Twenty four hours on the road, and a win to show for it.

The Wildcats held off Minot State in a 20-17 victory on Saturday afternoon at Herb Parker Stadium in Minot, N.D. Junior running back Ryan Ludlow carried a majority of the offensive load, rushing for 106 yards and scoring two touchdowns.

As usual, the defense did their part, holding Minot to only 11 rushing yards in the contest. Kicker Tyler Lindsay was a perfect 2-2 on the day, booting field goals of 37 and 27 yards.

The Wildcats are now 2-2 overall while the Beavers remain winless at 0-4 on the season.

Minot State opened the scoring late in the first quarter on a 25-yard field goal from Brian Gutierrez for a 3-0 lead with 1:52 to play in the quarter.

Following the Minot State field goal, the Wildcat offense made a statement, scoring on their next three possessions.

Marching the ball 59 yards on eight plays, Ludlow capped off the drive lowering his shoulder on the one yard line, plunging into the end zone for a 7-3 WSC lead with 13:16 to go before halftime.

After forcing a Minot State punt, the Wildcats drove 58 yards on 10 plays with Ludlow scoring again, this time pounding the ball in from the 2 yard-line, putting the ‘Cats in front 14-3 with 7:32 left before halftime.

After another defensive stop, the Wildcats moved the football from their own 24 to the MSU 20 before settling for a 37 yard field goal by Lindsay, giving WSC a 17-3 lead at the 2:34 mark of the first half.

In the third quarter, Minot State forced WSC to punt on four consecutive possessions.

Minot used a big pass play to pull within one score midway through the third quarter.

Junior quarterback Zac Cunha connected with Glyn Borel on a 76-yard strike, trimming the Wildcat lead to 17-10 with 7:35 to play in the third quarter.

The Wildcats put together a drive early in the fourth quarter, covering 73 yards on 10 plays until Lindsay booted his second field goal of the game, this one from 27 yards out, to put WSC ahead 20-10 with 11:04 remaining.

Minot State scored later in the fourth quarter to pull within 20-17 followed a 20-yard pass play from Cunha to Borel with 4:19 to play.

The Beavers stopped the Wildcats on the next series and got the ball back at their own 15 yard line with 4:05 to play.

After a 17-yard pass to Borel that put the ball at the MSU 32, Wayne State’s Zach Bierman forced a big fumble on a Cunha run with Bierman recovering the ball at the Minot 26 yard line with 2:25 to play.

After the Beavers stopped WSC on the first two plays giving the Wildcats a 3rd and 8 from the Beaver 24, Ludlow ran for 12 yards to give WSC a first down at the Beaver 12 and WSC ran out the clock to preserve the 20-17 win.

Wayne State outgained Minot State 365-336.

The Wildcats had 148 yards rushing and 166 passing while MSU had just 11 yard rushing and a deceiving 325 passing.

Ludlow led the WSC ground attack with his second straight 100 yard game, finally recovering from a hamstring injury that had plagued him since the season began.

Ludlow was impressive, finishing with 106 yards on 26 carries and two touchdowns.

Freshman Lane Yates added 34 yards on nine attempts.

Sophomore quarterback Zach Osborn was 19 of 35 passing for 217 yards.

His favorite target was senior Cole McDaniel, who statistically had another great game with eight catches for 131 yards.

Adam Stark and Brian Kent contributed with three catches apiece for 25 yards.

Senior linebacker Nick Monzu paced Wayne State defensively with seven tackles and one pass break up.

Junior defensive back Jon Davis added six tackles with one sack for seven yards.

Junior linebacker Zach Bierman had a huge forced fumble and fumble recovery while junior linebacker Nathan Scott added an interception.

The Wildcats will be at home next Saturday, hosting No. 20 Winona State for Homecoming at Cunningham Field in Wayne starting at 1 p.m.