After a tough loss against the Bemidji State Beavers last week, the Warriors returned home to face Minnesota State University – Moorhead at Maxwell Field on Saturday. 

“Sometimes the result makes you not see some of the stuff you should see,” Head Coach Brian Bergstrom said. “There’s plenty of good stuff that happened against Bemidji so we need to point out how we hurt ourselves.” 

This week’s game was focused on mental health awareness, highlighted by the players wearing green wristbands and fans dressed in green. 

All the football coaches are mental health first aid certified by Professor Connie Metille, who teaches classes in the health sciences department and brought the Green Bandana Project to Winona State’s campus. 

The Green Bandana Project was founded at the University of Wisconsin – Madison back in 2016 to bring awareness to suicide prevention and mental health awareness.  

The bandana is tied onto backpacks to signify that those with it have taken a pledge to be a resource for those struggling. The pledge includes rejecting stigma and supporting those around them, as well as actively being familiar with resources both nationally and locally that can offer further support. 

“Obviously our goal is to win games,” Coach Bergstrom said, “but our purpose is to impact their life positively. How they play impacts their life, how they are in the classroom impacts their life, but really who they become as a man and as a person impacts their life the most and a huge part of who they’re becoming as a man is their emotional and mental health.”

This past summer, the Winona State community lost David Holien who struggled with his own mental health, proving just how important it is to recognize and acknowledge that men struggle as well and to break the stigma.  

“I think it’s definitely a special game you know,” second-year kicker Jacob Scott said. “I’m glad we could dedicate it to that and bring more awareness to it.” 

Scott had quite the game on Saturday going four for four on field goals totaling over 40 yards, becoming the first kicker in Winona State history to do so and the sixth Warrior kicker ever to hit four attempts in a contest.  

The game brought an easy and much needed 40-7 win over the Dragons with the Trevor Paulsen – Kyle Haas quarterback duo going 267 yards for passing. The longest pass of the day was from Paulsen to Cooper Nelson for 37 yards and Haas had the only passing score for the team with a toss to Nick McCabe.  

Mitch Snitker and Luc Leszczynski led the team defensively with Snitker totaling 203 yards and seven tackles while Leszczynski had back-to-back sacks.  

“I just want to win games,” Snitker said. “Stack wins on top of each other at the end of the year, be right there for the playoffs.” 

Fifth-year Corrie King collected two tackles for loss and a sack.  

Overall, the team stepped up on both ends of the ball for an impressive win for a 3-1 record going into week five of the Fall 2022 season. 

“It’s harder to get better when something goes well because it was a more enjoyable outcome,” Coach Bergstrom said. “That’s the human nature we got to fight against. So that is where we want to grow between week four and five the most.” 

The Warriors stay home next week to face Wayne State, who sits 4-0, in the tackle cancer game at Maxwell Field. Watch Snitker, Leszczynski and Scott in action at 1 p.m. on Oct. 1 or tune in on KQAL 89.5.