Welcome
The Gustavus Adophus College football team welcomes the Storm of Crown College to Hollingsworth Field for Saturday’s season opener. This week officially marks the beginning of NCAA Division III football with more than 220 teams from across the country kicking off their 2014 campaigns. The Gusties will open their schedule at home for the second straight year after defeating Simpson College 28–21 in the opener last season.
Live Action
KNUJ AM 860 out of New Ulm, Minnesota, will once again broadcast all ten Gustavus regular season football games. The voice of the Golden Gusties Tom Wheeler will handle the play-by-play duties for the ninth consecutive season. Wheeler will once again be joined by 1984 Gustavus graduate and former Gustie football player Ken Ericson on the live call of this year’s games. Fans can listen to the KNUJ broadcasts on the Internet through the Gustavus Athletics website.
New this season, Gustavus will provide a high definition video stream of all home games for viewing on your computer, tablet, or smart phone through GameCentral by Stretch Internet.
Scouting The Gusties
The Gustavus Adolphus football team heads into the 2014 season energized and with a new found confidence after what Head Coach Peter Haugen described as a great leap forward in 2013. The Gusties capped the most successful season of Haugen’s tenure with an overall record of 6-4 and an MIAC mark of 4-4, which was good enough for a fifth place finish in the league standings. Of Gustavus’s four losses in 2013, three were by eight or fewer points. Peter Haugen heads into a new season with a total of 28 letterwinnners (nine on offense and 19 on defense) from last year’s team. The Gusties lost four starters on offense and four starters on defense.
Gustavus returns four starters from a 2013 offense that averaged 30 points (5th/MIAC) and 377 yards per game (5th/MIAC). Replacing a veteran offensive line and game-breaking running back will be the biggest concern, as the Gusties lost offensive linemen Lyle Opdahl, David Gschneidner, Trevor Winkelman and Wyatt Adams, and running back Jeffrey Dubose who broke nearly every single-season rushing record in school history last season. The lone returning starter on the offensive line is junior center Marcus Kelly (Woodbury, Minn.). He will be joined by Scott Newby (Jr., Lakeville, Min.) at left tackle, Zach Vine (Sr., Lino Lakes, Minn.) at left guard, Isaac Kotila (So., Buffalo, Minn.) at right guard, and Joe Theiler (So., Maple Grove, Minn.) at right tackle. Luke Martinez (Jr., Lenexa, Kan.) will be called upon at running back, while rookie DaiVon Poole (San Angelo, Texas) has impressed the Gustie brass in training camp and is expected to see carries.
Taking the reigns of the offense will once again be Mitch Hendricks (Jr., Laporte, Minn.). In his first year at the helm, Hendricks completed 61.2-percent (188-307) of his passes for 1,938 yards to go along with nine touchdowns and ten interceptions. His top target will be Matt Boyce (Jr., Excelsior, Minn.) who led the team in receiving a year ago with 58 catches for 703 yards. George Buchner (So., Excelsior, Minn.) returns to the receiving group after making 32 catches for 341 yards, while transfer Gabriel Boyce (Jr., Excelsior, Minn.) rounds out Hendricks’ top wide-outs.
Defensive coordinator Corey Shea brings back a great deal of experience to a defensive unit that allowed an average of 22.5 points (4th/MIAC) and 316.5 yards (3rd/MIAC) per game. The strength of the defense begins up front where Shea returns the majority of a line that allowed an average of 119.2 yards (2nd/MIAC) on the ground. Those battle-tested linemen include Cameron Cropsey (Sr., Eagan, Minn.), Andrew Lonneman (Sr., Adrian, Minn.), Mitch Snare (Sr., Rosemount, Minn.), Zach Severson (Sr., Savage, Minn.), and Travis Pepper (Sr., Overland Park, Kan.). Cropsey finished second on the team in tackles last season with 59 (28 solo) and recorded team-highs in tackles for loss (13) and sacks (4).
Despite the graduation of All-Conference middle linebacker Joe Haas, Gustavus’s linebacking corps still brings back senior veterans Matt Keller (Eagan, Minn.) and Anthony Boyce (Excelsior, Minn.) who registered 45 (16 solo) and 37 tackles (18 solo), respectively, last season. Zack Martinez (Jr., Lenexa, Kan.) and Kyle Krzmarzick (Jr., Sleepy Eye, Minn.) are expected to round out the unit. In the secondary, Gustavus graduated cornerback Torey Asao and safety Beau Bachman, and lost All-Conference corner Zach Dilger to an injury this summer. Anchoring the defensive backfield will be Jake Forcier (Sr., Watkins, Minn.) who finished third on the team with 47 tackles (26 solo) as a junior. Beside him at the other safety will be Xavier Fust (Sr., Columbia Heights, Minn.), while Michael Hintze (Sr., Brooklyn Park, Minn.) and Nick Frandsen (Sr., North Oaks, Minn.) are expected to fill the cornerback vacancies. The Gusties picked off 16 passes last season, which ranked second in the MIAC.
Now in his second year on the team, Thomas Schleusener (Sr., Rapid City, S.D.) will handle both the kicking and punting duties. Schleusener went 9-for-15 in field goals and knocked down 35-of-38 extra points. He also averaged 58.2 yards per kickoff, and 38.6 yards per punt with five punts being downed inside the 20-yard-line.
Roster | Schedule | 2013 Statistics
Scouting The Storm
Although it started off the season 0-5, the Crown College football team finished 2013 with a record of 4-1 for an overall mark of 4-6. Within league play, the Storm went 4-5 for a fifth place finish. With a total of 17 returning starters, Crown has high hopes for 2014 as it looks to build on last season’s strong finish.
Offensively, Crown returns all but two of its starters. The Crown offense struggled last season, averaging 22.3 points (9th/MIAC) and 326.1 yards (9th/MIAC) per game. Improvement in the passing game will be key as the Storm ranked last in the UMAC with a 137.4 yards per game average. Transfer quarterback Brandon McCormick (Jr., Edwards, Ill.) will take over the offense after joining the team from Maranatha Baptist last spring. McMormick’s top targets through the air will include wide receivers Elijah Bryant (So., Cary, N.C.), Ben Olson (Jr., Burnsville, Minn.), Ethan Keller (Sr., Mott, N.D.), and tight end Chris Pierre-Charles (Sr., Dade City, Fla.). Bryant caught 20 passes for 306 yards with two touchdowns, and Olson caught 20 passes for 327 yards with four touchdowns to pace Crown’s receivers last season.
Following successful rookie campaigns in the backfield, sophomores Josh Edlund (Crookston, Minn.) and Matt Michaud (Woodbury, Minn.) will be called upon to carry the load in the running game. Edlund led the team with 528 yards on 78 rushes (6.8 ypc) with six touchdowns, while Michaud tallied 402 yards on 82 carries (4.9 ypc) with three touchdowns. The Crown offensive line brings back four of its starters from 2013 and will feature Alex Felleman (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn.), Zach Prokosch (So., Osseo, Minn.), Jack Eggen (So., Brainerd, Minn.), Michael Graber (Sr., Elk River, Minn.), and Jayson Rothmeier (So., Olivia, Minn.).
On defense, eight starters return to a side that ranked fourth in the conference in points allowed at 23.4 per game. The Storm allowed an average of 217.1 yards passing (6th/UMAC) and 167.6 yards rushing (6th/MIAC) for an average of 384.7 yards (5th/UMAC) per game. Crown returns the entirety of its defensive front, which includes Zach Jusczak (Sr., Lakeville, Minn.), Drew Zoromski (Sr., Fennimore, Wis.), Everett Hawk (So., Hacienda Heights, Calif.), and Robert Smartnick (Jr., Boulder, Mont.). Zoromski and Jusczak ranked second (47) and third (38), respectively, on the team in tackles last season.
Making up a young linebacking group will be Chris Larson (So., Minneapolis, Minn.) in the middle and Jalen Phoenix (So., Cincinnati, Ohio) and Joe Polivany (Fr., Chanhassen, Minn.) on the outside. Junior Eli Dahl (Osseo, Minn.) will once again lead the secondary at strong safety after intercepting a team-high four passes as a sophomore. He will be joined by Jameson Holder (So., Salem, Ore.) at the free safety, and Thomas Andrews (So., Keller, Texas) and Joel Silva (So., San Antonio, Texas) at the corners.