Pomerenke: Four takeaways from Bemidji State's spring game against MSU Moorhead

Apr. 18—BEMIDJI — For the first time in this century, the Bemidji State football team and MSU Moorhead met without the Battle Axe on the line.

That's because Saturday's spring game at Chet Anderson Stadium was an exhibition, giving both teams six eight-play possessions instead of a traditional Green and White Game.

Conditions weren't ideal — 35 degrees and 20-plus mile-per-hour winds. However, many players were happy to get back on the field and get a few hits under their belt.

"It felt good just to get them pads cracking," junior Michael Watkins said. "(Just) get out there, get my feet wet and just be out there with the guys. We've been working day in, day out, and now that we get to come out here together, just put it together — it's crazy. I'm glad where we're at."

MSU Moorhead started a pair of redshirt freshmen quarterbacks, while BSU let Bart McAninch, Connor Carver and Augustana transfer Mack Molander take the majority of the possessions.

Here are four takeaways from Saturday's spring game.

After being a strength for the first half of the decade, the Beavers' defensive line took a dip in performance last season, partly due to youth and inexperience.

Now with a year under their belts, linemen like Joey Funderburk, Tay Rice and Dom Frost — all of whom are sophomores — made an impact Saturday afternoon. They stifled the MSU Moorhead running game and got to the Dragons' QBs for phantom sacks (QBs wore red non-contact jerseys).

However, the player head coach Brent Bolte was most impressed with was linebacker Eli Klimek, a freshman who redshirted last season.

"It starts with Eli. That was probably the piece that we were missing last year," Bolte said. "(We) also had good corner play. So I think you saw the two things that were maybe weaknesses last year, I think that could be strengths for us this year. That was really encouraging."

BSU had four QBs in action for Saturday's spring game: freshman Louis Bucksa, McAninch, Carver and Molander.

Outside of Bucksa, each QB has collegiate-level experience, a luxury offensive coordinator Jordan Heim didn't have last season.

"Throughout the whole spring, I thought we've had a lot of positives from the quarterback room," Heim detailed. "The nice part about this spring compared to last year is three of our four guys have in-game experience, which is so valuable getting those live bullets. ... Now we've got to keep pushing each other and getting better this summer."

McAninch, a sophomore who took over as the starter in the latter half of 2025, led two drives for BSU. His first drive happened to be the Beavers' best, reaching the red zone before hitting their eight-play limit.

While he threw an interception in his second drive, McAninch's experience in the pocket was apparent in the scrimmage. He threw completions into tight windows and made sure everyone was on the same page pre-snap.