December 4, 1993: Mount Union 56, St. John’s 8.
November 26, 2005: UW-Whitewater 34, St. John’s 7.
November 24, 2007: Central 37, St. John’s 7.
When a season ends as planned, as the 2003 football season did for St. John’s, it is a rare and sweet occurrence—one team having risen above the field and proven themselves the best. More typical are the seasons that end with a heartbreaking loss, whether it’s a close regular season game against a rival or a hard-fought playoff defeat at the hands of a better team.
Occasionally, however, a season just ends with a resounding thud, the unfortunate fate of the 2007 St. John’s Johnnies. And while Saturday’s loss was an unexpectedly abrupt end to a season that had shown a lot of promise, it’s important to remember that it was also the beginning of the next chapter in St. John’s football history. As we take a look inside the numbers that shaped Central’s big triumph, now is as good a time as any to remind you that we’re only 285 days away from the Johnnies and the Alma Scots kicking off the 2008 season at Clemens Stadium.
Seeing Red: All season long, the Johnnies dominated their opponents in the red zone, both in their ability to move the ball inside the 20-yard line as well as converting once they got there. Through the first round of the playoffs, St. John’s converted 64 red zone possessions into 50 scores, including 42 touchdowns, good for a 78% conversion rate. At the same time, they held their opponents to only 11 touchdowns and 5 field goals on 30 trips into the red zone, a 53% conversion rate.
On Saturday, both teams found the red zone 5 times, but Central was able to convert all 5 of their possessions for 23 points. Meanwhile, the Johnnies came up empty on their first 4 trips inside the Central 20, ending their first drive with a missed field goal and following that effort by turning the ball over on downs on four straight tries. Finally, Alex Kofoed found Brian Weber from 20 yards out with just over two minutes left in the game to break the red zone curse.
End of an Era: As Alex Kofoed’s four-year reign as Johnnie quarterback comes to an end, he takes 100 career touchdown passes and one of his favorite targets, Brian Weber, with him. Over the past two seasons, Kofoed and Weber hooked up on 13 scoring plays. That makes Brian Weber the third most popular Kofoed touchdown target, trailing only Kyle Gearman (an amazing 29 touchdown receptions from Kofoed) and Mike Lofboom (16 touchdowns).
Over his 4 year career, Alex Kofoed had a perfect 60/30/10 touchdown pass split between wide receivers, running backs and tight ends, respectively. In total, he threw touchdown passes to 16 different targets. A list of all of his scoring recipients:
| Receiver | TDs |
|---|---|
| Kyle Gearman | 29 |
| Mike Lofboom | 16 |
| Brian Weber | 13 |
| Lee Clintsman | 7 |
| Mike Patnode | 5 |
| Phil Giesen | 4 |
| Chace Pollock | 4 |
| Brett Saladin | 4 |
| Ben Vanderheyden | 4 |
| Aaron Blackmore | 3 |
| Corey Weber | 3 |
| Casey Haugen | 2 |
| Josh Overman | 2 |
| Jeff Schnobrich | 2 |
| Kellen Blaser | 1 |
| Brandon Royce-Diop | 1 |
Playing Catch Up: Trailing 20-0 before they even got possession after halftime, the Johnnies were forced to spend the second half passing the ball almost exclusively. They had 33-to-3 pass-to-run ratio over the final two quarters, and even that is somewhat misleading as only one play was a designed run. Mike Patnode gained 4 yards on his only second half carry, while the other two attempts were a sack of Kofoed and another play where Kofoed was able evade pressure and make it back to the line of scrimmage.
Patnode was the main beneficiary of all that passing; he entered the game with only 31 catches on the season but added 13 receptions and 115 receiving yards on Saturday. In the second half alone, he caught 8 of the 9 passes thrown his way for 80 yards.
Hit the Road, Johnnie Nation: St. John’s fans are used to seeing smaller crowds show up at Clemens Stadium for playoff games than regular season contests. Between NCAA-mandated ticket prices for students, cold weather, holiday travel and unfamiliar foes, many regular Johnnie fans find a way to stay away from playoff home games. At Central, however, the exact opposite seems to be true: only 1 of the team’s 6 previous home games outdrew the announced attendance of 2,000 that took in the Johnnie/Dutch battle on Saturday.
Much of the credit for the strong attendance has to go to the strong showing by St. John’s fans, who had no difficulty filling the bleachers on the visitors’ side of the field. Though it was a apparent that the Dutch had a few more fans than the Johnnies, the St. John’s fans still came close to turning a road game into a de facto home game.
Quick Hits: Alex Kofoed established a career-high with 57 pass attempts… The 89-yard Tim Connell to Cody Huisman touchdown pass at the end of the 1st quarter was the longest play from scrimmage allowed by the Johnnies on the season… Even though the Johnnies ran more plays from scrimmage than the Dutch for the game (73 to 70), there was one stretch of the second half that saw Central run 17 consecutive plays and 20 of 21… Central became the second team on the season to outgain St. John’s both rushing and passing (St. Thomas was the other), while the Johnnies turned the trick against 5 opponents (Marietta, Augsburg, Gustavus, Hamline, and Redlands)… The graduating seniors, who started their careers with a disappointing 7-3 record in 2004, only lost 5 games over the next 3 years to end their time at St. John’s with a very respectable 38-8 record… Congratulation to Alex Kofoed, who has been selected to represent the United States in the Aztec Bowl as they take on a team of Mexican college all-stars. The game will be held December 8 at 6:00 p.m. in Chihuahua, Mexico, and can be viewed live online at www.afca.com or www.aztecbowl.com…
