Box Score
MOORHEAD, Minn. – Now they wait.
Senior quarterback
Aaron Syverson (Minnetonka, Minn.) and the rest of the Saint John's University football team took care of the business they needed to Saturday afternoon, defeating Concordia 48-21 on the road at Jake Christiansen Stadium to close out the regular season as part of MIAC crossover week.
The Johnnies (8-2, 7-1 MIAC) will find out Sunday afternoon if that was enough to earn them one of four at-large bids available to the 32-team NCAA Division III playoff field. The postseason pairings will be announced at 4 p.m. (CST). Bethel, the MIAC Skyline Division Champion, earned the conference's automatic postseason bid by defeating Northwoods Division champion Gustavus Adolphus 31-7 in the MIAC Championship Game Saturday in Arden Hills.
Syverson finished 35 of 51 passing for 449 yards and five touchdowns, bringing his total to 37 touchdown passes this fall - an MIAC single-season record in conference play.
He has now thrown for 1,596 yards and 19 touchdowns in four career starts against the Cobbers. The win also marked the 99th for SJU head coach
Gary Fasching '81 since taking over for the legendary John Gagliardi prior to the 2013 season.
Saint John's - ranked No. 20 in the most recent D3football.com Division III national poll - jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the first half, thanks to first-quarter touchdown runs of four and six yards by seniors
Troy Feddema (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) and
Devin Vouk (Sartell, Minn./Sartell-St. Stephen).
The Cobbers (5-5, 4-4 MIAC) cut the gap to 13-7 on a two-yard touchdown run by quarterback Cooper Mattern before Syverson connected with sophomore
Dylan Wheeler (St. Paul, Minn./Mounds View) for a 38-yard touchdown with 13:55 to play in the second quarter and senior tight end
Alex Larson (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) on a nine-yard strike to make the score 27-7 with 9:45 remaining before halftime. The second passing touchdown was Syverson's 34th of the season, breaking the MIAC mark.
Concordia cut the gap to 13 (27-14) at halftime when Jed Klang hauled in a 43-yard touchdown pass from Mattern with 1:07 to go in the second quarter.
But Syverson connected with senior
Nick VanErp (Battle Lake, Minn./Ottertail Central) on touchdown passes of 24 and 44 yards in the second half before closing out the scoring with a six-yard touchdown pass to sophomore tight end
Joey Gendreau (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) with 1:26 left to play. VanErp now has a team-best 13 touchdown receptions this season.
He finished with 10 catches for 156 yards Saturday, making him one of three SJU receivers to cross the 100-yard receiving mark. Larson finished with eight catches for 101 yards and Wheeler added four catches for 101 yards.
The Cobbers' final score came on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Mattern to senior Dawson Schaffer with 6:57 remaining.
The Johnnies amassed 543 yards of total offense while holding Concordia to just 268, including only 27 yards rushing. The SJU defense also recorded five quarterback sacks. Freshman linebacker
Aiden McMahon (Maple Grove, Minn.) and senior linebacker
Erik Bjork (Mahtomedi, Minn.) led the Johnnies in tackles with 11 each.
