For the first time in almost two seasons, the Wayne State College football team won a game at home.

The Wildcats opened the 2014 season with a 35-13 win against Bemidji State University Saturday afternoon at Bob Cunningham Field. It was their first win at home since Sept. 29, 2012.

The Wildcats kicked the ball off to start the game, winning the toss and trusting the defense to get an early stop.

They did just that, giving the offense great starting field position.

The WSC offense got on the Beavers early, with 11:08 to play in the first quarter, redshirt freshman running back Alex Kline found the end zone on a 13-yard carry.

WSC scored again at the end of first quarter as Chad Koch hit the hole on the three yard line, pounding it into the end zone, giving WSC a 14-0 lead starting the second quarter.

Bemidji State didn’t back down, however, as they put together a pair of lengthy drives in the second quarter to get back into the game. Redshirt freshman quarterback Jordan Hein connected with Evan Olson on a 24 yard scoring play at the 11:51 mark of the second quarter.

The Beavers scored again with 3:43 left in the quarter when Hein threw a 32-yard bomb to Brady Schmidt to make the score 14-13 after Shawn Barker blocked the extra point kick.

WSC scored right before half as sophomore quarterback Zach Osborn connected with senior receiver Cole McDaniel on a 28-yard deep ball in the end zone. With just 39 seconds remaining in the half, the Wildcats jumped out to a 21-13 lead going into halftime.

The Wildcats took over the game in the second half, refusing to be stopped.

The offense put together a flawless 91-yard drive, chewing up almost seven minutes of the clock.

Zach Osborn found senior tight end Joe Trouba for a 1-yard touchdown pass to cap off the drive.

WSC closed out the scoring with 3:30 to play in the game as Koch rumbled in from the two yard line to make the final score 35-13.

Wayne State had 357 yards in the game compared to 327 for Bemidji State.

The Wildcats had 104 on the ground and 253 through the air.

Osborn completed 16 of 26 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Wildcat aerial attack.

His top receiver was McDaniel with seven catches for 123 yards and one score followed by Adam Stark with three receptions for 91 yards.

Kline and Rashad Trimble each had 39 yards rushing to lead the Wildcat ground attack while fullback Tyler Johnson added 24 yards on four attempts.

Defensively, senior linebacker Nick Monzu had eight tackles followed by junior linebacker Nate Scott with seven stops.

Senior defensive end Jeff Van Den Top had seven tackles and 3.5 sacks with one pass breakup and one quarterback hurry.

Jon Davis and Tyson McGill each had one interception.

Wayne State will be on the road for the first time next Saturday, visiting St. Cloud State in a 3 p.m. contest.

It’s been awhile between home wins
This is a list of events that have happened in between Wayne State football’s home victories (Sept. 29, 2012 to Sept 6, 2014).
–Two Super Bowl champions have been crowned (Baltimore Ravens and Seattle Seahawks).
–A gallon of gas averaged out at $3.87 the week of WSC’s last home victory.
–All of the dorms on the Wayne State College Campus gained Wi-Fi connectivity.
–The Wayne State women’s rugby team has won two National Championships.
–The Winter Olympics and the men’s World Cup were played.
–Since Sept. 29, 2012, the Wayne State football team only won four games, all on the road, out of 16 total games.
–Wayne State’s incoming freshmen were in their junior year of high school.