Box Score

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Aaron Syverson (Minnetonka, Minn.) has been around a long time now.

So the Saint John's University senior quarterback isn't about to start hanging his head, even when things get difficult. Which they did early on in Saturday afternoon's MIAC Championship Game against Bethel.

The Royals forced the Johnnies to settle for field goals on a pair of first-half drives, picked up a safety when Syverson was called for intentional grounding in the end zone, then turned the ensuing possession into a touchdown to take a three-point lead (9-6).
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But from there, Syverson threw five touchdown passes, and the explosive passing game SJU has thrived on all season proved enough to carry the day in a 41-33 victory before a crowd of 8,639 in Clemens Stadium.

"It kind of feels like it's a matter of when, not if," said Syverson, who finished 32 of 44 passing for 419 yards despite being sacked eight times in the face of the most pressure he's seen this fall.

"We know that if we keep knocking at the door, things will happen. You saw that today, especially in the second half. We were able to burst through and score a lot of points."

The five touchdown passes moved Syverson into a tie with former Johnnie All-American Jackson Erdmann '19 for the most career touchdown passes (139) in program and MIAC history. He'd already broken Erdmann's career team and conference record for passing yardage in a 55-6 victory over St. Olaf last week.

But more importantly to him, the victory wrapped up the MIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs. That means SJU (10-0, 8-0 MIAC) - ranked as high as No. 3 in the most recent D3football.com poll - can rest easy, knowing it will be part of the expanded 40-team field when the NCAA playoff pairings are announced at 4 p.m. Sunday on ncaa.com.

It also potentially sets the Johnnies up for home-field advantage deep into the bracket.



"It's awesome to not have to sweat out a Sunday like we did last year," said Syverson, whose team was passed over for an at-large bid in 2023, snapping a school-record eight-year streak of postseason appearances.

"So this is a nice feeling, and hopefully it puts us in a position to make a deep playoff run."

But things didn't come without struggle Saturday. The Royals (8-2, 6-2 MIAC) - who entered play ranked No. 24 nationally - held the Johnnies to (-9) yards rushing, allowing them to keep constant pressure on Syverson each time he dropped back to pass.

But after a 5-yard touchdown run by Aaron Ellingson put Bethel on top 9-6 in the second quarter, Syverson connected with junior Dylan Wheeler (St. Paul, Minn./Mounds View) on a 5-yard touchdown pass that put SJU back in front 13-9 just before halftime.

"I was hoping we'd be able to run the ball better and take some of the pressure off Aaron," SJU head coach Gary Fasching '81 said. "But we couldn't do that. Bethel is so good defensively, especially against the run. That's a credit to them.

"But Aaron made some big plays under intense pressure a lot of the time."

That continued in a back-and-forth second half. Syverson and Wheeler again connected on a 31-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead to 20-9 before the Royals responded with an 8-yard scoring strike from Cooper Drews to Micah Niewald.



Then, after touchdown passes of 38 and 22 yards to senior Marselio Mendez (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) - which were sandwiched around a 32-yard field goal from BU's Hugo Cifuentes - SJU's lead grew to 34-19. Mendez finished with seven catches for 154 yards and two touchdowns, including six receptions for 145 yards and the two scores in the second half alone.

But the Royals didn't quit. Drews - a transfer from SJU - connected with Joey Kidder on a 6-yard touchdown pass that cut the gap to 34-26 before Syverson threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Wheeler to put the Johnnies up 41-26 with 3:18 to play.

"This is where great teams our made - in games like this," Johnnies senior center Charlie Folkens (Rogers, Minn.) said. "I couldn't be prouder of the guys for the way we fought today."

Bethel wasn't done fighting either though. Drews - who threw for 274 yards and four touchdowns - again found Kidder on a 23-yard touchdown pass to cut the gap to 41-33 with 1:29 to play. But senior linebacker Cooper Yaggie (Breckenridge, Minn.) recovered the ensuing onside kick attempt. Yaggie totaled nine tackles (eight solo), including one for a loss, forced a fumble and broke up two passes.

The Royals managed to force an SJU punt and got the ball back at their own 20 with no timeouts and 1:08 remaining before junior cornerback Blake Simonson (Waconia, Minn.) came up with a game-sealing interception on 4th-and-9 at the 32. Simonson also broke up four passes.

"We knew if we got punched in the mouth, we had to punch them right back," said SJU senior defensive end Jake Schwinghammer (Woodbury,  Minn./Tartan), who finished with five tackles. "It was going to be a dogfight and had to hang in there if we wanted to be successful."

Some of that success came on special teams. A fumble recovery by junior defensive lineman Andrew Molenaar (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View) on a kickoff following a 21-yard field goal by senior Conor Murphy (Sioux Falls, S.D./O'Gorman) in the first quarter set up a 36-yard Murphy field goal early in the second. Then, senior linebacker Ben Dahl (Otsego, Minn./Rogers) recovered a muffed punt at the Bethel 41 in the fourth quarter to set up the 16-yard touchdown pass to Wheeler. Wheeler led the way with nine catches for 115 yards and the three touchdowns to push his season total to 19, the second-most in SJU history.

"I talked about that during the week," Fasching said. "In games like this, special teams can sometimes be the deciding factor. We got two (fumble recoveries) today, so hats off to our guys. That made a big difference."

Now SJU – which clinched its 37th MIAC title and its 26th season of 10 wins or more - awaits the playoff pairings to see when and who it plays next. Only eight teams will play next week (Nov. 23), meaning the Johnnies will likely have a week off before beginning the postseason Nov. 30.

"Our confidence level is high, but like we saw (in a dramatic 38-31 victory at Concordia on Oct. 12) and again today, we can't just walk onto the field and beat anybody," Syverson said. "We have to be at our best. 

But we know when we've needed it most, we've been at our best, and we have to keep doing that."