The Johnnies traveled to Minneapolis to take on the Augsburg Auggies as the race to the Division III post season heated up. The Johnnies knew they had to take care of business and not let their concentration slip, because playing at home in the play offs is an advantage the Johnnies want to keep.
From the opening kick off the Johnnie fans inside the H.H.H. Metrodome knew this would be a game the Johnnies would not take lightly. Augsburg received the opening kick from the Johnnies and put on a fake reverse. The player who fielded the ball faked to his teammate, but he ball slipped out of his hands and bounced on the turf to the waiting arms of pursuing Johnnie special teams ace Kevin Wenner, who sprinted to the end zone with a touchdown, 7 seconds into the contest! Russell Gliadon kicked the PAT and the Johnnies were up 7-0 and would never trail in this contest.
Kevin Wenner TD/Photo courtsey of GoJohnnies.com
This opening play surely had to help calm the nerves of Freshman QB John Ries who was waiting to take the field in his first collegiate start for the Johnnies. With starting QB Joe Boyle sidelined with a thumb injury on his throwing hand, Reis had two full weeks to prepare with the first unit offense for this game. If the coaching staff put together a game plan that involved eating time from the clock with the running game and putting Augsburg in difficult down and distance situations with the Johnnie defense, then both sides of the ball performed well for the Johnnies. The Johnnies controlled the ball 38 minutes 51 seconds compared to Augsburg 21 minutes 9 seconds.
After the initial score on the kick off, the Johnnies Kellen Blaser finished off a 7 play 59 yard drive with a 2 yard run at 6:49 of the 1st quarter.
The Johnnies next score was late in the 2nd quarter as they traveled 98 yards in 18 plays and ate up 10:28 from the clock. Blaser scored on a 21 yard pass play from Ries making the score at halftime 21-0 in favor of the Johnnies.
The Auggies got on the board mid-way through the 4th quarter as Ries threw an interception as the Johnnies were knocking on the door once again. The interception was returned 93 yards by the Augsburg defender for their only scoring for the day.
With 58 seconds remaining in the contest, the Johnnies scored their final points as Kerry Daigs lowered his shoulders and scored from 3-yards out. The Gliadon PAT made the final SJU 28- Augsburg 7.
Ries was 8 of 15 for 91 yards passing. He threw one TD for the Johnnies and threw one interception that was returned for a TD by Augsburg.
The running game was shared evenly by Jakob Reding who had 10 carried for 69 yards before leaving the game in the 4th quarter with a leg injury. Reding’s status for next week is unknown at this time. Stephen Johnson carried the ball 15 times for 65 yards and Kellen Blaser carried 15 times for 59 yards and a rushing TD.
Through the air Josh Overman caught 2 balls for 29 yards and Sam Pederson also had 2 receptions for a total of 10 yards.
The Johnnie defense was again led by John Stanton who had 5 tackles and an interception. Mike Bonynge, Billy Lawrence and Ethan Eid also had 5 tackles. Eid and Griffin Hayes had 1.5 sacks each.Noel Meyer had a fumble recovery and a sack. As mentioned earlier, Kevin Wenner started the scoring with a fumble recovery that he turned into a TD on the opening kick off.
Next week is the final MIAC game of the season back in Collegeville against the Carleton Knights. The Johnnies will need to continue to focus as they will most likely be without Joe Boyle and the status of Jakob Reding is unknown at the time of this writing. Of course the X-factor with the Knights is head coach Kurt Rambler and his roots as a standout player and later an assistant coach for the Johnnies. The bottom line is, the Johnnies need to win and if they do, they’ll most likely get a #1 or #2 seed in the West Region of the NCAA Division III Play-offs. If the unthinkable happens, the Johnnies still get into the play-offs, as they defeated UST head to head,but would most likely be on the road for the play-off run.
For coaches, players, medical staff and fans it time to Johnnie up!
