Regional favorites off on the right foot
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 Photo by Tom Dahlin Half a game from Blake Elliott was enough. |
Defending IIAC champ Central found itself in a soaking wet, defensive tug-of-war with Augustana as the teams combined for three points — luckily for Central, the points all belonged to them. After Troy Hocker split the uprights with 3:43 to go in the first quarter the teams proceeded to put zeroes on the scoreboard and divots in the drenched field for the remaining three quarters. The teams, up to their ankles in mud, combined for only 345 yards of total offense as steady rain became a torrential downpour and turned the field into a sponge. It wasn’t a pretty game but after losing to Augustana 34-14 in 2002 it sent a message that the Dutch are ready to retain their IIAC title.
This week’s Central/Buena Vista game will be played at Southeast Polk High School as Central’s field will need every minute from now until Oct. 4 against Simpson to “heal” from the beating it took on Saturday.
As the rains pounded Iowa, Linfield soaked up the west coast sunshine and a record-setting day from quarterback Tyler Mathews to defeat Redlands 49-10 — the second straight loss for the 2002 SCIAC conference champion. He completed 23 of 37 passes for 452 yards and five touchdowns — a new Linfield record. Matthews surpassed 4,000 career passing yards while moving up to No. 4 all-time on the Linfield passing chart. He now has 4,166 career passing yards. Overshadowed in Mathews’ brilliant performance was the loss of All-American defensive back Ray Lions who fractured the cervical vertebrae in his neck during a tackle in the third quarter. The Wildcats will likely dedicate the remainder of the season to Ray and use his knowledge of the game from the sidelines in Week 3 as they battle Southern Oregon, ranked No. 4 in the NAIA.
Punt, Pass and Kick...
Or is it Run, Pass and Catch?
With only 26 active players on the roster (two are currently injured), the Macalester Scots will look for extraordinary performances from their returning players to get the Scots in the win column for the first time in 2003. On Saturday, they received just that from junior quarterback Adam Denny in their 49-20 loss to the Lewis & Clark Pioneers at Macalester Stadium. In front of over a dozen friends and family from his hometown of Preston, Minn., Denny found the end zone three times in three different ways. In the first quarter, he found running back Matt Munson for a 7-yard touchdown. Later, in the third quarter he ran in a 1-yard touchdown to cut the Pioneer’s lead to 20-14. Finally, in the fourth quarter he handed off to running back David Kruger for a sweep to the right. Kruger broke right, stopped, planted, and threw a 13-yard strike to Denny as he sprinted left toward the end zone for a touchdown. Denny finished the day with 251 yards passing. It’s performances like these that Macalester will need to have a chance to duplicate its 5-5 record from 2002.
PLU comes out cold for Frosty
In the first game of Frosty Westering’s final season at PLU, the Lutes came out cold against Azusa Pacific and found themselves down 14-0 before reaching the end zone with ten minutes to play in the 3rd quarter. PLU won the total offense battle with 407 yards to 299 yards but lost two fumbles, were sacked twice, intercepted twice and went 0-3 on fourth down conversions, losing 21-12. It was a dismal start to Westering’s final season at PLU where he has led the Lutes to a 255-68-5 record in 31 seasons including the 1999 NCAA Division III National Championship with a 42-13 victory against Rowan.
Hey Aaron, he likes it!
It wasn’t Life cereal but Aaron Stinar liked the first annual Malt-O-Meal sponsored “Cereal Bowl” as St. Olaf knocked off Carleton for its first win of the season. Stinar scored three touchdowns helping St. Olaf retain the Goat Trophy — the traveling trophy between the two intra-town rivals. As the title sponsor, the Northfield-based cereal company distributed free hot and cold cereal samples to both team’s fans.
Not the original gameplan
Whitworth defeated Montana Tech 20-3 despite piling up 17 penalties for 145 yards and being out gained in total offense 280-221. Matt Geeter’s 71-yard interception return for a touchdown made up for the Pirates lack of offense and mental discipline.
Stat Line of the Week
Bethel senior defensive lineman Scott Wessman, out of Urbandale, Iowa, stuffed the defensive stat blotter in just about every way possible Saturday in Bethel’s 40-6 defeat of St. Thomas. He accumulated five tackles, four tackles for loss, three passes broken up, one sack and one interception for a 24-yard touchdown to open the scoring for the afternoon.
Conference Games of the Week
MIAC — Bethel at Concordia-Moorhead, Moorhead, Minn., 1 p.m. CDT: MIAC fans have predicted all season that Concordia and Bethel will push St. John’s for the conference crown. Both teams have opened 2-0 with impressive wins and each is looking to get the early leg up on the other. This early season match-up is gonna be a doozy up der near Fargo eh? You betcha!
IIAC — No. 14 Wartburg at Cornell, Mount Vernon, Iowa, 1 CDT: Cornell likes to score points — 63 in their season opener against Colorado College. Wartburg likes to shut out teams — 47-0 over Peru State in their opener. So, what happens when an irresistible force (Cornell’s offense) meets an immovable object (Wartburg’s defense)? Make your way to Mount Vernon and you may just get your answer.
SCIAC — Redlands at Cal Lutheran, Thousand Oaks, Calif., 1 PDT: Redlands looks to right the ship on a season that is slowly sinking as the Bulldogs take on Cal Lutheran in the first conference game for both teams. Last year’s SCIAC champions have been beaten badly in their first two games and will need to capitalize on their first conference game in what seems to be a wide open conference for a 2003 automatic playoff berth.
NWC
The NWC will battle non-conference opponents in week three looking for answers to several questions. How will Linfield respond against Southern Oregon after Lions’ season-ending injury? Can PLU get on the scoreboard in the first half and get Westering his first win of his last season? Will Whitworth be the first team to knock off Menlo?