By Frank Rajkowski & Ryan Klinkner '04 

Box Score

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Metoriah Faoliu can't remember the last time he scored a touchdown. The Saint John's University senior defensive lineman thought it might have come back in middle school.

"It's been a while," he said with a smile. "That's for sure."

But his drought came to an end Saturday afternoon when Faoliu (Wildomar, Calif./Vista Murrieta) scooped up a fumble by Gustavus quarterback George Sandven on the game's opening possession and returned it 35 yards for a score.

That got the fifth-ranked Johnnies (6-1, 4-1 MIAC, 2-0 Northwoods) started on a high note on the way to a key 41-27 MIAC Northwoods Division victory before a huge Family Weekend crowd of 13,161 at a sunny and warm Clemens Stadium.

"(Teammate Cooper) Yaggie forced the fumble and I saw the ball sitting there," Faoliu said. 

"I picked it up and just tried to make a play. Suddenly, I found myself in the end zone. That was great. Whenever you can score a touchdown on defense, it always feels good."

The play gave the Johnnies an early 7-0 lead. But Gustavus (4-3, 3-2 MIAC, 2-1 Northwoods) answered back when Sandven connected with sophomore tight end Charlie Barnick on a 19-yard touchdown pass a few minutes later.

"That was a big play to start the game," SJU head coach Gary Fasching said of Faoliu's return. "Without our offense even being on the field, we were up 7-0, which is always great. But on their next few drives, we really didn't stop them. They scored a couple of times, and they had a kid drop a pass (on fourth down at the Johnnies' 34) that would have kept another drive going."

"Gustavus is a really good football team. They're talented. They have a number of fifth-year guys who came back this season. We knew this was going to be a tough game and it was."



Indeed, the momentum swung back-and-forth throughout the first half. The Gusties took their only lead of the game when freshman running back Tanner Rennie caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Sandven to make the score 21-17 with 2:05 to play in the first half.

But SJU responded with an eight-play, 65-yard scoring drive capped by a 13-yard touchdown pass from junior Aaron Syverson (Minnetonka, Minn.) to classmate Jimmy Buck (Orono, Minn.) that put the Johnnies on top 24-21 at halftime. 

"That was huge," senior tight end Alex Larson (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) said. "Any time you can score right before the half, it's a big momentum-booster."

And Larson helped SJU sustain that momentum in the third quarter, recording touchdown passes of 4 and 6 yards to expand his team's lead to 38-21. The Gusties cut the gap to 38-27 when the Johnnies fumbled a punt, giving Gustavus the ball at the SJU 3 and setting up Rennie for a 3-yard touchdown run.

But those were the only points the Johnnies allowed in the second half. SJU got a 24-yard field goal from sophomore Conor Murphy (Sioux Falls, S.D./O'Gorman) in the fourth quarter to make the score 41-27. It was his second field goal of the game, having connected from 34 yards in the first half. 

Syverson finished 22 of 38 passing for 272 yards and four touchdowns. Larson had six catches for 84 yards and the two scores. Junior running back Tony Underwood (Eagan, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) caught a career-high seven passes for 69 yards. Senior running back Henry Trost (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) led SJU's ground game with 76 yards on 16 carries.

Defensively, the Johnnies limited Gustavus to just 6:01 of possession, which consisted of 16 offensive plays for a total of 12 yards, in the second half. Faoliu finished with six tackles, including 2.5 for a loss and a sack.

"I was really pleased with the way we played in the second half," Fasching said. "Offensively, but certainly defensively. Other than the punt that we fumbled, they didn't score. That was good to see."

SJU is back in action next Saturday, Oct. 29, when it travels to Duluth to face St. Scholastica (2-5, 1-4 MIAC, 0-3 Northwoods) in another divisional game. The Saints have struggled this season, but Faoliu said it's important that his team keeps playing with a sense of urgency.

"We can't worry about anything else," Faoliu said. "We just have to keep doing what we do. If we do that, things will work out OK."

A Defensive Lineman in the End Zone
Faoliu's 35-yard fumble return for a touchdown was SJU's longest since the memorable 99-yard, scoop-and-score by now-assistant coach Max Jackson '19 on Oct. 13, 2018, against St. Thomas. The last Johnnie defensive lineman to score a touchdown was David Burns '10 – an 89-yard interception return – on Sept. 15, 2007 vs. Augsburg. Like Saturday, both plays occurred in Clemens Stadium.

Two More for A-Lar
Saturday's performance enabled Larson to climb past the tie between Mike Ramler '90 and Brett Saladin '09 for fifth on SJU's all-time list for tight ends with 76 career receptions, as well as move him above Tom Ramboldt '92 for seventh with 1,016 receiving yards. Larson now has 17 receiving touchdowns, which are two behind SJU's record for tight ends, 19, held by Nate Kirschner '01.

Second-Half Defense
The Gusties' second half consisted of six offensive possessions (16 plays for 12 yards): four three-and-outs, an interception and the 1-play, three-yard scoring drive following the Johnnies' muffed punt return.

Points in a Half
The 21 points scored by Gustavus in the first half was the most by the Gusties through the game's first two quarters against SJU since Oct. 4, 1980, when the home team jumped out to a 24-7 halftime lead en route to a 24-16 win over the Johnnies in St. Peter.

Series Update
With the win, the Johnnies improve to 53-32-3 (.619) all-time against the Gusties, including a 28-11-1 record in Collegeville (11 consecutive home wins). SJU has won 33 of the last 35 meetings overall.