Box Score

NORTHFIELD, Minn. – No. 4 Saint John's football scored 41 unanswered points, including 34 in the second half, in a 54-17 win at St. Olaf on Saturday, Oct. 26, in Northfield.

Senior quarterback Jackson Erdmann (Rosemount, Minn.) broke his own school records for passing yards and yards of total offense in the win. He finished 25 of 36 passing for 496 yards and four touchdowns, and led the Johnnies with a career-high 67 yards on 10 carries (for 563 yards of offense). The totals surpassed his previous records (470 passing, 456 total offense) set in the 2018 Johnnie-Tommie game.

700+ Yards
The Johnnies (7-0, 6-0 MIAC) rolled to 749 yards of offense on 68 plays (11.0 avg.), including 396 in the second half alone, against the Oles. The total is the second-most in school history, six yards from the record of 755 posted in the Johnnies' 77-12 win at Bethel on Oct. 16, 1993 (John Gagliardi's 300th career victory).

Most recently, SJU accrued 717 yards of offense in last year's 84-6 NCAA playoff win over Martin Luther. Saturday's 700-yard game was the first for the Johnnies in conference play since Nov. 2, 2002 (709 in the 48-28 home win over St. Thomas).

In a Groove
The school-record 496 yards stand as Erdmann's third consecutive game of 300+ passing yards (second consecutive of 400+). The total enabled him to break his tie with Kurt Ramler (1993-96) for second in school history with nine 300-yard passing games and is now one behind Alex Kofoed's (2004-07) school record of 10.

Erdmann has a .696 completion percentage (128 of 184), 206.44 pass-efficiency rating, 2,197 passing yards and 21 touchdowns (to one interception) in his last six games. The lone game that he did not reach 300 passing yards during that span was Oct. 5 against Augsburg (255 yards), in which he tallied a season-high five touchdown passes.



Mobile Quarterbacks
In addition to Erdmann's team-leading 67 yards, sophomore quarterback Ryan Koob (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) was close behind with 57 yards on a fourth-quarter scamper and junior quarterback Chris Backes (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) added 35 yards on three attempts.

3 TD's and 107 (!?) Receiving Yards for Kai
Senior running back Kai Barber (Minneapolis, Minn./Totino-Grace) recorded a pair of career highs, total touchdowns (3) and receiving yards (107), on the afternoon. The bruising back opened the scoring with a 6-yard touchdown run near the halfway mark of the first quarter and caught an 88-yard touchdown pass on a fly route from Erdmann eight minutes later. Barber gave SJU a 20-17 lead on a 9-yard touchdown run with 6:46 left in the first half and finished with 145 yards from scrimmage (38 rushing, 107 receiving) on only seven touches.

14 Points in 14 Seconds
St. Olaf (5-2, 3-2 MIAC) cut its deficit to 13-10 with a 4-yard touchdown run, on 4th-and-goal, from quarterback Lars Prestemon with 12:12 left in the second quarter. The Johnnies fumbled the ensuing kickoff on their own 25-yard line, but a sideline-interference penalty on the Oles pushed the ball back to the 40-yard line. The infraction had little effect, however, as Prestemon connected with Gonzalo Pirela on a flea flicker for a 40-yard touchdown pass on the first play to give STO a 17-13 lead at the 11:58 mark.

Trosting the Oles
The Oles attempted an onside kick to start the second half, but senior safety Sam McNamara (Goodhue, Minn.) recovered it on the STO 44-yard line. Four plays later, Erdmann hit sophomore running back Henry Trost (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) with a screen pass for a 26-yard score. He added a 1-yard touchdown on SJU's next possession to give the Johnnies a 33-17 lead with 6:06 left in the second quarter and finished with 51 yards from scrimmage.

Trost totaled 211 yards from scrimmage, including his first 100-yard rushing performance, in last year's 57-7 win over the Oles in Collegeville. He rushed for 159 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown run, on only five carries and caught a 52-yard touchdown pass.

Another Chisago Speedster
Sophomore wide receiver Matt Mohr (Chisago City, Minn./Chisago Lakes) snagged a 92-yard touchdown pass from Erdmann, the third-longest pass reception in school history, with 12:41 to play. The play enabled Mohr to eclipse the 100-yard mark for the first time in his career (two catches for 108 yards). Saturday's game marked the first for SJU in which it recorded two touchdown passes of 80 yards or more.

99-Yard Scoring Drive
Mohr's catch-and-sprint capped a 2-play, 99-yard scoring drive; just the third 99-yard scoring drive in SJU's recorded history. The most recent 99-yard scoring drive was, ironically, a 13-play trek in the Johnnies' 20-14 overtime win on Oct. 25, 2008, at St. Olaf.

A Tale of Two Halves
STO finished with 319 yards of offense, 95 of which came in the second half. The Oles were 3-for-8 on third down and punted on all six of their possessions after halftime. SJU, meanwhile, collected 396 yards of offense and punted once; a career-best 56-yarder from freshman Cole Milz (Laporte, Minn./Bemidji).

Three With 100
In addition to the career highs from Barber and Mohr, sophomore wide receiver T.J. Hodge (Miami, Fla./Doral Academy) joined in the fun with 116 yards on four catches for his fourth 100-yard receiving game of the season. Although he did not reach the 100-yard plateau, sophomore wide receiver Ravi Alston (Lake Elsinore, Calif./Vista Murrieta) caught a career-high 10 passes for 94 yards. His 4-yard touchdown reception made it 40-17 with 2:28 left in the third quarter. 

Mr. October
Move over, Reggie Jackson. The Johnnies have now compiled a perfect 25-0 record during the month of October in Gary Fasching's seven seasons as head coach.

Next Week
The Johnnies return home to host Concordia-Moorhead (2-5, 2-3 MIAC) for a 1 p.m. game next Saturday, Nov. 2, in Clemens Stadium.