Welcome
The Gustavus Adolphus football team hosts Lake Forest College at 1 p.m. Saturday for its home opener. The Gusties enter Saturday’s game with a 1-0 record after defeating Crown College 56-13 last week, while the Foresters are 0-1 after losing 38-37 to Wisconsin Lutheran in double overtime.
Live Action
KNUJ AM 860 out of New Ulm, Minn. is broadcasting every Gustavus regular season game. The voice of the Golden Gusties, Tom Wheeler, handles the play-by-play duties for the 10th consecutive season. Wheeler is joined by 1984 Gustavus graduate and former Gustie football player Ken Ericson on the live call for this season’s slate of games. Fans can listen to the KNUJ broadcasts on the Internet through the Gustavus Athletics website.
Live coverage of Saturday’s game begins at 1 p.m.
LIVE AUDIO/VIDEO | LIVE STATS | GUSTAVUS GAME NOTES
Scouting The Gusties
The Gustavus Adolphus football team started its 2015 season last Saturday on a positive note with a convincing 56-13 victory at Crown College in non-conference action. The Gusties accumulated 683 yards of total offense, breaking the program record for most total yards of offense in a game, which previously stood at 650 yards in a 49-14 victory over Concordia in 1998.
After one week of Division III football across the county, Gustavus ranks third in the nation in total offense with 683 yards and fourth in passing offense with 420 yards. Quarterback Mitch Hendricks (Sr., Laporte, Minn.) ranks fourth among Division III quarterbacks with 385 yards passing, while wide receiver Matt Boyce (Sr., Excelsior, Minn.) ranks second with 217 receiving yards.
Last Saturday, most of the offense’s yards came in the first half as Gustavus jumped out to a 28-0 lead after the first quarter and entered the locker room at halftime with a comfortable 49-6 advantage. After throwing an interception on the first offensive play of the game, the Gusties found a groove and scored touchdowns on their next six drives.
By the time the final whistle blew, Gustavus compiled 263 yards rushing and 420 passing for its record-setting 683 yards of total offense. The offense tallied 73 plays for an average of 9.4 yards per play. Hendricks completed 25-of-32 passes for 385 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. Gabe Boyce (Sr., Excelsior, Minn.) was Hendricks’ favorite target, hauling in nine receptions for 71 yards and a touchdown. Matt Boyce led the receiving corps with 217 yards on eight catches and two touchdowns. Boyce’s 217 yards receiving is third most in a single game in program history. Leeland Lauti (So., Ewa, Hawaii) led the ground attack, rushing 10 times for 101 yards and a touchdown. Tyler Jakes (Jr., North Mankato, Minn.) Kysten Zierke (So., Blue Earth, Minn.) and Anders Raarup (So., Eagan, Minn.) paced the defensive front with six tackles each.
Scouting The Foresters
The Lake Forest football team dropped its season opener last Saturday in heartbreaking fashion, losing 38-37 in double overtime to Wisconsin Lutheran College. Tailback Charlie Quinn (Jr., Scottsdale, Ariz.) carried the ball a career-high 34 times for 143 yards and a touchdown. Lake Forest racked up 449 yards of offense, the team’s highest total in nearly three seasons.
Quinn led a rushing attack that gained 190 yards. Senior quarterback Sean Dickson (Sr., Westlake, Texas) was next on the team with 19 rushing yards and a score. He also completed 18-of-32 passes for 217 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. Wide receivers Willie McIntyre (Sr., Long Beach, Calif.) and George Vidas (Sr., Chicago, Ill.) shared team-high honors with six receptions apiece and both scored a touchdown. McIntyre finished with a career-high 114 yards.
Safety Pat Clark (Sr., Naperville, Ill.) led the Forester defense with 10 tackles and added an interception. Linebacker Michael Cole (So., Scottsdale, Ariz.) was next with nine stops and cornerback Chase Slagboom (So., Spring Lake, Mich.) finished with seven tackles, a pair of interceptions, and a fumble recovery.
Wisconsin Lutheran needed just four plays to reach the end zone in the first overtime and take its first lead of the contest. Dickson found Vidas for six yards on fourth-and-five and later found wide receiver Alex Pasiewicz (Jr., Beach Park, Ill.) in the end zone on a fourth-and-nine play from the 13-yardline. Jon Gurchak’s (Sr., Graylake Ill.) extra point tied the score at 31 and forced a second overtime.
Twenty-nine rushing yards by Quinn helped the Foresters overcome a holding penalty in the second overtime and Dickson’s quarterback sneak from inside the one put the home team ahead 37-31. The team was unable to execute the extra point, however, a mistake that would prove costly. The visitors drove for a touchdown of their own and converted the extra point for the victory.