The Racers came up short to the North Dakota Fighting Hawks Saturday night despite a promising first half.

North Dakota was the first on the scoreboard with a 37-yard field goal. Jayden Johannsen quickly answered with a 58-yard drive through the right side of the field, resulting in a touchdown and putting the Racers up 7-3. 

Within the next four minutes, both teams had put another score under their belts, starting with North Dakota passing 73 yards for a catch by Bo Belquist on the Murray State 31-yard line. Belquist ran in the ball for North Dakota’s first touchdown. Q’Darryius Jennings then scored the third touchdown of the quarter, putting the Racers up 14-10. Jennings’ 65 yard touchdown was Murray State’s longest scoring run since 2016. A 3-yard run for a touchdown from the Fighting Hawks with 14 seconds on the clock closed out the quarter, leaving the Racers down 14-24. 

Despite being in possession of the ball for a third of the second quarter, Murray State only made it to the endzone once. Jawaun Northington completed a one-yard run to score the touchdown. The Fighting Hawks followed up with three touchdowns and a 21-yard field goal to finish the third quarter up 65-28. 

A 17-yard pass from Jameson Holcomb allowed Marcus Floyd Jr. to secure Murray State’s final touchdown in the last minutes of the game, wrapping the game up with North Dakota beating the Racers 72-35. 

Kicker James London had a perfect night following Murray State’s five touchdowns. Tyson Meiguez led the defense with seven tackles, four of which were solo. Meizuez is the first Racer to reach 30 tackles this season. Johannsen gained 87 rushing yards with Jennings not far behind at 78 yards. These two were the biggest contributors to Murray State’s total 268 yards, which is a season-high. 

Murray State plays their next game on Oct. 5, hosting South Dakota at Roy Stewart Stadium. The Racers will kick off at 2 p.m. for their second Missouri Valley Conference game of the season.