SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus football team will travel to Menomonie, Wis. to take on UW-Stout at 1:05 p.m. Saturday for its first road contest of the season. The Gusties are 1-0 thanks to a 50-19 win over Martin Luther, while the Blue Devils are 0-1 due to a 14-7 loss against Saint John’s.
GUSTAVUS GAME NOTES | UW-STOUT GAME NOTES
WATCH LIVE | LIVE STATS | LISTEN LIVE (AM 860 KNUJ)
THE SERIES: Saturday’s game marks the seventh all-time meeting between the Gustavus and UW-Stout football programs with the Gusties holding a 4-2 advantage in the series. The last meeting between the two teams was last season on Sept. 8, when the Blue Devils rallied late and eventually took down the Gusties in overtime. Gustavus took a 10-0 lead into the half and extended the lead to 17-0 in the third quarter before Stout rallied to score 17 straight and send the game to overtime. Stout scored in five plays on their opening possession to go up 24-17 before the Gusties scored on their opening play to bring the score to 24-23. However, the extra point was missed and the Blue Devils took the contest.
SCOUTING THE GUSTIES: Last week Gustavus took down Martin Luther 50-19 in its season opener. The Knights were able to score first after the punt on their opening drive hit a Gustie and set them up in good field position for the first touchdown of the game. The rest of the half however, was all Gusties as they scored 36 straight points to lead into the break 36-6.
The Knights were able to score again in the third quarter to bring the Gustie lead to 36-12 but two more touchdowns for Gustavus in the fourth would seal the deal. The Knights would score late with time winding down to bring the final to 50-19.
Michael Veldman (Sr., Becker, Minn.) was solid in his 2019 debut going 18-of-27 with 353 yards passing and three touchdowns. David Peal (So., Worchester, Mass.) had a solid day out of the backfield for the Gusties with 48 yards rushing and two touchdowns as well as 69 yards receiving. Brice Panning (Sr., Hamburg, Minn.) had six catches for 118 yards and three touchdowns while Josh Kirk (Sr., Garvin, Minn.) had six catches for 119 yards.
On defense, Zach Jakes (So., Mankato, Minn.) led the team with eight tackles while Ezekiel Sundberg (So., Lakewood, Colo.) had seven. Jake Krull (Sr., Plymouth, Minn.) and Kaleb Scott (Jr., Gardena, Calif.) each had an interception while Nicolas Negron (So., Garland, Texas) recovered a fumble for a touchdown.
SCOUTING THE BLUE DEVILS: UW-Stout enters the game most recently dropping a 14-7 contest to Saint John’s Saturday. The Blue Devils scored first and held the Johnnies scoreless to lead 7-0 at halftime but couldn’t put a complete drive together as Saint John’s shut them out the second half and scored twice in the third quarter to take the victory.
Offensively Sean Borgerding was 13-of-26 for 136 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. Josh Nitek led the ground game with eight carries for 25 yards. Levy Hamer had three catches for 48 yards while Tyler Seymour had three catches for 30 yards and a touchdown.
Last season, the Johnnies averaged 491.8 yards per game last season, were held in check by the Stout defense who allowed just 301 yards of total offense in the contest. The Blue Devils also picked off reigning d3football.com Player of the Year Jackson Erdmann twice and recorded three sacks in the contest.