MESABI -- Mesabi Range made all the plays it needed to on Saturday.
Hosting Minnesota West in a college football game, the Norsemen scored a touchdown late to tie the game and found the end zone in overtime as MR edged the Bluejays 27-21.
"The defense scored for us again -- which was huge -- for the first score of the game by either team," MW head coach Jeff Linder said. "Our offense started off sluggish again. The defense got us some turnovers and got us back on the field with some three-and-outs. But we just didn't get it done."
MR's Avery Walker scored an eight-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter, and after the PAT, the score was knotted at 21-all.
MW had the ball first in overtime, but a critical sack on third down put the Bluejays in a bad position.
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Without allowing a score, the Norsemen went back to work on offense.
Steven Mitchell scored on a six-yard run, sending MR to the 27-21 victory.
"We were holding them for a bit," Linder said. "But then they broke it off our right edge and put it in for the touchdown."
The Bluejays (2-2) scored first in the game.
Tavaras Poindexter forced and recovered a fumble for a touchdown and after an Octavio Jimenez PAT, had a 7-0 advantage.
Mitchell answered with a one-yard plunge, tying the game at halftime.
Then, MW started with the big plays.
Quarterback Teddy Joseph found Marcus Jenkins for a 38-yard touchdown strike and later completed a 74-yard pass to Trayon Nash for a touchdown.
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However, Mitchell had a four-yard score in between and Walker found pay dirt late in the game as MR used the momentum for a non-divisional victory.
Joseph completed 11 of 25 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw three interceptions.
Jenkins caught two passes for 47 yards, while Richie Haycraft (two catches, 23 yards) and Storm Soto (three receptions, 12 yards) each had receptions for MW.
However, the Bluejays running game never got going.
The Bluejays finished with a mere 43 yards on 35 attempts. Joe Harris, MW's leading rusher, had 25 yards on 14 carries.
"We don't understand that," Linder said "The type of defense they were running and what we were doing to them, there shouldn't have been any reason why we weren't able to run the ball."
MR had 287 total yards, while West had 204.
Defensively, Dan Knips had two-and-a-half sacks and 11 total tackles, while Poindexter had a team-best 12 tackles. James Wright had an interception for the MW defense.
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The Bluejays will return home on Saturday as Northland visits Worthington for Homecoming.
MW 7 0 7 7 0 -- 21
MR 7 0 0 14 6 -- 27
