Here cometh the Esq’s annual telling of the tale of the BC-SJU rivalry. Yes, I did mean to say BC and not BU; no, the contents of the tale may not be 100% verifiably accurate and accounted for. But it certainly makes for a good story.
The story begins in 1992. Steve Johnson was a young coach at Bethel, and had begun turning the Royals around almost immediately. But in 1992, he was named as one of the decision-makers for the NCAA playoffs. Back then, only 16 teams made the Division III playoffs—4 in each region—and the process wasn’t as transparent as it is now. There were no automatic qualifiers then; no Pool C births—just conference representatives that met together to pick the four best teams from each region. In 1992, the MIAC’s representative was Steve Johnson.
Now, mind you, the SJU team in 1992 was supposed to be pretty good. In 1991, the Jays lost to Dayton in the NCAA semifinals—it was the last year that the Dayton rule was in effect, and Dayton was forced to move into a new division—so there was much optimism in Collegeville in the fall of 1992 about a possibility of a return to the Stagg Bowl.
The season started out right where the Johnnies left off—beating up on Bemidji State, Augsburg, Gustavus, St. Olaf, Bethel and Hamline leading up to the Tommie game—that year, held in St. Paul—mind you, this was back when the Tommies actually fielded teams that would compete with the Johnnies. But several questionable calls later, the Tommies sent the Johnnies back to Collegeville with their first regular season loss in almost two years—a 15-12 heartbreaker.
Meanwhile, in Northfield, SJU alumni Bob Sullivan had put together a respectable Carleton squad that was rolling over its opponents as well, and was undefeated leading up to its date with the Johnnies. The Johnnies, not anxious to relinquish its crown, found the end zone…over, and over, and over again, racking up a convincing 70-7 win over the up-until-then undefeated Knights. At this point there was a tie for the MIAC title with one week left to play in the season. The Johnnies drew their longtime nemeses Concordia, coached by Gagliardi’s contemporary Jim Christopherson, who was as decorated a coach as anyone in the game even then. The Cobbers fought out a 18-18 tie with the Johnnies, leaving the Jays with an 8-1-1 record. Carleton, meanwhile, won its regular season finale and finished 9-1, winning the MIAC title outright.
But again, back then, the playoff births didn’t have to go to conference champions, they went to the best teams in the region, and St. John’s, despite their blemished record, was still considered by many as the best team in the MIAC. However, as the legend continues, when the committee was discussing a MIAC representative to the West Region, Steve Johnson recommended Carleton carry the MIAC’s torch instead of St. John’s. St. John’s went playoff-less; Carleton promptly got trounced in the first round.
Gaglardi was understandably upset—the Johnnies had beaten the Knights by 63 points and were denied a birth; but he had vowed his revenge—it just so happened that the opponent for John’s 300th victory (the following season) was scheduled to be none other than Steve Johnson’s Bethel Royals, in Arden Hills.
Keep in mind that 1993 team was the Point-a-Minute squad, and the greatest show on grass. But to show exactly what it felt like to have 70 points scored upon you, John made sure that his best players stayed in the game. When it was over, a 77-12 drubbing of the Royals, Gagliardi believed that order had been returned to the MIAC, except that, with the 300th victory media asking for comment from the losing coach, they received some comments considered by Gagliardi to be less than cordial about the winning coach. And so it began…
It next came to a head in the fall of 1996, when Johnson led his undefeated Royals into Collegeville to do battle against the undefeated Johnnies. “The Team of the Century” noted Johnson, would certainly make Arden Hills proud and knock off the arrogant Johnnies, whose teams had been atop the MIAC standings every year from 1989 on. That Bethel team took the opening kickoff and marched right down the field on the Johnnies and stuck the ball into the endzone. Not to be outdone, the Royals went for two and converted. Bethel 8-Johnnies 0, and given the way the Royals moved the ball so efficiently, there may be no way of stopping them that afternoon. But that was premature—the Johnnies proceeded to run off 56 unanswered points, sending the “Team of the Century” home with a 56-8 spanking.
The Royals finally did knock off the Johnnies in 1999, and again in 2000, each time earning their own trip to the NCAAs; and each time losing in the first round. Meanwhile, the Johnnies advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals in 1999, and lost to Mount Union in the Stagg Bowl 10-7 in 2000, getting the better of their MIAC counterparts those times.
In 2003, Josh Nelson scored the game-winning TD against Bethel to help John to his record-setting 409th victory
But this is what rivalries are made of: good competitive games; stories like these; running backs fumbling while leaping for the goal line and alert defenders picking the ball up and running 99 yards the other way for the TD; Kirchoff versus Elliott; A.J. Parnell; all the way up to the Wetzell team that ruined the Johnnie undefeated season last year. The Royals have arrived; the Johnnies have had to make room. Who wins this time around? The MIAC’s two best teams meeting on the last week of the season, with an automatic qualification to the NCAA playoffs on the line, and a loss for Bethel means the end of the season, to be played on the soft grass atop the hill in Arden Hills, a place where the Johnnies are 1-2 since 1999.
This is what MIAC football is all about!
