Box Score
By Frank Rajkowski and Ryan Klinkner '04
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – There were a number of times in Saturday afternoon's MIAC opener against Bethel when it looked like the tide had turned against the Saint John's University football team.
And each time, senior wide receiver
Ravi Alston (Lake Elsinore, Calif./Vista Murrieta) and the Johnnies' offense was there to turn it right back, holding the line in a 31-25 victory before a crowd of 9,133 at a sun-splashed Clemens Stadium.
With the win, SJU – ranked as high as No. 5 in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division III poll – improved to 3-0. The Royals, ranked No. 13 by D3football.com, fell to 2-1.
"Whenever we see another team gaining momentum, the first thing on our offense's mind is that we've got to get back out there and score again," said Alston, who missed last week's 55-7 win over Martin Luther due to injury, but returned Saturday to record 11 catches for 159 yards and a touchdown.
"And we'll keep doing it as long as it takes."
On Saturday, it was required several times – each occasion coming after Bethel had scored to cut a double-digit Johnnies' lead to just five or six points.
Twice, the Saint John's offense answered with touchdown drives of their own, and the third time they put together a 10-play possession that ran the final 5:01 off the clock to seal the victory.
"The first quarter was a little rough, but we felt like we really kicked into gear and started finding a rhythm as the game went on," said sophomore quarterback
Aaron Syverson (Minnetonka, Minn.), whose team trailed 6-0 most of the first half before he connected with Alston on a 12-yard touchdown pass with 4:55 to go before halftime.
The touchdown sent SJU into the locker rooms up 7-6. A 25-yard field goal early in the third quarter by freshman kicker
Conor Pavelko (Sioux Falls, S.D./O'Gorman) increased that lead to 10-6, then senior running back
Devin Vouk (Sartell, Minn./Sartell-St. Stephen) expanded the margin to 17-6 when he scored the first of his two touchdowns – this one a 4-yard run with 6:32 left in the third quarter.
Vouk – a transfer from Division II St. Cloud State - finished the afternoon with 24 carries for 89 yards. He had to assume the bulk of the load in the running game after senior
Henry Trost (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) left the game with an injury.
"We knew we'd be able to run the ball today," said Vouk. "We've got a bunch of really good backs, so when someone goes down, it's always next man up. I was just trying to maximize my opportunity and help the team however I could."
A 1-yard touchdown run by Bethel's Aaron Ellingson cut the Johnnies' lead to 17-12 with 4:35 left in the third quarter before SJU answered with a seven play, 71-yard scoring drive capped by a 9-yard touchdown pass from Syverson to 6-foot-7 junior tight end
Alex Larson (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge).
Then, after Bethel quarterback Jaran Roste scored on a 4-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 24-19 early in the fourth quarter, the Johnnies drove 92 yards in seven plays to score on a 1-yard run by Vouk.
Bethel hung in there, scoring on a 58-yard pass from Roste to Joey Kidder to cut the gap to 31-25 with 5:08 still to play. But the offense made sure that was the last time the Royals saw the ball, converting twice on third down on their final drive, including an acrobatic 10-yard catch by Alston on 3rd-and-four at the Johnnies' 41.
SJU also had a big fourth-down conversion when Vouk carried for three yards on 4th-and-1 at the Bethel 40.
"We know we just have to keep grinding," Alston said. "Once the offense started picking things up, we knew everything we wanted was right there. It was just a matter of getting into a rhythm and keeping it going."
A Game Won in the Trenches
SJU's defense held the Royals to 61 yards on 26 carries (2.3 avg.), while the Johnnies smashed for 147 yards on 44 attempts (3.3). The home team out-gained BU, which entered the game with the third-best scoring defense in NCAA Division III (7.0 ppg.), by a 425-294 margin.
MIAC Openers
The Johnnies improved to 68-24-7 (.722) all-time in their first MIAC game of the season, including a 33-10-4 (.745) record in Collegeville and a 5-0 record against Bethel (3-0 in Collegeville and 2-0 on the road). It took SJU until its 11th season in the MIAC to win its first conference game of the season, a 7-0 home shutout of Hamline on Oct. 3, 1931. SJU was 0-6-4 in its first 10 conference openers and is 68-18-3 (.781) since.
Having the Royals' Number
The Johnnies are now 33-9 all-time against the Royals, including a 19-3 record in Collegeville. SJU won the first 20 meetings in the series before BU won nine of the next 15 from 1999-2013. The Johnnies, however, have responded with seven consecutive victories by a 199-89 margin.
See You Again in November?
SJU (Northwoods Division) and BU (Skyline Division) could meet again Nov. 13 in Arden Hills for MIAC Championship Week, the conference's crossover games for the regular-season finale. Each division's top teams will meet, second-place teams and so forth down the standings. The Skyline Division teams are set to host that week's games in odd-numbered years (2021).
On the Bus for the First Time in 2021
The Johnnies make their first road trip of the 2021 season to Moorhead next Saturday, Oct. 2, for a 1 p.m. kickoff against Concordia.
