Box ScoreARDEN HILLS, Minn. – No. 13 Saint John's football forced four turnovers and held Bethel to 223 yards of offense in a 21-0 shutout of the Royals on Saturday, Nov. 7, in Arden Hills.
The win was the first for SJU at Royal Stadium since 2005.
Senior quarterback
Nick Martin (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) accounted for all three touchdowns in the first half for SJU (8-1, 6-1 MIAC). He connected with senior wide receiver
Josh Bungum (Paynesville, Minn.) for an 18-yard touchdown pass on the Johnnies' opening possession to give the visitors an early 7-0 lead.
SJU found itself in prime real estate on Bethel's 16-yard line late in the first quarter thanks to a blocked punt by freshman defensive lineman
Nathan Brinker (Avon, Minn./Holdingford). Martin took it over from five yards out four plays later to make it 14-0.
The Johnnies' defense forced its third consecutive three-and-out on the ensuing drive and SJU took over on its own 44-yard line. Martin hooked up with senior tight end
Nick Simon (New Ulm, Minn./Cathedral) for a 31-yard touchdown pass six plays later with 10:25 to play in the first half. Simon caught three passes for 51 yards.
Senior All-American running back
Sam Sura (South St. Paul, Minn.) carried the ball 35 times for 122 yards in the win, his seventh 100-yard rushing performance of the season and 17th of his career. He was held out of the end zone for the first time this season. Sura needs three carries to pass Chris Moore (1997-00) for SJU's all-time record and one 100-yard rushing game to tie Tim Schmitz (1974-77) for the program record. He is 222 rushing yards from Schmitz's school record of 3,933.
Martin ended the day 7 of 14 passing for 99 yards and the two touchdowns, and added 27 yards and the other score on 10 carries.
Senior linebacker
Drake Matuska (Kasson, Minn./Kasson-Mantorville) led the SJU defense with eight tackles (two solo). Junior safety
Garrett Ackerman (Temecula, Calif./Great Oak), senior safety
Randy Perez (Murrieta, Calif./Vista Murrieta) and senior cornerback
Trevor Warner (Murrieta, Calif./Vista Murrieta) each recorded an interception, while junior linebacker
Jack Pietruszewski (South St. Paul, Minn.) pounced on a BU fumble.
The Johnnies end their regular season with a 1 p.m. kickoff against St. Olaf next Saturday, Nov. 14, in Clemens Stadium.
Notes: SJU has now out-scored Bethel 52-8 the last two seasons, its largest margin of back-to-back wins since 2004-05 (67-9)…the shutout of BU is the first for the Johnnies since 2004 (37-0) and the first in Arden Hills since 1984 (42-0)…the last time SJU recorded two shutouts in the same season was 2011, when it book-ended its season with shutouts against Northwestern (34-0) in the season opener and Hamline (61-0) in the season finale.
