With next week’s rivalry game against St. Thomas and the chance to avenge last season’s only regular season loss against Bethel looming, it’s possible the Johnnies overlooked perennial weak-sister Hamline. For the 3rd time in 4 road games, the Johnnies allowed their opponents to score first as the Pipers took a 7-0 lead. Even suffering through a listless first half, the Johnnies were able to throw up 46 unanswered points to win going away. Here’s a look at the numbers that shaped the blowout of the Pipers:
Speedy Offensive Starts: For the second straight game, the Johnnies’ first offensive play doubled as their longest play from scrimmage. Not to be outdone by last week’s 54-yard Kofoed-to-Vanderheyden opening bomb, Mike Patnode took the Johnnies’ first handoff 61 yards to the Hamline endzone. The run was the longest on the season for St. John’s.
While the Johnnie defense didn’t start with the same alacrity, they certainly finished strong. The Pipers started the game’s first drive at their own 15-yard line and 11 plays later had a 7-0 lead. After allowing 85 yards on Hamline’s first possession, St. John’s yielded only 118 yards the rest of the day.
Kofoed Sets His Sights Even Higher: After spending the season making a mockery of the St. John’s passing record book, quarterback Alex Kofoed spent Saturday taking aim at an even more prestigious mark: he set the MIAC record for most career passing yards in conference games.
Kofoed entered Saturday’s game 35 yards short of Bethel’s Scott Kirchoff’s total of 6,645 yards. Kofoed’s 14-yard 2nd quarter completion to Chace Pollock pushed him past Kirchoff’s mark; he finished the game at 6,813 career passing yards in MIAC play.
The next milestone for Alex will likely be 10,000 career passing yards. He enters this weekend’s game with St. Thomas needing 267 yards to crack five digits. Kofoed has thrown for at least 300 yards in all three home conference games this season.
Share the Wealth: Despite averaging 174.8 rushing yards per game as a team, Mike Patnode’s 124-yard effort against Hamline was only the 3rd 100+ yard individual rushing performance for the Johnnies this year.
While it took Patnode 44 carries to compile his 237 yards against Carleton and Aaron Blackmore needed 34 handoffs to reach 172 yards against UW-River Falls, Patnode used only 14 plays in torching the Piper defense for his 124 yards. In total, 9 Johnnies ran the ball on Saturday.
The Johnnies also have three 100+ yard individual receiving performances on the year (Brian Weber, 117 vs. Marietta and 139 vs. Augsburg and Ben Vanderheyden, 100 vs. Gustavus).
Wild, Wild West: Eight blemish-free weeks into the schedule, Johnnie fans have started turning an eye towards a potential playoff berth. While St. John’s needs to win their two remaining games to guarantee an invitation the 32-team dance, they would likely fetch one of 7 at-large bids with a win over either St. Thomas or Bethel and a 9-1 regular season record.
While the D3Football.com Top 25 rankings don’t have any bearing over who makes the final field or how teams are seeded, it does give an idea of how strong the West Region is this year. Three of the nation’s top six teams call the West home: #3 UW-Whitewater, #4 St. John’s, and #6 Central. Seven other schools—Occidental, Linfield, Wartburg, UW-Stevens Point, Bethel, St. Olaf, and Whitworth—show up among the top 29 vote-getters. Coming in at #30 is the nation’s only team to actually secure a tournament spot, St. Norbert, who has wrapped up the Midwest Conference’s top spot at 8-0.
Because of the West’s depth, the Johnnies will likely have to win their final two games to secure a home playoff date. Pay close attention this week as #3 UW-Whitewater hosts #2 Mary Hardin-Baylor. A Warhawks loss coupled with a pair of Johnnie wins to close out the season would likely be enough to garner St. John’s the #1 Seed in the West and home-field advantage throughout the regional.
Quick Hits: St. John’s earned 5 first downs off of Hamline penalties… The Johnnies led 16-7 after the first quarter despite having the ball for only 2 minutes, 55 seconds… 10 different Johnnies had receptions, with no receiver gaining more than 39 yards…
