Box Score

By Frank Rajkowski and Ryan Klinkner '04 

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – If the fifth-ranked Saint John's University football team was going to have a chance to defeat fourth-ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater in its season opener Saturday afternoon, Johnnies' senior All-American defensive lineman Michael Wozniak (New Hope, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) knew there was a formula his team would have to follow.

"(Head coach Gary Fasching) every year pulls up a Microsoft Word doc that looks at the past 10 years," Wozniak said. "And, in the games we've won, the difference is turnovers and big plays. We didn't play perfect today. But we limited the big plays, we got turnovers and we took advantage of their mistakes."

Indeed, the Johnnies capitalized on two safeties, both coming on botched Warhawks snaps, and three big turnovers, which resulted in 14 points. The end result was a 24-10 victory before a crowd of 12,462 at a sunny and warm Clemens Stadium.



It marked the Johnnies' first win over the Warhawks since the 2002 regular season, which happened to be the last time the two teams met in Collegeville. Wisconsin-Whitewater had won four-straight postseason matchups in the series, including in the Division III national semifinals in 2019.

"They're not only just a good team, they're a great team and they've been a great team and a great program for a long time," Wozniak said. "We knew coming into this game that how we performed against a national power would help determine our level of confidence going into the rest of the year. Winning this game was huge. But playing our brand of football, limiting mistakes and capitalizing on theirs, was even bigger. 

"Not just for today, but in establishing what we can do going forward."

Wozniak and the defense played a huge role in making that happen. The Johnnies held the Warhawks to just 12 total yards on five fourth-quarter possessions with the game's outcome still well in doubt. In fact, UWW totaled only four yards, combined, on its final seven offensive drives of the game.

That included a (-5) yard possession after Wisconsin-Whitewater recovered a muffed punt at the SJU 33-yard line with the Johnnies leading just 18-10. The Warhawks were forced to punt the ball away, and five plays later, junior quarterback Aaron Syverson (Minnetonka, Minn.) connected with senior tight end Alex Larson (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) on a 9-yard touchdown pass to expand the margin to 14 (24-10).

From there, Wisconsin-Whitewater punted the ball away, then turned it over on downs on its final two possessions. The Warhawks were held without a first down the entire fourth quarter.

"Our defense came to play today," said Larson, a 2021 All-American who had nine catches for 84 yards and two touchdowns. "They took control of this game. To only allow 10 points against a team like this is a real statement. We couldn't have asked for more from them."

The defense also came up big at the end of the first half, forcing Wisconsin-Whitewater to settle for a 24-yard field goal attempt after the Warhawks had advanced as far as the Johnnies' 2-yard line. The kick missed wide right and SJU went into halftime leading, 9-3.

The Johnnies ended the afternoon with five quarterback sacks – three by Wozniak alone – and held the Warhawks to 89 yards rushing.

"With how good our defensive line is, teams don't have a long time to throw the ball," said senior safety Ethan Stark (Sartell, Minn./Sartell-St. Stephen), who had four tackles and broke up two passes. "Our defensive backs knew we had to be ready and we practiced that a lot this week."

"We told our guys to win a game like this you have to play great defense," Fasching said. "And I couldn't have been happier about the way our guys played. Especially our guys up front – Wozniak and Metoriah (Faoliu) and the rest of the defensive line. They did such a great job."

Meanwhile, Syverson and the offense made enough plays to win. In his first game back since suffering a season-ending broken leg at Gustavus Adolphus in the seventh game a year ago, he threw for 269 yards and three touchdowns with one interception.

""It felt great," he said. "I thought I might get a little nervous beforehand because it's been a while. But I was just excited. Getting back out here and playing with the guys was definitely a great feeling."
 
"We know we didn't play as well as we need to offensively. But we played as well as we needed to today. That's a big thing. We know we need to get better. If we play this way every week, we might not always win. But to get a win today meant a lot."

Nos. 9 and 10 for Larson
The pair of receiving touchdowns enabled Larson to move into seventh place on SJU's all-time list for tight ends with 10, in only 12 games played at the position. 

Two Safeties
The two-safety game was the first for SJU in program history. Before Saturday, the previous safety occurred Nov. 4, 2017, as part of the Johnnies' 72-6 win at Hamline. Similar to the second safety against Whitewater, the two points were gained against the Pipers thanks to a poor snap from center on a punt.

Woz Sacks
A unanimous preseason All-American, Wozniak has now registered an eye-popping 10 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks in his last three games.

Kohler at Corner
A native of Wisconsin, senior cornerback John Kohler (Birchwood, Wis./Rice Lake) made his first start since the 2019 season and wrestled away an interception on the Warhawks' first possession of the game. He played all 14 games (13 starts) as a sophomore at safety in 2019, but suffered an injury prior to the 2021 season and missed all of last year.

Season-Opening Success Continues
SJU is now 80-28-3 (.734) all-time in its season opener, including a 9-0 record under the direction of Fasching. The Johnnies have won each of their last 17 season openers, 18 of their last 19, and 34 of their last 38 (since 1984).

Rare Regular-Season Loss
The loss was just the third for Wisconsin-Whitewater in its last 38 regular-season games. The other two losses were both on the road at Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 2017 (37-20) and 2019 (27-20). The Johnnies are 45-2 in their last 47 regular-season games.

Up Next
The Johnnies host No. 18 Wisconsin-River Falls at 1 p.m. next Saturday, Sept. 10, in Clemens Stadium. UWRF overpowered Elmhurst (Ill.) with wide statistical margins in total offense (560-79), passing yards (328-48) and first downs (33-6) in a 63-0 victory today.