Box Score

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – No. 9 Saint John's football scored points on its first seven offensive possessions and forced six Carleton turnovers en route to a 59-0 Homecoming win on Saturday, Sept. 22, at Clemens Stadium.

Junior quarterback Jackson Erdmann (Rosemount, Minn.) led SJU (3-0, 2-0 MIAC) on its first five drives and ended the day 9 of 10 passing for 179 yards and 3 touchdowns. He connected with senior wide receiver Joey Eckhoff (Northfield, Minn.) for a 63-yard touchdown pass on the game's first offensive play. 

SJU totaled 545 yards of offense, including 287 on the ground, and eight different Johnnies scored touchdowns on the afternoon. Seven Johnnies rushed for 20 yards or more.



Mr. Efficient
Erdmann boasts a 234.0 pass-efficiency rating thanks to a .692 completion percentage (36 of 52), 651 passing yards and 10 touchdowns through the season's first three games (8.5 quarters of play). He passed Connor Bruns (2010-13) for 10th on SJU's all-time passing yards list with an even 3,800. He is also fifth in passing touchdowns (55) and 11th in completions (253).

Solid Defense
Carleton (1-3, 0-2 MIAC) entered Saturday's contest with NCAA Division III's 17th-best passing attack at 335.7 passing yards and 4.3 passing touchdowns per game. SJU's starting defense held Christian Zaytoun to 6 of 15 passing for 52 yards and an interception. Zaytoun returned in the third quarter and finished with 165 yards on a 19-for-31 showing.

Kalina-LaCasse Strikes Again
A week after senior defensive lineman Ted Kalina (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) and junior safety Ryan LaCasse (Mountlake Terrace, Wash.) combined to record SJU's first blocked field goal return for a touchdown in program's rich history, the two made their presence known once again with big plays on the defensive side of the ball for SJU. Kalina recorded two sacks, including a strip-sack fumble of Zaytoun early in the second quarter. Senior running back Adam Essler (New London, Minn./New London-Spicer) sprinted for a 29-yard touchdown three plays later to give SJU a 38-0 lead. Kalina also tallied two quarterback hurries in two quarters of play.

LaCasse, meanwhile, recovered the second-quarter fumble forced by Kalina and intercepted Zaytoun late in the first quarter. His 30-yard return down to the Knights' 23-yard line set up the Johnnies' third touchdown of the game, a 2-yard run by junior running back Kai Barber (Minneapolis, Minn./Totino-Grace).



Lotsa Turnovers
The six turnovers forced by SJU were the most since St. Scholastica committed eight turnovers in the Johnnies' 35-7 win Nov. 22, 2014, in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs.

Series History
The Johnnies are now 36-0 all-time against Carleton, including an 18-0 record in Collegeville. SJU has out-scored the Knights 1,548-319 (43.0-8.9 avg.) in the series, including a 264-3 advantage with four consecutive shutouts in the last five meetings.

Shutout No. 2 of the Season
The shutout was the 179th in school history, the 22nd on Homecoming, the 10th in 60 games for head coach Gary Fasching and the 62nd with defensive coordinator Jerry Haugen '76 on staff (62 shutouts in 467 games, 13.3 percent).

Tied for Second
The MIAC win was the 35th in Fasching's six-year tenure (35-7 MIAC record), which ties him with Joe Benda for the second most in SJU history. The leader, of course, is John Gagliardi with 362 (362-99-9 MIAC record).

Homecoming Success
SJU is now 69-20-2 (.769) in 91 known Homecoming games dating back to 1924, including a 3-0 record against Carleton. The Johnnies have won 28 of their last 33 Homecoming games.

Homecoming Points
The 59 points are the most by SJU on Homecoming since Sept. 28, 2002 (59-20 win over St. Olaf). The program's record for points on Homecoming Day is 69 (69-0), set Oct. 9, 1993, against Hamline. SJU defeated Carleton 64-7 in 1996's Homecoming game held Oct. 5.

What's Next?
The Johnnies travel to face Augsburg for a 1 p.m. kickoff next Saturday, Sept. 29, at Edor Nelson Field in Minneapolis.