North Dakota

ACU Football: North Dakota State rallies past Abilene Christian in Round 2 of FCS Playoffs

Published

1 month ago

December 8, 2024

ACU Football: North Dakota State rallies past Abilene Christian in Round 2 of FCS Playoffs

The Abilene Christian Wildcats hit the road for the second round of the FCS Playoffs and thrived early on in one of the nation’s toughest road environments.

The Wildcats quickly pounced on NDSU to seize a 14-point lead by the early second quarter, but the Bison rallied behind senior quarterback Cam Miller.

Miller and the Bison scored 31 unanswered points, as No. 2 North Dakota State cemented its comeback with a 51-31 win over Abilene Christian in the second round of the FCS Playoffs on Saturday afternoon at the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota.

The Bison (11-2) advance to the quarterfinals with the victory — their 15th consecutive quarterfinals appearance — where they will host No. 7 Mercer. NDSU also improved to 36-1 all-time in home playoff games.

The Wildcats (9-5) seized the momentum during the first quarter when they stopped North Dakota State in the red zone and held NDSU to a field goal on the opening drive of the game.

Led by quarterback Maverick McIvor, who was sidelined for ACU’s 24-0 first-round playoff victory against Northern Arizona, Abilene Christian rattled off back-to-back touchdown drives to end the first quarter ahead 14-3.

But the Wildcats struggled to hold onto the ball, coughing up a fumble on a strip sack on the opening drive of the second half and tossing two costly fourth-quarter interceptions.

Miller and North Dakota State’s offense couldn’t be stopped in the second half either.

The Bison scored touchdowns on four straight possessions from the end of the second quarter to the end of the third. Miller completed 20 of 29 passes for 274 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.

McIvor threw for 153 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions on 20-of-32 passing for Abilene Christian. Senior running back Sam Hicks led the Wildcats with 153 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 16 carries.

Game-changing plays

ACU jumped ahead early thanks to its success on pivotal plays.

The Wildcats converted two of three critical third-down situations during their opening drive and hit on a fourth-and-short attempt, too, which allowed McIvor to find JJ Henry for a 13-yard touchdown pass.

On the first play of ACU’s next possession, Harris found a hole and took off down the sideline for a 90-yard touchdown run to end the first quarter.

Abilene Christian padded its lead again when junior defensive end Kaghen Roach picked off a screen pass — his first career interception — that set up Ritse Vaes’ 29-yard field goal to put ACU ahead 17-3 with 10:35 left in the second quarter.

North Dakota State’s Jackson Williams returned the ensuing kickoff 100 yards to ignite an explosive 31-0 run for NDSU.

The Bison offense found the end zone for the only time in the first half when Miller connected with RaJa Nelson for a 6-yard touchdown pass to enter the half with a 20-17 lead over Abilene Christian.

North Dakota State scored touchdowns on each of their third-quarter drives. The Bison stripped and recovered a fumble when they sacked McIvor to start the third quarter and later scored on a 1-yard touchdown run by Miller.

Miller threw 30- and 36-yard touchdown passes on NDSU’s next two possessions to give the Bison a 41-24 advantage by the start of the fourth quarter.

The Wildcats fought to claw their way back into the game late with back-to-back second-half touchdown drives that cut North Dakota State’s lead to 41-31 with 11:11 remaining.

The Bison, however, picked off two passes during the final four minutes and sealed their victory with a 31-yard interception return touchdown by Logan Kopp with 3:25 left.

They said it

Abilene Christian head football coach Keith Patterson: “It was about what we expected. We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game that was going to go for 60 minutes. … If you had told me before the game that we’d hold them to 100 yards rushing, I thought it’d probably be a different game. But at the end of the day, we just made too many mistakes to be able to win against an opponent like North Dakota State with the history and tradition they have. They’re a challenge to stop offensively. You had to load the box to stop the run, but then you create problems for yourself on the back end. Hats off to them, they made plays when they had to.”

Abilene Christian quarterback Maverick McIvor: “I knew we weren’t going to change. We like to throw the ball a lot. And anytime you throw the ball a lot and you turn the ball over three times, I think it’s really hard to win, especially on a team like that of that high of a caliber. We knew that it was going to be a hard-fought battle and anytime we turn over the ball three times, it’s going to be really, really hard to win.”

Up next

Abilene Christian wraps up a historic 2024 campaign with Saturday’s loss.

After nearly knocking off Texas Tech in overtime on the road in its season opener, ACU won nine games — a new program record at the Division I level — and finished the year with a 4-2 record against ranked FCS opponents.

The Wildcats won the United Athletic Conference championship, their first conference title since 2010 and the program’s first since moving to DI, and clinched a berth and the No. 15 national seed in the playoffs for the first time in school history.

Abilene Christian dominated its playoff debut with a 24-0 shutout of Northern Arizona in Abilene. The Wildcats will return to action when ACU kicks off the 2025 season on the road against Tulsa on Aug. 30, 2025.

Second Round – FCS Playoffs

North Dakota State 51, Abilene Christian 31

Abilene Christian 14 3 7 7

North Dakota State 3 17 21 10

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Quarter

NDSU – Griffin Crosa 21-yard field goal GOOD; 8:52

ACU – Maverick McIvor 13-yard touchdown pass to JJ Henry (Ritse Vaes kick GOOD); 2:45

ACU – Sam Hicks 90-yard touchdown run (Ritse Vaes kick GOOD); 0:00

2nd Quarter

ACU – Ritse Vaes 29-yard field goal GOOD; 10:35

NDSU – Jackson Williams 100-yard touchdown kickoff return (Griffin Crosa kick GOOD); 10:24

NDSU – Griffin Crosa 37-yard field goal GOOD; 5:58

NDSU – Cam Miller 6-yard touchdown pass to RaJa Nelson (Griffin Crosa kick GOOD); 0:21

3rd Quarter

NDSU – Cam Miller 1-yard touchdown run (Griffin Crosa kick GOOD); 10:38

NDSU – Cam Miller 30-yard touchdown pass to TK Marshall (Griffin Crosa kick GOOD); 6:08

ACU – Sam Hicks 3-yard touchdown run (Ritse Vaes kick GOOD); 3:23

NDSU – Cam Miller 36-yard touchdown pass to Bryce Lance (Griffin Crosa kick GOOD); 0:40

4th Quarter

ACU – Rovaughn Banks, Jr. 2-yard touchdown run (Ritse Vaes kick GOOD); 11:11

NDSU – Griffin Crosa 24-yard field goal GOOD; 3:34

NDSU – Logan Kopp 31-yard interception return (Griffin Crosa kick GOOD); 3:25

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North Dakota

North Dakota edible bean farmer hosts international visitors to his farm

Published

6 hours ago

January 9, 2025

Press Room

North Dakota edible bean farmer hosts international visitors to his farm

Building international connections is an important aspect of the agricultural industry.

This year, farmer

Rudy Dotzenrod

hosted visitors from the Big Iron International Visitors Program to his farm to showcase his crops and Reinke irrigation systems.

Rudy Dotzenrod leads members of the Big Iron International Visitors Program around his farm.

Jed Brazier / Northarvest Bean Growers Association

“They were looking for a place to kind of showcase some of their swing-arm technology at the end of their pivots,” Dotzenrod said. “I’ve got a couple of them here, so they wanted to come.”

There were visitors from all of the world, including Turkey, Guatemala and Africa.

“We bring in anywhere from 50 to 150 international visitors every year,” said Lindsey Warner, deputy director of the North Dakota Trade Office. “The goal of that is, first and foremost, have agriculture machinery buyers learn more about North Dakota, our agriculture, our agriculture practices, the machinery that’s manufactured here.”

They got to see every part of the farming operation.

“I took a lot of them, and we walked around the farm, we went to different buildings and we looked at all sorts of different kinds of machinery, you know, from getting the ground ready, to planting, to spraying it, to harvesting it, just kind of looked at everything,” Dotzenrod said.

With Dotzenrod also being a black bean grower, that was beneficial to the visitors from Guatemala.

“They were very interested in irrigation and black beans,” Warner said.

2024 Dotzenrod ND Trade Office Visit (20 of 22).jpg — While members of the Big Iron International Visitors Program were interested in Rudy Dotzenrod’s edible bean production, they were more interested in corn when they visited in September 2024.

However, most were interested in his corn production.

“I was kind of surprised, I thought there may be a few more questions on edible beans, but it was mostly in corn,” Dotzenrod said.

Bringing international visitors directly onto the farm is a big part of the tour.

“We live in a global world. A lot of the commodities that are produced within our state are exported outside of the U.S., so I think it’s really beneficial for people to see where their food is coming from, whether they are North Dakotas or they are international consumers of these products” Warner said.

“People kind of want to know where their food is coming from, you know, and if they can try and put a face on that or an environment, that gives them a better understanding of where it’s at,” Dotzenrod said. “A lot of this is beyond the economics of it. It’s relationship based. If they feel like they’re buying something from somebody they like, I think it makes it a lot easier for them to go ahead and do that.”

Ariana is a reporter for Agweek based out of South Dakota. She graduated from South Dakota State University in 2022 with a double major in Agricultural Communications and Journalism, with a minor in Animal Science. She is currently a graduate student at SDSU, working towards her Masters of Mass Communications degree. She enjoys reporting on all things agriculture and sharing the stories that matter to both the producers and the consumers.

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North Dakota

North Dakota bill seeks to put the Ten Commandments in every classroom

Published

14 hours ago

January 9, 2025

Press Room

North Dakota bill seeks to put the Ten Commandments in every classroom

FARGO — A bill has been introduced at the North Dakota Legislature requiring a new addition to every public classroom in the state: the Ten Commandments.

House Bill 1145 is proposing the display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom and every higher education classroom. That goes for all state educational institutions and public schools.

Ultimately, what’s being proposed is that the text of the Ten Commandments would be placed in every classroom, but some are worried about the message that would send to students and their families.

Those behind the bill claim North Dakota’s Constitution was based on values that derive from the Ten Commandments.

“It just seemed not only important and necessary, and it just kind of dovetailed into being able to put the Ten Commandments back into the public square,” Sen. Jose Castaneda, R-Minot, said.

And while North Dakota’s newest legislative session just got underway, the topic is not new to the state.

A similar discussion took place in 2021 in North Dakota, passing through the state House and Senate, but that bill didn’t require the text be posted. And the Ten Commandments monument in Fargo has long stirred controversy.

Castaneda argues placing the text of the Ten Commandments in every classroom will instill North Dakota’s values in children.

“It’s important for everyone to be able to see them, and where do children spend their time? It’s in the classrooms,” he said.

The commandments would need to be displayed on an 11-by-14 inch poster, and the state Board of Higher Education would be allowed to spend money to purchase the displays.

“To get a high degree of something, there needs to be a lot of repetition, and where children receive that on a daily basis — in the classroom,” Castaneda said.

But some are worried about whether the bill violates the separation of church and state section of the U.S. Constitution.

“Public schools are not Sunday schools, and they are not for religious instruction,” Cody Schuler, the North Dakota advocacy manager with the ACLU, said.

Those against the proposal say the words of the U.S. Constitution should matter in this discussion.

“Really, by the state putting into law mandating one particular version of a religious document, it is showing preference, and that would be a violation, in our opinion, of the separation of church and state,” Schuler says.

The bill has yet to be assigned to a committee.

A bill with similar language was passed last summer in Louisiana before being struck down by a federal judge.

A lawmaker in South Dakota is also proposing the Ten Commandments be posted and taught in public schools.

Isak Dinesen joined WDAY-TV as a reporter in September 2024. He previously worked as a multimedia journalist at WAOW-TV in Wausau, Wisconsin for three years. He graduated from NDSU in 2020, majoring in Journalism and minoring in Sports Communication at MSUM.

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North Dakota

North Dakota K-12 schools affected by nationwide cyber breach • North Dakota Monitor

Published

22 hours ago

January 8, 2025

Press Room

North Dakota K-12 schools affected by nationwide cyber breach • North Dakota Monitor

A nationwide cybersecurity breach has affected software used by North Dakota public schools, North Dakota Information Technology confirmed Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if any North Dakota student or teacher data was exposed.

The state agency has asked North Dakota principals, teachers and families that use the program PowerSchool to change their passwords.

All North Dakota public schools use PowerSchool to manage student data including enrollment, attendance, scheduling, transcripts and more, according to the NDIT-EduTech website.

The breach — which is still under investigation — affected one of PowerSchool’s customer support portals. The company has since secured the portal, and has found no evidence of ongoing unauthorized activity, according to information NDIT provided to school districts.

North Dakota Information Technology is working with PowerSchool to evaluate the scope of the data breach, the state agency said.

The state has cut off access to the portal as of noon Wednesday to anyone not using the state’s network.

North Dakota Information Technology will provide another update on the incident on Jan. 17 by noon.

Updates also will be posted to the NDIT-EduTech website.

PowerSchool initially discovered evidence of the incident on Dec. 28, according to NDIT.

“We have taken all appropriate steps to prevent the data involved from further unauthorized access or misuse,” PowerSchool said in a statement to the North Dakota Monitor. “The incident is contained and we do not anticipate the data being shared or made public.”

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