A couple weeks ago the Johnnies faced long-time rival St. Thomas and while it wasn’t a Monkey Stomp it was a well deserved win. This week the J’s are coming off a much needed bye week and travel to their biggest rival of the current era (1999-present), Bethel University. No team has had the Johnnies’ number more than the Royals since 1999.
There is plenty of bad blood between the teams and fans for a variety of reasons making Saturday’s game for the MIAC conference championship and automatic bid into the NCAA tournament all the more intriguing. Bethel can’t win a playoff game (in fact they never have in school history). St. John’s has been the Gorilla of MIAC football for the better part of 60 years now. Bethel has gotten a reputation around the MIAC for cheap play (along with St. Olaf and Augsburg) especially after the whistle and at the bottom of the pile. St. John’s has run up the score on Bethel and as my colleague, Johnnie Esq, mentioned earlier today there is no love lost between John Gagliardi and Steve Johnson. Then add a holier than thou attitude the Royals exude and Saturday being the LAST game of the regular season it goes without saying that the intensity will be ratched up on the gridiron.
The game on paper appears to be fairly even. Using the transitive property to the teams’ scores this season leads me to believe both squads have been inconsistent and highly unpredictable. Key injuries and the players’ subsequent health status, control of the line of scrimmage, turnover margin, time management, and critical coaching decisions will determine the winner at Arden Hills on Saturday. I hope the actual game lives up to the hype, if so, it will be another instant classic in this budding rivalry.
Notes:
- Get to the game early. Bethel doesn’t have a very good parking situation for large events on campus. The administration has organized a shuttle service from the nearby Country Insurance parking lot. If you would like to park on campus, I’d suggest getting to Bethel before 11am and joining us for Johnnie Tailgate in the SoHo parking lot off of Snelling Avenue. The crowd will be big especially if the weather cooperates.
- The NCAA Div. 3 Selection Show is Sunday at 10:30 Central time on ESPN U. We’ll have West Region analysis here at Johnniefootball.com, so don’t forget to come check us out later this week.
