Tommies, Knights ignore script
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The St. John’s Johnnies traveled to archrival St. Thomas to likely trounce an overmatched Tommie team in their quest to get coach John Gagliardi his collegiate-record tying 408th career victory. The Tommies were coming off a surprising 17-14 loss to Augsburg — a team St. John’s beat 63-9 just the week before.
“What’s the line on the game, Johnnies by nine?” a Tommie fan asked me. “Nine touchdowns,” he said as he chuckled at the answer to his own question. It was clear, even to some Tommie fans that the script called for a Johnnie drubbing.
Few fans would disagree that the St. Thomas football program has had a difficult season trying to replace a slew of first team all conference performers and an All-American. It seemed they’d have a snowball’s chance in hell of staying with the mighty Johnnies who had plowed through their regular season to a 7-0 record. Tack on the fact that this game involved a legendary coach going for history and it seemed as though St. John’s was about to embarrass the Tommies in a game getting national media coverage.
However, it became immediately apparent that St. Thomas never read the script.
The Tommies scored first and then unleashed a stifling defense that pressured the Johnnie offense all day limiting running back Jake Theis and wide receiver Blake Elliott to under 100 yards each. Andrew Ubbelohde led the Tommie defense with 15 tackles and Steve Groth, Dustin Peltier and Joe Skaja each recorded an interception.
Although the Tommies failed on both of their point-after tries, they carried a 12-7 lead to the seven minute mark of the fourth quarter. Tommie fans were so confident that they started cheering “Over-rated” as they knew they had the No. 2 team in the country on the ropes. But then as if the St. John’s fans, who had scripted a Johnnie blowout, collectively yelled, “Hey, follow the script!” and the Tommies began to slip. They made the questionable decision to give up an intentional safety with seven minutes to play and then at the three-minute mark their three-point lead was erased as Brandon Keller sliced the uprights with a 20-yard field goal.
Tied at 12, St. Thomas had one last chance starting at their 39-yard line. However, when Justin Kostner fumbled away the football it was clear that Tommies’ valiant effort would produce little more than a moral victory. They had ignored the script, all the blowout talk, and put the mighty Johnnies on the brink of defeat.
In the latest chapter of this 103-year-old rivalry the Johnnies had just enough to get Gagliardi his 408th win on his 77th birthday but the Tommies made it more difficult than many ever expected.
Across town in a rare MIAC night game, Carleton matched up with Hamline at Griffin Field in St. Paul. There were no historic implications surrounding this game as neither coach was close to even 100 wins, let alone 408. However, many had scripted it as a battle of pride between the two bottom teams in conference. Whoever made the least mistakes would come out on top and the score was sure to be close. A win by the Knights would be their first in three seasons and the first collegiate victory for head coach Chris Brann.
Coming into the game, Carleton had been outscored in the opening quarter 79-0 in conference games. If they scored in the game it was usually against the opponent’s second stringers. Though the team has nearly 60 freshmen and sophomores and has showed improvement this year they were still trying to shake a 33-game losing streak dating to 2000.
Hamline’s first-quarter scoring drought against conference foes was three points worse than Carleton’s having been outscored 82-0. The Pipers however were able to beat up on Northwestern and Macalester in tallying two non-conference wins on the season. It was clear from a quick glance at the team’s stat sheets that this game should be a hard fought, close battle.
As Carleton went to the locker room up 17-0 at half, it was clear they had never been given the script. They went out and did what teams had been doing to them all season — putting points on the board. Up 31-0 at the end of the third quarter the Knights lost the shutout on a Piper touchdown with five minutes to play.
The victory was especially sweet to seniors like Erik Fisher. A selfless player who’s never followed the script. He’s battled back from major knee surgery, which should have ended his career, to be a star for the Knights and his 192 yards against Hamline pushed him over the 1,000 yard mark for the season.
“My offensive line’s done a great job all season and it was definitely one of my goals heading into the season,” Fisher said. “I just feel like we’ve gotten better each week as a team and hopefully we’ve turned the corner and we’ve got this program going in the right direction.”
It may not have been win 408 for Chris Brann and the New York Times might not have cared, but it was win number one and it was clear that the program was going in the right direction.
“This team has gotten better through preseason camp and during the entire season,” Brann said. “Once we got rid of the penalties and mistakes, we showed we’re a pretty solid football team. The guys kept playing all season, no matter the circumstances, and kept the faith. We’re just blessed these guys stuck with it and kept working hard the entire season.”
The disparity of the MIAC allows the fans to write scripts for how the games will likely unfold but that has never meant the players have to follow them. On Saturday they obviously didn’t.
Charlie Brown is at it again
Cal Lutheran’s running back was once again anything but funny for the opposing defense. After a breakout 127-yard performance against Pomona-Pitzer in his first game starting at running back, Brown went off for even more yards in a 31-20 defeat of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Brown ran for 193 yards and two touchdowns including an 80-yard scamper in the first quarter. It’s safe to say Brown has secured his place on the offense with 320 yards in two games.
Century club
Bethel head coach Steve Johnson won his 100th career game Saturday against Augsburg 44-10. Under Johnson’s leadership, the Royals have had winning records in the MIAC in 11 of the past 12 years. Johnson has recorded the most wins of any Bethel football coach and has been selected MIAC Coach of the Year three times, after the 1989, 1996 and 2000 seasons. He was also selected as the West Region Coach of the Year following the 1996 season.
Quote machine
“We refocused, reloaded, and got a big homecoming victory against a team that beat us (21-20) last year.”
— Menlo head coach Mark Kaanapu after defeating University of Puget Sound 56-25.
Championship watch
MIAC: St. John’s and Bethel bring their undefeated records to a showdown in Collegeville. The winner gets an automatic bid but the runner-up should still have a good chance at a playoff berth with solid regional wins.
IIAC: Wartburg (8-0) plays Dubuque and Central who are 2-10 in conference to finish their season. Unless 2002 conference tri-champ Central can put together an inspired victory against Wartburg, the Knights will get the automatic bid. Simpson deserves a look for an at large bid.
NWC: Linfield and Willamette are on course for a season ending match up to decide the conference championship. If Willamette pulls the upset than Linfield should get in and Willamette should get strong consideration in this conference with too few teams for an automatic bid.
SCIAC: If Redlands trips up in either of its last two games against Whittier or Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Cal Lutheran continues to play well it could cause a logjam at top for the conference championship.
Conference Ramblings
MIAC: Keller’s field goal with eight seconds to play sealed the St. John’s victory against St. Thomas 15-12 and gave Gagliardi career win 408 tying Grambling’s Eddie Robinson for the career record. … Bethel quarterback Scott Kirchoff threw three touchdowns in leading the Royals against Augsburg. … Chilly Minnesota temperatures had little effect on visiting Azusa Pacific or running back James Keeler who ran for 166 yards and two touchdowns as they defeated Gustavus 23-10. … Concordia-Moorhead used an 85-yard kickoff return to open the game by Bobby Clark to start the scoring in a 47-14 victory against St. Olaf. …Erik Fisher went over the 1,000 yards rushing mark for the season and led Carleton to its first win since September 30, 2000.
IIAC: Wartburg quarterback Reed Hoskins threw for 319 yards as the Knights defeated Coe 24-7 to move one game closer to the conference title. …Simpson quarterback Mike Donnenwerth threw for 374 yards and four scores in a 42-14 defeat of Loras; he is now the school’s career passing yards record holder at 6,324 yards. …Central used its stingy defense and climbed back to a .500 overall record with a 14-7 defeat of Luther. The Dutch need to win their last two to keep their consecutive winning seasons streak alive. …Cornell scored 63 points again and this time it was enough; Matt Ditch played defense full-time and returned two interceptions for touchdowns in their 63-6 defeat of Dubuque. … Buena Vista outscored Upper Iowa 36-0 in the second and third quarters in winning 43-14.
NWC: Linfield backup quarterback Blake Kluse threw five touchdowns and the defense picked off four passes in dismantling Lewis & Clark 55-0. …Willamette’s Greg Reed rushed for 183 yards and Willamette defeated PLU 36-27 to stay perfect in conference. …Puget Sound lost a non-conference game to Menlo 56-25 as the Oaks quarterback Frank Borba threw four touchdowns. …Whitworth came up a touchdown short in its 21-14 loss to Eastern Oregon.
SCIAC: Redlands kicker Kyle Beach booted three field goals as the Bulldogs came back to defeat Pomona-Pitzer 9-7 for their fifth consecutive win. …Cal Lutheran used two Brown touchdowns and 475 yards of total offense to down Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 31-20. … Whittier topped La Verne 21-14 in the battle of SCIAC winless teams. … Quarterback Justin Elway threw four touchdowns as Occidental rolled up 529 yards of total offense in a non conference defeat of Colorado College.
Games of the Week
No. 10 Bethel at No. 2 St. John’s, Collegeville, Minn.: It’s the game of the year in the MIAC. Not only will it decide the conference champion and automatic play-off berth it could also set the all-time wins mark for St. John’s coach John Gagliardi at 409. It was against the Royals that Gagliardi picked up win 200 and 300, however, the Royals are much improved these days and are looking to knock off the Johnnies for the third time in five seasons. The Johnnies trounced Bethel 34-0 in 2001 in Collegeville the last time these two teams met with the conference championship on the line.
Carleton at Macalester, St. Paul: These two “smart schools” battle each year for the “Book of Knowledge” — a traveling trophy between one-time MIAC rivals. Although Macalester has lost five in a row and Carleton just ended a 33-game losing streak this game always means something special to the two teams. The teams have split their meetings over the past four years with Macalester holding the “Book” after a 33-16 win in Northfield last year.
Menlo at Pacific Lutheran in Tacoma, Wash.: A dominant win by Menlo could keep a glimmering playoff hope alive. Menlo has put up lots of points this season and gave No. 3 Linfield all it could handle in Week 8. PLU has only two games left under legendary coach Frosty Westering and winning out would leave the coach with 305 wins. This one is sure to be a close battle.