was 13-for-26 passing on the day, yielding 148 yards in the air with one touchdown and one interception. As a team, WSU accrued 364 yards in total offense. Three of the four Warrior scoring drives came were of 75 yards or longer, allowing Winona State to control the clock, as well as put points on the scoreboard. 

Defensively, Winona State was led by Clay Schueffner with 17 tackles, a single-game career-best performance. One of Schueffner's biggest stops was on a goal-line stand in the third quarter when he met a Minot State ball carrier at the line of scrimmage and drove him to the turf to deny what looked to be a certain Minot State score.  The 17 tackles in a game is one more than the 2021 NSIC season-high mark of 16 stops in a game achieved last year by Brendan Kutterer of MSU-Moorhead against Northern State.  Overall in the game, the Winona State defense held MSU to 261 total yards.

On special teams, Jacob Scott was 1-for-2 on field goals, hitting from 26 yards out but missing from 40 yards, and was perfect on his three PAT's.  Root accumulated 168 yards on five punts, while Paulsen's surprise effort was a 45-yard punt, pinning the Beavers inside their 20-yard line. 

For head coach Brian Bergstrom, the victory notches his first career win, having previously served for the past 17 years as an assistant coach at South Dakota State, Augustana University and Gustavus Adolphus.  In a game determined by several key decisions in big moments, Bergstrom and his staff moved the Warriors to 1-0 in an impressive fashion. 

Winona State (1-0-0 Overall | 0-0-0 NSIC South) will open the home portion of their 2022 schedule when they host the University of Mary on Saturday, Sept. 10 in Altra Federal Credit Union Stadium.  Kickoff between the Marauders and Warriors is set for 1 p.m. on Maxwell Field.