The Spartans took a 7-0 lead with 9:25 left in the first quarter when Frederick Brown hauled in a 5 yard TD pass from Nate Hayden and Carsen McKnight drilled the extra-point kick.  Central Lakes cut the lead to 7-6 on a 4 yard TD pass from Matt Torres to Jackson Ackerman, capping an 8 play, 64-yard drive.  Brown then had an 84 yard touchdown reception from Hayden and the McKnight PAT kick put the Spartans in front 14-6 just prior to the end of the first quarter.

In the third quarter Central Lakes pulled even on a 77 yard pass to Tucker Schultz from Torres and a two-point conversion pass from Torres to Justin Miller.

Rondarius Gregory put the Spartans back on top with an 8 yard run McKnight’s third PAT kick made it 21-14 with 11:10 remaining in the game.  With 6:51 to play Hayden connected with Rick Groce on a 49 yard TD pass and McKnight booted the extra point to put the final at 28-14.

“This is the first time since 2003 we have been 2-0 and have beaten Central Lakes," said M State Head Coach Cory Miller.  "It’s very difficult to win in Brainerd which speaks volumes about the mental toughness of our players.  Fred Brown and Jallah Zeze both came up with big plays for us on offense and we added another three interceptions on defense.  Logan Burress and Will Derrick have been doing a tremendous job up front pressuring the QB and allowing us to have chances to get interceptions."

M State had 403 total yard with 339 coming through the air and 64 on the ground.  Hayden completed 23-of-38 passes for 339 yards and three touchdowns.  Leading receivers were Brown (5 catches, 97 yards, 2TD’s), Gregory (5 catches, 59 yards), Groce (4 catches, 107 yards, TD) and Zion Dove (4 catches, 36 yards).  Gregory led the rushing attack with 65 yards on 19 carries.

Central Lakes quarterback Matt Torres was 16-for-32 for 267 yards and a pair of touchdowns.  His leading receivers were Jake Moe (5 catches, 70 yards and Noah Foster (5 catches, 15 yards).  Anthony Richmond was the top ball carrier for the Raiders with 12 attempts for 33 yards.

M State had 3 pass interceptions on the day, bringing their season total to seven through the first two games.  Deshawn Carter, Alieu Conteh and Joey Demarco each had a pick in the game.  Logan Burress led the team with 7 total tackles, including a sack-and-a-half.  Cheo Trotter had half-a-sack.  The Spartan defense held Central Lakes to no rushing yards on 22 attempts.

"Even with the win I still don’t feel like we have put 4 quarters together," added Coach Miller.  "We still have foolish penalties and didn’t finish a couple drives that should of ended up in points.  We gave up a couple explosive passes that allowed them to stay in it.  I’m excited to get back to work and fix these issues and look forward to hosting a very good NDSCS team on Saturday!”

M State has a home game on Saturday, September 11 at 1:30pm against NDSCS.