On a magnificent fall afternoon in Collegeville, the Johnnies used a little 4th quarter magic—and two ridiculous catches by Brian Weber—to hand the St. Olaf Oles their first loss on the season, 30-29. Here’s a look inside the numbers:
Johnnie Addition by Ole Subtraction: Through the first 3 quarters of Saturday’s game, Alex Kofoed completed only 1 of 6 passes intended for leading receiver Brian Weber for a gain of only 4 yards. Much of the credit for slowing the dynamic duo has to go to St. Olaf’s All-MIAC cornerback Deontae Hutchins, whose close coverage on Weber resulted in two pass deflections.
When Hutchins left the game with a sprained ankle at the end of the 3rd quarter it didn’t take the Johnnies long to attack. On the first play of the 4th quarter, Kofoed’s wobbly pass down the right sideline—originally intended for Chace Pollock—miraculously found the waiting arms of Weber, who acrobatically tip-toed down the sideline to the pylon for a Johnnie touchdown.
After another spectacular play by Weber a little over 3 minutes later resulted in a 38-yard completion to set up the final Johnnie score, the duo that was held to 1-for-6 for 4 yards in the first three quarters managed a 2-for-2, 73 yard 4th quarter to orchestrate the Johnnie comeback win.
AK-11 is A-OK at Home: Thanks in large part to Brian Weber’s 4th quarter efforts, quarterback Alex Kofoed continued his trend of stellar play at Clemens Stadium. Saturday’s win over St. Olaf was his 3rd straight home game of at least 300 yards passing and 4th straight home game with at least 3 touchdown passes.
For the season, Kofoed has more than twice as many passing yards per game at Clemens Stadium than on the road (293 yards/game at home versus only 118 in road contests) while compiling a far superior touchdown-to-interception ratio at Clemens Stadium (an amazing 14-to-1 ratio at home, only 1-to-4 away).
As a team, the Johnnies have been out-passed in both of their road games, while compiling more passing yardage than their opponents in all 4 games at Clemens Stadium.
Standing Room Only: All the factors were in place for a full house in Collegeville on Saturday. The clouds parted to make way for a warm, sunny Homecoming afternoon, punctuating the almost-at-peak fall colors. St. John’s and St. Olaf both came into the game highly ranked as the MIAC’s only unbeaten teams, adding important playoff implications.
What resulted was the second largest crowd to ever witness a St. John’s football game. Saturday’s reported attendance of 12,339 fell just short of the record crowd of 13,107 in Collegeville to witness John Gagliardi’s record-setting 409th career win against Bethel in 2003.
The Johnnies set a school season attendance record last season, with 8,547 fans per game. It was their 6th straight campaign leading Division III in attendance. Through 4 home dates this year, St. John’s has drawn an amazing 9,373 spectators per game. With rival St. Thomas still on the schedule (and any potential home playoff games), this promises be another record-setting season for Johnnie fans.
Poll Position: St. Olaf came into this week’s game with their highest D3Football.com ranking in program history at #18. Amazing, they will also enter next week’s game with their highest-ever ranking—they jumped up 5 spots to #13 following their loss to the Johnnies, who remained #4.
While the Johnnies had to come from behind to beat the ranked Oles by a lone point at home, the top two teams in the poll destroyed ranked rivals on the road. #1 Mount Union passed their first real test of the year with flying colors, shutting out then-#9 Ohio Northern 44-0, while #2 Mary Hardin-Baylor was held to its lowest scoring total of the year, but still beat then-#21 Hardin-Simmons 47-14.
In a week that saw 9 of the Top 25 teams lose, there were two upsets that had direct implications on the Johnnies’ playoff hopes (or playoff seeding, if they secure the MIAC’s automatic bid). Then-#6 UW-LaCrosse lost to then-unranked UW-Eau Claire on a last-minute field goal. The loss was LaCrosse’s second on the year, severely damaging the highly talented Eagles’ playoff hopes. Augsburg struck a blow for their MIAC brethren by dealing then-#11 Wartburg its first loss of the season. The Knights will have to upset #6 Central in their season finale if they have any hopes of making the playoffs.
Quick Hits: The Johnnies 3 leading receivers were 2 running backs (Mike Patnode, 8 catches, and Aaron Blackmore, 6 catches) and a tight end (Brett Saladin, 5 receptions)… The SJU offensive line allowed only 2 Quarterback Hurries and 1 sack on 43 Alex Kofoed pass attempts… The Johnnies ran the football on 62% of their 1st down plays but only 27% of the time on 2nd, 3rd, and 4th down…
