On September 26, 1953 a young John Gagliardi faced off against the powerhouse of the MIAC, the Gustavus Adolphus College Gusties, in his first season as the head coach of the Johnnies and prevailed by a score of 21-7. Gagliardi was facing the legendary head coach of Gustavus, Lloyd Hollingsworth, in what would become a lopsided series in the Johnnies favor. In the last 23 meetings between the two conference opponents, the Johnnies have emerged victorious 22 times including the 2009 version of the game. The Gusties have a new head coach,Peter Haugen, but the result was the same as the Johnnie Nation has become accustom to with another comfortable victory 38-10 which brings the Johnnies season record to 4-0.
After receiving the opening kickoff the Johnnies came out throwing,but the upstart Gusties picked off Joe Boyle’s first pass of the day and put the Johnnie defense in a hole to begin the game. The Gusties took over at the 30 yard line. The Johnnie defense held tough and the Gusties had to settle for a field goal, GAC leads at this point 3-0 over the Johnnies. This will be the last lead of the game for the Gusties.
The Johnnie Defense played well with many of their starters sidelined due to injuries or in the case of Dominic Haik, taking the Law School Admission Test. Three of the four players in the defensive secondary and one of the linebackers were not starters at the beginning of the season, but as a credit to the players stepping in, as well as the coaching staff, the defense kept pressure on through out the game and limited the Gusties to 190 total yards of offense.
The Johnnies began their scoring in the first quarter on a 2-yard pass from Joe Boyle to Josh Overman which was followed by the PAT by Russell Gliadon. From this point the Johnnies never trailed, mixing the pass with the run along with a pressure defense kept the game entertaining for members of the Johnnie Nation who followed the team to St. Peter.
The Johnnies would score three times in the 2nd quarter.The first came on a 8-yard run by Jakob Reding followed by the PAT from Gliadon. Later in the 2nd quarter, Boyle again found Overman in the end zone and Gliadon kicked the PAT. Gliadon concluded the scoring for the 1st half by connecting on a 33 yard field goal. The score at halftime was SJU 24 GAC 3.
The Gusties came out to begin the second half with a 12 play 70 yard drive capped off by a 26 yard touchdown pass,which would be the final points in the game by the Gusties.
The Johnnies scored later in the 3rd quarter on a 19 yard touchdown pass from Boyle to Jimmy Loonan, followed by another Gliadon PAT.
The Johnnies wrapped up their scoring with 1:23 remaining in the game on a 21 yard scoring pass from Boyle to Harry Awe, followed again by the Gliadon PAT.
Enough can not be said about the play of the offensive line, of Andrew Ghostley,Blaine Anderson, Tim Juba,Eric Dirkes,Drew Percival along with substitutes Ben Dimond and Greg Sowden who gave Boyle plenty of time to throw as well as blowing open holes for the running backs. The offensive line sets the tone for the game and has made tremendous improvements from last year in allowing the Johnnies to present a more balanced offensive game plan.
The Johnnies leading tackler again this week was John Stanton with 7. Mike Bonynge also had 7 tackles and a fumble recovery which set up the first Johnnie touchdown,while starting in place of Dominic Haik. Kyle Schroeder had another fumble recovery this week, making 3 recoveries in the past two games. Ryan Wimmer and Dan Franta also had recoveries. The defensive line was very active causing match up problems for the Gusties all day long.Quarterback sacks were recorded for the Johnnies by Nick Gunderson,Griffin Hayes, Noel Meyer and David Burns.
As the MIAC season gets into full swing, the Johnnies will face their toughest test to date next week in Collegeville against the Bethel Royals. The Royals have had the upper hand as of late by winning the last three meetings in this series. Add to the three game winning streak, the growing list of injuries for the Johnnies and on paper one might believe that the Royals will come to Collegeville next week and spoil Homecoming for the Johnnies and the Johnnie Nation. As the story goes,back in 1953 when John Gagliardi was interviewing for the head coaching job at St John’s and he was asked by the monks if he thought he could beat St. Thomas and Gustavas, the young Gagliardi responded by saying “Sure”. Something tells me that if Athletic Director Tom Stock were to sit down with John on Monday and ask him if he thinks he can beat Bethel for Homecoming,that he would give the same reply 56 years later.
