By Frank Rajkowski and Ryan Klinkner '04

Box Score

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – All the emotion and drama of a back-and-forth afternoon shown clearly on the face of Saint John's University senior defensive end Collin Franz (Otsego, Minn./Rogers) on Saturday, Sept. 4.

But his weary smile left little doubt as to the final outcome.

"We knew Aurora was a good football team," said Franz, who stripped the ball from the Spartans' All-American quarterback Gavin Zimbelman on 4th-and-goal at his team's 1-yard line with 17 seconds left to play to preserve a 39-33 season-opening victory for SJU before a crowd of 8,688 at a sun-soaked Clemens Stadium.

"I'm just glad we could step up and make a few plays when we needed to."

Indeed, despite the fact Zimbelman finished with 341 passing yards and threw for five touchdowns against a Johnnie defense that featured 10 players making their first collegiate starts, Franz and company came up big when they needed to.

SJU sacked Zimbelman three times and applied a steady amount of pressure all afternoon, even if the veteran (who threw for 432 yards and six touchdowns when the Johnnies edged Aurora 51-47 in a wild NCAA Division III first-round playoff matchup in 2019) was able to escape and make plays on a number of occasions.



Franz, who finished with three tackles, also had a key block on a PAT attempt after Aurora scored on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Zimbelman to junior Brock Harner with 36 seconds left to play in the second quarter.

That touchdown gave the Spartans a 20-14 halftime lead. But as was often the case Saturday, the Johnnies answered back when sophomore quarterback Aaron Syverson (Minnetonka, Minn.) connected on the second of two touchdown passes he threw to junior tight end Aaron Larson (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) early in the third quarter.

The 26-yard scoring strike put SJU on top 21-20. The lead then see-sawed back-and-forth four times before a 9-yard touchdown run from senior running back Devin Vouk (Sartell, Minn./Sartell-St. Stephen) gave the Johnnies a six-point lead with 3:12 to play.

"There was no quit today," Franz said. "We played team defense, the offense was clicking. We never gave up on anything."

But neither did Aurora, which promptly marched 55 yards in 10 plays to move the ball to the SJU 1-yard line before Franz cornered Zimbelman and forced a fumble that senior defensive lineman Seth Morem (Red Wing, Minn.) recovered on the Johnnies' 10 to put the game away.

"Zimbelman is a great quarterback," Franz said. "One of the best we'll see this year. So we knew he'd make plays. We just had to hang in there."

630 Days
Neither team played a fall schedule last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Johnnies, who elected not to play a competitive spring schedule and were playing in their first game since the Division III national semifinals in 2019 (a span of 630 days), entered play ranked No. 6 in the D3football.com preseason poll. Aurora, which went 3-0 last spring, was ranked No. 23.

Trost Leads Offense
SJU finished with 520 yards of total offense, including 236 on the ground, while surrendering 423 yards of offense to the Spartans. Senior running back Henry Trost (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) led the way with 22 carries for 148 yards and two touchdowns. It marked the third time in his collegiate career that Trost has crossed the 100-yard mark, all in Clemens Stadium. 

Johnnie Debut
Seeing his first "real" game action since the Minnesota State High School All-Star Game in December 2018, Syverson threw for 281 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for 45 yards on five attempts. He spent the past two seasons at Division I Colorado State, redshirting in 2019 and making the team's travel roster last fall. But because of an NCAA ruling allowing athletes an extra year of eligibility due to the impact of COVID-19, he has four years of collegiate eligibility remaining.

"It was fantastic," Syverson said of his day. "The atmosphere was great. Everything was amazing."

Larson Looms Large
Six-foot-seven Larson finished with six catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns in his first career start. The 100-yard receiving game was the first by an SJU tight end since Nick Simon '16 in 2015 (nine catches for 116 yards vs. St. Thomas).

New Face, Leading Tackler
Junior safety Ethan Stark (Sartell, Minn./Sartell-St. Stephen), one of several players like Vouk to transfer to SJU after nearby Division II school St. Cloud State dropped their football program, led the team in tackles Saturday with 10 (nine solo). He tied for SJU's fastest 40-yard dash time at 4.48 seconds in August.

Starting Out 1-0
The Johnnies are now 79-28-3 (.732) all-time in their season opener, including an 8-0 record under the direction of head coach Gary Fasching '81. The Johnnies have won each of their last 16 season openers, 17 of their last 18, and 33 of their last 37 (since 1984).

See You in Two Weeks
The Johnnies return following their bye week with a 1 p.m. kickoff against Martin Luther on Saturday, Sept. 18, in Clemens Stadium.