Box Score | SJU Press Conference | Lake Forest Press Conference

By Frank Rajkowski and Ryan Klinkner '04

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - If senior running back Devin Vouk (Sartell, Minn./Sartell-St. Stephen) felt the slightest bit nervous heading into his first playoff game as a member of the Saint John's University football team Saturday, it certainly didn't show.

Vouk carried the ball 17 times for a career-high 143 yards and two touchdowns, while also hauling in a 16-yard touchdown pass, as the Johnnies rolled past Lake Forest (Ill.) 41-14 in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs before a crowd of 2,833 on a sunny Saturday, Nov. 20, in Clemens Stadium.

"It feels great to have your number called like that," said Vouk, who transferred to Saint John's after Division II St. Cloud State dropped its football program following the 2019 season.

"It shows the coaches have that trust in you to do your job, handle all those carries and move on to another week."

No. 5 SJU improved to 11-0 overall and advances to host No. 6 Linfield (Ore.) in the second round at noon next Saturday, Nov. 27, in Collegeville. The Wildcats (10-0) defeated Redlands (Calif.) 44-10 in their first-round game Saturday.



"I felt like we accomplished what we set out to do today," SJU head coach Gary Fasching '81 said. "We got off to a great start. The second quarter wasn't great. But at halftime we talked about getting back out there and establishing the line of scrimmage and I thought we did that. 

"We got some great runs from Devin today."

Starting on SJU's second possession of the game – a drive kept alive by a costly roughing-the-kicker call against Lake Forest on a Johnnie punting attempt. Two plays after that call gave his team new life, Vouk rumbled 50 yards down the SJU sideline for a touchdown that put his team on top 6-0 early.

"Henry (Trost) is a little banged up right now," said Vouk of his backfield mate, who played sparingly Saturday. "I knew we were just going to see how he was feeling. I came in ready to do my job."

That touchdown opened the offensive floodgates as the Johnnies got three unanswered touchdown passes from senior Chris Backes (13 yards to senior Ravi Alston, 16 yards to Vouk and 27 yards to sophomore Jimmy Buck) to take a 27-0 lead with 13:13 still remaining in the first half.



"That's a heckuva football team we played out there," said LF coach Jim Cantanzaro, whose team – the champions of the Midwest Conference – finished its season 11-1 overall.

"They're going to go on to do some great things."

Cantanzaro's team rallied after Buck's touchdown catch, getting a safety and a 4-yard touchdown catch by junior A.J. Jackson to cut the gap to 27-8 at halftime. 

But Vouk scored on a 1-yard run in the third quarter and junior tight end Alex Larson (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) followed with a 20-yard touchdown catch to put the game out of reach.

"The best thing about playing quarterback here is getting the ball into the hands of our playmakers," said Backes, who finished 10 of 18 passing for 120 yards and four touchdowns before giving way to sophomore Cooper Downs (Ames, Iowa) in the second half.

"Devin had a great day today. (Senior) Matt Mohr had some big catches and runs. Everybody knows what Ravi can do. Alex Larson comes up big whenever he has to. Whether it's throwing the ball 10 times or throwing it 50 times, it doesn't matter. You just have to put up points on offense and we did that today."

The Johnnies defense, meanwhile, held a Lake Forest offense that entered play averaging 392.9 yards per game in total offense, to just 164, including only 64 yards on the ground. 

Junior defensive lineman Michael Wozniak (New Hope, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) led the way, finishing with six tackles, including 4.5 for a loss, and 2.5 sacks.

"We do the same thing every game no matter who we're going against," Wozniak said. "Sometimes the play falls into you. Against Bethel last week, I felt like I did the same stuff I did today. They just ran something a little different schematically. Today I got lucky and there were a couple of times it came into my hands. But other games, it may be (teammates) Metoriah (Faoliu) or Seth (Morem). Everybody does their job and lets the chips fall where they may."

Now it's on to a showdown with Linfield next week. The Wildcats were ranked as high as No. 6 in the final American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) poll of the regular season. 

"Each one gets harder," Fasching said. "That's the beauty of a bracket championship like this. You're going to play a great team, then the next week, you're going to play someone even better."

100 Rushing Yards in the Playoffs
Vouk's 143-yard rushing performance was the first 100-yard game by a Johnnie in the postseason since Dusty Krueger '18 (119 yards on 15 carries) on Nov. 18, 2017, at North Central (Ill.) and the most since Sam Sura '16 rumbled to 147 yards and three touchdowns on 28 carries against St. Scholastica on Nov. 22, 2014, in Collegeville.

First-Round Wins
With the win, SJU is now 43-24 (.642) all-time in NCAA Division III playoff games, including a 20-4 record (.833) in the first round. The Johnnies have won 16 of their last 17 NCAA Playoff games in Collegeville, out-scoring the opposition by a 688-299 margin.

Johnnies vs. Wildcats
Saturday's second-round meeting with Linfield will be the first between the two programs since a 31-25 SJU home win in the 2003 Division III quarterfinals. The Johnnies are 3-0 all-time against the Wildcats, including a 33-0 shutout in the 1965 NAIA national title game. The second meeting was a 21-14 win, John Gagliardi's 400th, in the 2002 NCAA quarterfinals.