Put Up Or Shut Up
With the gauntlet of its 2014 regular season schedule now upon them, it is put up or shut up time for the Golden Gusties. On Saturday, Oct. 18, the Gustavus Adolphus football team welcomes the Johnnies of Saint John’s University to Lloyd Hollingsworth Field for a midseason Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown set to begin at 1:00 p.m.
On what has been designated as both Senior Day and Tackle Cancer Day at the Gustavus Football Stadium, the Gusties look to stay hot after beginning the season with six straight victories for the first time since 1987. Gustavus heads into the weekend with an overall record of 6–0 and an MIAC mark of 4–0 after defeating St. Olaf 37–29 last Saturday in Northfield. Saint John’s rolls into St. Peter ranked No. 22 according to the most recent top 25 poll released by D3football.com. After being off last weekend, the Johnnies head back into league play with an overall record of 4–1 and an MIAC mark of 2–1.
Live Action
KNUJ AM 860 out of New Ulm, Minnesota, will 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 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
Although the final box score didn’t look as pretty as it did during the Gustavus football team’s first five games of the season, the Gusties were able to come away with a 37–29 victory over a winless but fired-up St. Olaf team last weekend in Northfield. Although Gustavus led 37–22 with less than nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Oles refused to go out quietly. After St. Olaf quarterback Nate Penz cut the lead to 37–29 with a touchdown pass with 4:08 on the clock, St. Olaf recovered an onside kick to take control of possession and a chance at a potential game-tying drive. On 4th-and-8 from the Gustavus 17-yard line, strong safety Xavier Fust (Sr., Columbia Heights, Minn.) put to bed any comeback hopes by picking off a deflected pass at the one-yard-line.
The Gusties turned in their most balanced offensive performance of the season against St. Olaf. Rookie running back Leeland Lauti (Ewa Beach, Hawaii) led the way on the ground with 123 yards on 21 carries (5.9 ypc) to go along with two rushing touchdowns. Quarterback Mitch Hendricks (Jr., Bemidji, Minn.) completed 26 of his 37 passes for 282 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. Hendricks’s top targets were Gabriel Boyce (Jr., Excelsior, Minn.) and George Buchner (So., Excelsior, Minn.). Gabriel caught nine passes for 125 yards and a season-best three touchdowns, while Buchner caught eight passes for 75 yards.
With more than half of the 2014 campaign in the books, the Gustavus offense has taken the concept of the modern day spread and applied the principles of Bill Walsh’s “West Coast” philosophy of using its receivers, running backs, and tight ends for short, ball-control passes, to spread the defense before taking the longer shots downfield, and gashing the defensive front with quick-hitting running plays. The Gusties, who average 46 points per game (9th/ NCAA), head into the weekend with the third-ranked passing offense in NCAA Division III at 385 yards per game. Despite increased production from its ground game last weekend, Gustavus is the seventh-ranked rushing team in the MIAC with a 138.8 yards per game average.
Defensively, the Gusties rank fifth in the league in points allowed (17.5 avg.) and fourth in yards per game (309.2). Gustavus is allowing an average of 190.3 yards passing (4th/MIAC) and 118.8 yards rushing (4th/MIAC), yet is getting to the quarterback at a better clip than the rest of the league with 18 sacks. Leading the team in tackles is outside linebacker Zach Martinez (Jr., Lenexa, Kan.) who ranks fourth in the MIAC with 47 (22 solo). Based on Saturday’s game last weekend at St. Olaf, Gustavus’s defense will look for increased efficiency in the red zone and on third down. The Gusties are currently ranked sixth in the conference in third down defense at 40.4-percent and seventh in the league in red-zone defense at 81.3 percent.
Game Notes | Roster | Statistics | Schedule/Results
Scouting The Johnnies
The Saint John’s football team heads into Saturday afternoon’s contest with two weeks to prepare for the unbeaten Gusties after being off last weekend. Despite suffering a 23–14 setback at home to Concordia in week three, the Johnnies have bounced back with wins over St. Thomas (24–14) and Hamline (49–28) their last two times out.
With an offense that controls possession for over 31 minutes per game and runs the ball in over 70-percent of its total plays, Saint John’s offensive philosophy is to establish the run before taking to the air. The Johnnies are the second-ranked running team in the league with a 226.4 yards per game average. Receiving the most carries is junior Sam Sura (South St. Paul, Minn.) who has rushed for a total of 875 yards (4th/NCAA) for a league- leading average of 175 yards per game (3rd/NCAA). Sura has scored a conference-best eight touchdowns on the ground and boasts the league’s best yards per carry average at 6.8. Combined with his pass-catching capabilities out of the backfield, Sura ranks eighth in the nation in all-purpose yards per game (191.2).
Junior quarterback Nick Martin (Plymouth, Minn.) will call the signals for a passing offense that heads into the afternoon ranked eighth in the league (143.4 ypg). Martin has completed 65.4-percent of his passes for 441 yards (110.2 avg/g) with six touchdowns compared to one interception. Targeted the most in the passing game has been wide receiver Josh Bungum (Jr., Paynesville, Minn.), tight end J.T. Ford (Sr., Stevens Point, Wis.), and running back Zack Sundly (So., Harris, Minn.). Bungum has 14 catches for 132 yards with one touchdown, Ford has 14 catches for 131 yards with two touchdowns, and Sundly has 13 catches for 160 yards with two touchdowns.
Defensively, the Johnnies are allowing 16 points per game, 212.6 yards passing (5th/MIAC) and 152 yards rushing (6th/MIAC) for an average of 364.6 total yards (5th/MIAC). Linebacker Carter Hanson (So., Blue Earth, Minn.) leads the team in tackles with 39 (22 solo), while fellow linebacker Reid Bjorklund (Jr., South St. Paul, Minn.) sits second with 32 (15 solo). The Gusties will need to key on defensive end Matt Workman (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn.) who will look to disrupt Mitch Hendricks’s passing rhythm and Gustavus’s ground game. Workman has totaled four sacks (1st/MIAC) and five-and-a-half tackles for loss (3rd/MIAC) heading into today’s game