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COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John's amassed 586 yards of total offense and scored touchdowns on all six of its trips to the red zone in a 52-7 season-opening win over Northwestern on Saturday, Sept. 1, in Collegeville.

The contest marked the official start of head coach John Gagliardi's 60th season on the SJU sidelines and 64th overall. College football's all-time wins leader, Gagliardi improves to 485-133-11 (.780) in his career and 461-127-10 (.779) at SJU with the win.

Junior running back Nick Schneider (Rockville, Minn./Rocori) scored each of the Johnnies' first three touchdowns on the afternoon. The first was a 13-yard scamper on fourth-and-three with 3:44 left in the first quarter and the second was an eight-yard plunge at the 10:20 mark of the second quarter. He then caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from junior Connor Bruns (Baltimore, Md./Loyola Blakefield) with 5:36 left in the first half.

An interception and 22-yard return by senior safety Ian Goldsmith (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View) set up SJU's next touchdown, a two-yard run from junior Colin Moynihan (Edina, Minn.) with 1:34 left in the first half to make it 28-0 in favor of SJU.

Following a Northwestern three-and-out to start the second half, SJU pounded out a 10-play, 50-yard scoring drive that ended on a one-yard leap (literally, five yards into the end zone) from senior Stephen Johnson (Mahtomedi, Minn.).

The Eagles responded with a quick two-play, 75-yard scoring drive to erase the shutout. Quarterback Josh Balzer connected with Brian Lecheler on first down for a 69-yard gain, followed by a six-yard touchdown run from Josh Sinnen.

Senior kicker Jimmie Mattson (Eau Claire, Wis./Memorial) connected on a 49-yard field goal with 3:41 left in the third quarter to give the Johnnies a 38-7 lead. Mattson missed a 47-yarder on the next drive, his first miss as a Johnnie in 17 attempts (16-for-17). All seven of his kickoffs, however, went for touchbacks (65.0 avg.).

Freshman Nick Martin (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) hit junior Ben Krebsbach (Plymouth, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's) for a 95-yard touchdown pass, the longest pass in school history, to give the Johnnies a 45-7 lead. The touchdown strike broke the 24-year-old record of 93 yards, set by quarterback John Lahti and wideout Todd Fultz, at Gustavus Adolphus on Sept. 17, 1988.

Freshman running back Sam Sura's (South St. Paul, Minn.) first career carry covered 59 yards, which set up a six-yard touchdown run by junior Jake Essler (New London, Minn./New London-Spicer) on the very next play to end the scoring for both teams.

Bruns ended the afternoon 15 of 22 passing for 208 yards and a touchdown. Senior tight end Taylor Freetly (Kerkhoven, Minn./Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg) caught five passes for 76 yards, while Krebsbach tallied his first career 100-yard receiving performance with 103 yards on two receptions. Sura ended the game as the Johnnies' leading rusher (59 yards on one carry). Johnson and Schneider added 52 yards each on 11 and 10 carries, respectively, while Moynihan collected 44 yards on eight carries. SJU gained 254 yards on 45 carries (5.6 avg.) as a team.

Freshman wide receiver Josh Bungum (Paynesville, Minn.) accumulated 75 yards from scrimmage on seven touches (22 yards on three carries and 53 yards on four catches). In addition to his 95-yard touchdown pass, Martin averaged 42.7 yards on three punts.

Balzer ended the day 10 of 18 passing for 177 yards, 111 of which went to Lecheler on five completions. Chris Simon-Wallace led NWC with 42 yards on 10 carries.

The Johnnies travel to face Wisconsin-Eau Claire for a 1 p.m. kickoff next Saturday, Sept. 8, at Carson Park.

Notes: The last time SJU recorded 550 yards or more of total offense occurred Sept. 16, 2006, at Augsburg (60-0)…Schneider scored four touchdowns (three rushing, one receiving) all of last season after leading the Johnnies with nine as a freshman in 2010…SJU is now 71-28-3 (.711) all-time record in season openers, including a 47-12-1 (.792) record under the direction of Gagliardi.