Box Score

By Frank Rajkowski and Ryan Klinkner '04

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – If Henry Trost (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) was feeling any ill effects from a shoulder injury that kept him out of action last week, the Saint John's University senior running back certainly wasn't showing it Saturday afternoon.

Instead, it was Trost inflicting the pain on the Augsburg defense, blasting his way to four first-half touchdowns as the Johnnies – ranked as high as No. 5 in the latest American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division III Top 25 poll – improved to 5-0 (3-0 MIAC) with a 50-0 shutout of the Auggies before a Homecoming crowd of 9,891 at Clemens Stadium.

"It felt good," said Trost of a torn left labrum suffered in a win over Bethel on Sept. 25 that caused him to miss last week's 49-0 win at Concordia.

"It really didn't bother me at all today. I had the right protection and I felt good to go."

Indeed, it appeared that way when Trost scored on touchdown runs of 7, 6, 38 and 1 yard as SJU opened up a 36-0 lead at halftime. He finished the game with 11 carries for 107 yards and a two-point conversion, and his four rushing touchdowns were one shy of tying a single-game school record.



"All the credit has to go to my offensive line," said Trost, who put on almost 30 pounds from his playing weight two years ago to better withstand the hits that have come with his increased workload this fall.

"They opened up the holes and I just took advantage of them."

The Johnnie defense, meanwhile, recorded its second-straight shutout and is now allowing opponents an average of just 13 points-per-game. SJU forced five Augsburg turnovers Saturday, including three interceptions.

The defense also recorded two sacks and stopped the Auggies on fourth down three times. Junior linebacker Erik Bjork (Mahtomedi, Minn.) led the way with nine tackles. Senior linebacker Kyle Kornovich (Rogers, Minn.) finished with seven tackles and two sacks.



"We had a couple of breakdowns in the first half, but whenever we needed a play, we got an interception or a tackle-for-loss or a sack," SJU head coach Gary Fasching '81 said. "The defense came through when we needed them to."

Saturday's win marked the end of MIAC crossover play for SJU. Beginning with next week's home matchup against St. Olaf, the Johnnies start play in the Northwoods Division (made up of Gustavus Adolphus, St. Olaf, Carleton and St. Scholastica).

"We measure ourselves by how much we improve from week-to-week," Fasching said. "I thought we made a lot of mistakes today. We had way too many penalties. I wasn't happy about that. Overall, though, we're where we need to be as a team.

"Every week from here on out is super, super important. It's not that these past games haven't been important, but if we don't win our division, we don't go to the (NCAA) playoffs. It's as simple as that."

Trost Touchdowns
Trost has now scored 24 touchdowns, including 20 rushing, over his last 18 games. Trost has 1,113 rushing yards on 151 career attempts, an average of 7.4 yards per carry, and 1,632 yards from scrimmage on 180 career touches (9.1 avg.).

Another Chisago Lakes Grad
Senior wide receiver Matt Mohr (Chisago City, Minn./Chisago Lakes) returned from an injury suffered in the season opener and caught seven passes for 110 yards, including a 40-yard touchdown that ended the starting offense's day in the first series of the second half.

Another Defensive Challenge Answered
A week after SJU's defense held Concordia to 163 yards through the air in Oct. 2's 49-0 shutout in Moorhead (the Cobbers entered the contest eighth in NCAA Division III in passing offense at 345.0 yards per game), the Johnnies came through once again against a nationally ranked offense. Augsburg quarterback Cade Sheehan, the reigning MIAC Offensive Player of the Week, started the day fifth nationally in both total offense (345.2 ypg.) and passing touchdowns (18). Sheehan finished 13 of 27 passing for 128 yards and two interceptions, and eight yards rushing on 11 attempts.

Sheehan's favorite target, sophomore wide receiver Dominic Smith, was second in Division III in receiving touchdowns (9), third in receiving yards per game (136.8) and fourth in receptions per game (8.8). Smith was targeted 10 times and caught five passes for 59 yards.

As a team, the Auggies were ninth in the country on third down at 56.7 percent (34-for-60) but finished 3-for-11 (27.3 percent) against SJU.

Morem in the Backfield
Senior defensive end Seth Morem (Red Wing, Minn.) matched Kornovich's two tackles for loss and added a quarterback sack. He currently leads the MIAC in tackles for loss (7) and is tied for first in sacks (3.5).

INT's
Senior cornerback Tommy Deters (Maple Plain, Minn./Orono) recorded the first of SJU's three interceptions in the game - the second of his career - with a nifty tip-toe near the sideline on the Auggies' opening possession of the game. Kornovich snagged his first career interception on the first play of the second quarter and junior linebacker Chad Mrachek (Orono, Minn.) picked off his first pass with an athletic play with 8:23 remaining. Mrachek batted Caleb Kasa's pass into the air and came up with the ball on the Auggies' 38-yard line.

70th Homecoming Win
SJU improved to 70-20-2 (.772) in 92 known Homecoming games dating back to 1924, including a 15-2 record against Augsburg. The Johnnies have now won 30 of their last 35 Homecoming games.

Win No. 75
Saturday's Homecoming win was also the 75th of Fasching's career as head coach. He now touts a 75-14 record (.843), including a 51-8 (.864) mark in conference play.

Family Weekend Next Saturday
The Johnnies play host to St. Olaf as part of Family Weekend at 1 p.m. next Saturday, Oct. 16, in Clemens Stadium.