BEMIDJI, MN – Facing an opponent pursuing a conference championship and a playoff opportunity on a windy and snowy day, Danny Kittner and Logan Nelson continued their assault on the University of Mary and the Northern Sun record books in the season finale. The Marauders had another spectacular day offensively but Bemidji State University wasn't to be denied their chance to claim the NSIC title with a 62-40 win over visiting UMary.
 
Kittner finished the day with 19 catches for 284 yards and four touchdowns, all single game school records for the Marauders. The junior wideout broke his own record for receptions (17) that he established in the opening game of the season. The receiving yards broke Neil MacDannald's record of 254 in 1996. He tied Tyler Steffan's touchdown record on the final play of the day, a feat Steffan accomplished twice in 2011.
 
Entering the day needing 111 yards to reset the Northern Sun single season record for receiving yards, and Kittner broke the mark in spectacular fashion. The junior wideout established a new standard when he laid out fully extended in the end zone for a 23 yard scoring strike on the opening drive of the second half. Kittner finished the season with 1,723 yards and 18 touchdowns on 128 receptions. He broke the NSIC mark catches in a single season last week in the Marauders victory over Minot State University in the Battle for the Paddle.
 
Additionally Kittner completed his lone pass of the day for a 32 yard completion.
 
Nelson threw for 465 yards and a record-tying six touchdown passes, completing 32 of 54 pass attempts without an interception. The six scoring passes equaled a mark he tied earlier this season that was previously established by Paul Cronin in 1994 and twice by Zach Roberson in 2014.
 
In a battle all day with Bemidji State quarterback Brandon Alt for the NSIC single season record for passing yardage and passing touchdowns, Nelson would claim the yardage record by finishing the season with 3,732 yards. The old mark of 3,582 was set by Augustans's Trey Heid in 2016. Nelson also equaled Heid's touchdown record of 41 from the same season but Alt threw for five scoring passes on the day and finished the season with 43.
 
Nelson additionally broke the Marauders single season record for passing attempts (436) and completions (283), marks previously held by UMary head coach Craig Bagnell. Nelson had broken the passing yardage and touchdown mark earlier in the season.
 
Luke Little closed out his career with another tremendous performance. The NCAA all-divisions leader in touchdown catches caught two more scoring strikes to build his team-record to 20. Little finished just one receiving touchdown short of tying the NSIC single season mark. The senior wide receiver wrapped up the day with 134 yards on 9 catches.
 
A fast start by the Beavers forced the Marauders to play from behind all game. Bemidji State scored on their first two possessions and had a 13-0 lead before Nelson connected with Kittner on a 61 yard scoring strike late in the first quarter. The Beavers tacked on two more scores before Little hauled in an 18 yard touchdown pass with 1:52 left in the first half as UMary closed within 27-14 at intermission.
 
The Marauders came out of halftime on a mission, driving 81 yards on five plays to close within 27-20 on a 23 yard diving grab in the end zone by Kittner.
 
With the momentum now on the Marauders side, Will Blewett forced a fumble that was recovered by Devyn Charles at the UMary 26 but a controversial offensive pass interference call forced the visiting team to punt.
 
The Beavers took advantage of the opportunity and scored on their next two possessions. An 11 yard touchdown catch by Kittner allowed UMary to pull within 41-27 but Bemidji State's Hameed Oyedele returned the kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown. Both teams scored two more touchdowns each to wrap up the 105 point game.
 
The Marauders (4-7 overall, 3-3 NSIC North) finished the day with 27 first downs and 509 yards of offense, 497 coming in the passing game. Bemidji State (9-2, 6-0) had 30 first downs and 695 yards of offense.
 
Kittner, who leads all NCAA players in receptions, receiving yardage and all purpose yards, finished with 352 all purpose yards.
 
Charles led the Marauders with 13 tackles and a fumble recovery. Tylen Small had nine tackles and Williams Federson added eight.
 
Alt completed 23-of-40 passes for 435 yards and 5 TDs to pace BSU. Sage Booker ran for 155 yards. Brendan Beaulieu had 10 catches for 212 yards and 3 TDs while Malik Williams added 6 catches for 118 yards and 2 TDs. Sammy Byrd had two sacks.
 
The Marauders four wins are the most for the program since 2014. UMary also doubled its win total from 2019 behind one of the nation's most prolific offenses. The Marauders led the Northern Sun in passing (358.5 yards/game) and was 5^th in total offense (456.3 yards/game) and scoring (34.7 points/game).
 
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