WELCOME
The Gustavus Adolphus College football team continues play at Hollingsworth Field for the second straight week Saturday for a 1 p.m. matchup against Augsburg College in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener. The Gusties enter the game with a 2-0 overall record after defeating UW-River Falls 24-21 last Saturday, while the Auggies are 0-2 after losing 24-14 at Concordia-Wisconsin last week.
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 11th consecutive season. Fans can listen to the KNUJ broadcasts on the Internet through the Gustavus Athletics website.
Live coverage of Saturday’s game begins at 12:30 p.m.
LIVE STATS | WATCH LIVE | GUSTAVUS GAME NOTES
TACKLE CANCER
Saturday’s game is featured as Gustavus’s “Tackle Cancer” Game. The Gusties will help raise funds for the Randy Shaver Cancer Research & Community Fund, which challenges high school and college teams to sponsor at least one Tackle Cancer game during the months of September and October. Fans attending the game can make donations toward funding additional cancer research. Donations can be made at both the North and South entrances to Hollingsworth Field. Saturday’s Tackle Cancer game is also the only Tackle Cancer game occurring in the state that day, and members of the St. Peter and Mankato Loyola high school football teams will be on hand to help collect donations.
Randy Shaver Tackle Cancer webpage
SCOUTING THE GUSTIES
All three phases of the game – offense, defense, and special teams – contributed to last Saturday’s 24-21 home opener victory over the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. A long touchdown pass, 27-yard field goal, blocked punt return, and a 75-yard “pick-six” comprised Gustavus’s scoring for the day, resulting in the close win and improving to 2-0 overall.
In the first drive of the day, Michael Veldman (So., Becker, Minn.) fired a strike to George Buchner (Sr., Excelsior, Minn.) streaking down the left hash marks for an over-the-shoulder 41-yard touchdown. The Falcons responded on the following possession to tie the game and the score remained 7-7 after the first quarter. Gustavus’s first drive of the second quarter ended with a 27-yard field goal by Brendan Boche (Jr., Lakeville, Minn.), his first of the season. The Gusties increased their lead to 17-7 on the ensuing UW-River Falls drive as Matt Berkner (So., Sleepy, Eye, Minn.) blocked a punt at the three-yard line, which was recovered by Kevin Krohn (Jr., Richfield, Minn.) for the touchdown. The Gusties then took the wind out of the Falcons’ sails on the next drive. On a third-and-11 deep into Gustie territory, Casey Decker (Jr., Mapleton, Minn.) tipped a pass on the left edge, came down with the deflection, and returned it 75 yards for the score. The Gusties led 24-7 at halftime.
After a scoreless third quarter, UW-River Falls started its comeback effort. The Falcons capped an 11-play drive with a rushing touchdown to bring the score to 24-14. After holding the Gusties scoreless on their next two drives, the Falcons drove 64 yards in 11 plays, bringing to the deficit to three points. The Falcons defense forced another punt on the ensuing possession, getting the ball back at its own 14-yard line with four minutes remaining in the game. The visitors drove into Gustie territory, but the home defense came up big with a fourth down stop and Gustavus was able to take a knee and run out the clock.
Jordan Sorensen (Sr., St. Peter, Minn.) led the Black and Gold defense with a career-high nine tackles, including a pass breakup. Tyler Jakes (Sr., North Mankato, Minn.) manned the middle, making eight stops, including 1.5 tackles for loss, and a breakup. Veldman completed 6-of-9 passes for 81 yards and a touchdown before leaving the game with an injury. Sam Archer (So., Zimmerman, Minn.) quarterbacked the rest of the game, going 10-for-18 with 101 yards, including 15 carries for six yards. Karim Ortiz (Jr., Cancun, Mexico) was the leading Gustie rusher with 10 carries for 51 yards.
Turnovers proved to be the turning points in the game as the Falcons outgained the Gusties 454-270 in total yards. UW-River Falls also converted 24 first downs, compared to 16 by Gustavus.
GUSTAVUS ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
SCOUTING THE AUGGIES
After getting shut out in its season opener, the Augsburg football team’s offensive struggles continued last Saturday in a 24-14 loss at Concordia University-Wisconsin. Isiah Malone (Jr., Brooklyn Center, Minn.) and Raymond Guyton Jr. (So., Stockton, Calif.) scored touchdowns for the Auggies.
Concordia took advantage of a turnover to score its first touchdown of the game at the 10:32 mark of the first quarter. The Auggies fumbled the ball deep in their own territory, which was recovered by the Falcons for a 20-yard return. Augsburg converted three first downs on its next drive, but stalled and punted the ball away. Concordia then drove 90 yards in 11 plays to take a 14-0 advantage after the first quarter of play.
Augsburg made a goal line stand early in the second quarter, but the offense couldn’t take advantage of the momentum boost and failed on a fourth down attempt. The Falcons capitalized on the turnover and increased their lead 21-0 on a 27-yard touchdown pass. The Auggies broke the shutout late in the half as Malone intercepted a pass and returned it 39 yards for the score. At halftime, the Auggies trailed 21-7.
After a scoreless third quarter, Concordia increased its lead to 17 points with a 20-yard field goal with 5:46 remaining in the game. The Auggies scored their second touchdown of the game on a one-yard rush by Guyton Jr. with 3:53 on the clock, but it was too little, too late.
Concordia outgained Augsburg by a 384-215 margin of total offense. Guyton Jr. was limited to 8-of-36 passing for 164 yards. Nick Heenie (So., Victoria, Minn.) was the top receiving target with four catches for 89 yards. The Auggie ground game was held to 51 yards. Khoa Ngyuen (Sr., Rochester, Minn.) led the defense with 14 total tackles, including three tackles for loss and one sack. Lorenzo Hernandez (So., New Ulm, Minn.) also reached double figure tackles with 10, including a tackle for loss and a pass breakup. William Johnson (Sr., St. Anthony Village, Minn.) had an interception, forced fumble, and a tackle for loss among his six tackles. Punter Glenn Meyers (Jr., Blaine, Minn.) saw a lot of time on the field, punting the ball nine times for 361 yards and a 40.1-yard average.