Box ScoreCOLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – No. 9 Saint John's rolled to a 45-9, season-opening win over Dubuque (Iowa) on Saturday, Sept. 5, in Clemens Stadium.The Johnnies held UD to three-and-outs on its first four possessions and scored points, a total of 24, on the first four drives of their own.Senior running back
Sam Sura (South St. Paul, Minn.) took over right where he left his All-America season last fall with 152 yards and a touchdown on 18 attempts, an average of 8.4 yards per carry, in only three quarters of play.
Senior quarterback
Nick Martin (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) registered an efficient afternoon, going 14 of 18 passing for 138 yards and a touchdown. He also added 25 yards and two touchdowns on six carries.
Junior running back
Antoine Taylor (Sherman Oaks, Calif./North Hollywood) added a one-yard touchdown late in the first half and junior wide receiver
Evan Clark (Phoenix, Ariz./Apollo) caught a pair of touchdowns, 18 and four yards, in the second half. Clark also averaged 31.7 yards on three kick returns.
A career-long, 43-yard field goal from junior kicker
Alexi Johnson (Shakopee, Minn.) with 6:07 to play in the opening quarter was sandwiched by Martin's pair of rushing touchdowns. The first, from 22 yards out, was on fourth-and-three, while the second was of the one-yard variety.
Sura's 23-yard touchdown run was on fourth-and-one, the first play of the second quarter.
Curtis Prull cut SJU's lead to 31-3 at halftime and the Spartans put together a 15-play, 87-yard scoring drive late in the third quarter. Alec Arvanitakis dove in from one yard out but the pass for the two-point conversion fell incomplete.
SJU was 2-for-12 (.167) on third down, but a perfect 5-for-5 on fourth down and 4-for-4 in its red-zone opportunities.
Senior wide receiver
Josh Bungum (Paynesville, Minn.) caught eight passes for 85 yards and returned a punt for 43 yards. The performance enabled him to pass Todd Fultz (1988-90) for fourth in school history with 163 career receptions, and move to within two of Chris Palmer (1992-95) in third, and Ryan Murray (1990-93) for ninth with 1,870 career receiving yards.
Junior linebacker
Carter Hanson (Blue Earth, Minn./Blue Earth Area) and senior safety
Randy Perez (Murrieta, Calif./Vista Murrieta) led SJU with eight tackles apiece. Hanson added a tackle for a loss and Perez chipped in a forced fumble. Senior cornerback
Trevor Warner (Murrieta, Calif./Vista Murrieta) tallied four solo tackles, a quarterback sack and an interception, the 10th of his career.
The Johnnies play host to another member of the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Buena Vista, for a 1 p.m. kickoff next Saturday, Sept. 12, in Clemens Stadium.
Notes: The 100-yard rushing performance was the 11th of Sura's career, which ties him with Matt Malmberg (1991-94) and Chris Moore (1997-00) for second-most in school history…Tim Schmitz (1974-77) owns the school record with 18…Sura needs three carries next Saturday to jump Malmberg for sixth on the SJU list…Johnson's first-quarter field goal tied him with Brandon Keller (2001-04) for third-most in school history at 22…the Johnnies are now 74-28-3 (.719) all-time in season openers, including a 42-16-3 record (.713) when the game is played in Collegeville…with the victory, SJU moved to 16-5 all-time against IIAC members, including a 10-1 record in Collegeville.
