Box Score Valley City State fell to Minot State 38-7 Thursday night in its season opener as Minot's Carson Chrisman totaled 133 rushing yards and four touchdowns to lead the Beavers to victory.

VCSU opens the season at 0-1 while Minot State starts 1-0 for the first time in more than 15 seasons.
 
Minot State scored on its first four possessions to build a 24-0 lead Thursday. The Vikings then stopped MSU on its next possession as VCSU forced an Evan Lovett fumble that was recovered by Gavin Gerhardt with 1:52 to play before halftime. The Vikings could not convert and went into the half trailing 24-0.
 
Coming out of the break, the Vikings forced a three-and-out to gain possession early in the half. VCSU used its next drive to score its only touchdown of the game on a 39-yard connection from Noah Chambers to Dominic Sotomayor. 
 
The Viking defense forced another quick punt, and Chambers delivered another drive. A throw behind tight end Trent Finney was pushed in the air and picked off. The Beavers answered with a Chrisman touchdown run to hold a 31-7 advantage.
 
The Vikings wouldn't give up late in the game, converting two fourth downs to find first-and-goal at the Beaver eight-yard line, but a Beaver blitz forced a Chambers throw that was picked off in the endzone. Minot State tacked on another Chrisman run for the final score.
 
VCSU finished with 266 yards of total offense. Chambers was 15-for-31 with 181 passing yards, 41 rushing yards, one touchdown and two interceptions while Avery Thorsgard went 2-for-3 and totaled nine passing yards.
 
VCSU's Gavin Gerhardt led the defense with 14 tackles including one TFL and a fumble recovery. Loke Iese finished with eight tackles and Micah Olson, Levi Olson, Armani Smith, Georgia Mageo and Malachi Torres each totaled seven. Smith and Torres each added a TFL for VCSU.
 
Minot State totaled 416 yards of total offense, all of which were rushing yards. Evan Lovett led the Beavers with 139 rushing yards in the game and scored one touchdown. Carson Cayko totaled six tackles and three TFLs for the defense, while Myzel Williams added six tackles and an interception for MSU.
 
UP NEXT: VCSU travels Minneapolis, Minn. next Friday to face Augsburg University. Kickoff is slated for 8:00 p.m.