Box Score
ARDEN HILLS, Minn.- Bethel University shut out Buena Vista Saturday afternoon to earn their third straight victory over the Beavers. The Royals scored two touchdowns in the second quarter and held the visiting Beavers to only 161 yards of total offense, giving them the 13-0 win.
The Royals finished with an impressive 385 yards of total offense in which 287 of that came on the ground. With All-American running back Phil Porta out with an injury, Jared Bangs made his starting debut for Bethel, rushing for 131 yards on 28 carries. Bangs was paired with freshman Dusty Wahl who rushed 10 times for 61 yards while quarterback Ben Wetzell rushed 14 times for 78 yards one touchdown. Wetzell also complete 13 of 23 passes for 98 yards. Nate Porter was the Royals leading receiver finishing with five receptions for 32 yards and also rushed twice for 16 yards and a touchdown. The Bethel offensive line showed why it may be the best in the MIAC, as they helped the team to an overall 5.0 yards per carry and a time of possesion that was almost 14 minutes more than that of Buena Vista.
Bethel opened the scoring in the second quarter on a 10-play 91-yard drive that was capped of by a 24 yard Ben Wetzell jaunt to the end zone. Bethel added another touchdown on their next possession as Nate Porter bulldozed his way in for the score finishing the 9-play 73-yard drive on a 14 yard run. Kris Pulford added one of two extra point attempts making the score 13-0 going into halftime.
The story of the second half was the Royal defense as they concluded a dominate performance by stiffling the Beavers rushing game to -36 yards on 18 carries. The Bethel defense forced Buena Vista to five three-and-outs and only allowed two drives that totalled more than 20 yards. Senior linebacker Kirby Carr led the Bethel defense with six tackles including two sacks, and 2.5 TFL, while Ryan Herm finished with five tackles and two pass break-ups. Nathan Holm also added a late interception and broke up two passes. The Royal defense ended the day with six sacks and nine tackles for a loss while only allowing Buena Vista nine first downs and held them to 2-12 on third down conversions.
Buena Vista was led offensively by quarterback Chris Hawkins who threw for 197 yards and one interception on 16 of 31. Cody Pierce led all defenders with 18 tackles including one TFL, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
Bethel will now travel Saturday to Indianola, Iowa to face the Storm from Simpson College while the Beavers will take on Central College. It will be the first meeting between the Storm and Royals as Bethel looks to go undefeated in their non-conference schedule. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.
