Box Score | SJU Press Conference | UWL Press Conference

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Make no mistake. The Saint John's University football team's offensive identity starts with the pass. 

When you boast a record-setting quarterback like Aaron Syverson (Minnetonka, Minn.) and big-play receiving threats like junior Dylan Wheeler (St. Paul, Minn./Mounds View) and senior Marselio Mendez (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall), it would be silly to approach things otherwise.

But there's no shortage of talent in the Johnnie running back room either. Corey Bohmert proved that Saturday afternoon.

Bohmert, a 5-foot-10, 175-pound sophomore out of Mahtomedi High School, carried the ball 10 times for a team-best 69 yards and added four catches for 88 yards to key a second-half surge as Saint John's defeated Wisconsin-La Crosse 24-13 in the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs at a frigid Clemens Stadium.

The Johnnies (11-0 overall) advance to meet Susquehanna of Pennsylvania (10-1 overall) - which defeated Hobart (N.Y.) 42-35 Saturday - in the third round at noon next Saturday (Dec. 7) at Clemens Stadium.

"That just shows our depth," said Bohmert, who has been steadily seeing more action since junior Caden Wheeler (Andover, Minn.) suffered a season-ending injury in a 34-0 victory over Gustavus Adolphus on Oct. 26. "Our whole team can play football. I think everybody should know that. I just had my turn today.

"I got some opportunities, and I capitalized on them."

Nowhere was that more true than on a 69-yard touchdown catch with 2:38 to play that put what had been a tight game away.

The play - a bit of gadgetry that saw the Johnnies shift the entire right side of the offensive line to the left - was the brainchild of running backs coach Josh Bungum '16 and wasn't put in until midway through this past week.



"I think (it came to him) when he was going to bed one night," said a smiling Syverson, who threw for 357 yards and three touchdowns.

"I watch the offense for a while (in practice), then I go down and watch the defense," head coach Gary Fasching '81 added. "I came back to watch the offense, and they ran that. I told them 'I love that play! That's old-style, Gary Fasching football right there. Shifting into unbalanced. That's great stuff.

"So we decided to run it, and we ran it at the perfect time. Now … it's not designed to go 69 yards for a touchdown. It's designed to get probably five or six yards. We were just trying to get a first down there to keep the clock running."

But Bohmert insured it would yield much more than that, taking the short pass on third-and-four, then making a nifty cut and breaking free toward the end zone for a touchdown that expanded a four-point lead to nine.

"I saw a little hole," he said. "Then I made another cut with my left foot, and I saw a huge opening. There were still blocks going, and when I got around the corner, I knew I was gone."

But Bohmert made his impact felt before that. After taking a 3-0 halftime lead on a career-long 41-yard field goal by senior Conor Murphy (Sioux Falls, S.D./O'Gorman) to end the first quarter, the Johnnies got the ball first in the second half.

SJU then kept the ball on the ground for five-straight plays - with Bohmert carrying three times for 23 yards and fellow sophomore Will Blakey (St. Paul, Minn./Central) carrying two times for 19. That set up a 33-yard touchdown strike from Syverson to Mendez that put the Johnnies on top by 10.



Mendez finished the day with a career-high 11 catches for 135 yards, giving him 52 catches for 883 yards and 10 touchdowns in his team's past seven games alone.

"We're going to throw the ball," Fasching said. "We've got the best quarterback in the country and two of the best wide receivers in the country. We've got an offensive line that can pass block. That's going to be our game.

"But … we do have to supplement that with good running plays, and I thought today our offensive coaches - Kole Heckendorf and Josh Bungum - did a great job of mixing in the run as much as they did. That keeps a defense off-kilter when you can do that."

But the Eagles, who finished their season 8-4, didn't back down, marching 68 yards in five plays on their next possession to score on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Haas to Braeden Ott that cut the gap to 10-7.

The Johnnies, though, went back up by 10 when Syverson evaded pressure on third-and-20 to connect with Wheeler on a leaping 22-yard touchdown grab in coverage in the end zone.

"That's kind of been the thing for us this year whenever we've gotten off to a slow start," Syverson said. "It's not really a matter of if, but when that seal breaks."

Still, UWL hung around, cutting the gap to 17-13 on a 17-yard touchdown catch by Jack Studer with 4:17 to play. Freshman defensive lineman/tight end Charlie King (Faribault, Minn./Bethlehem Academy) blocked the extra point and three plays later, Bohmert struck paydirt.

"This was Corey's breakout game," said Blakey, who finished with nine carries for 42 yards. "We know how fast he is. He's a super-fast dude. It was just so awesome to see him get in the end zone on that play to kind of put this one to bed."

The Johnnies' defense, meanwhile, bent at times, but didn't break - especially in the first half when the Eagles advanced as deep as the SJU 25 (interception) and 31 (turnover on downs), but came away with no points.

"We didn't play well in the red zone," Wisconsin-La Crosse coach Matt Janus said. "I don't know if it was anything specific. We just didn't play well."

Senior linebacker Ben Dahl (Otsego, Minn./Rogers) then came up with his team's second interception on the drive following Bohmert's touchdown. The Eagles got as far as the Johnnies' seven on the game's final drive, but a sack by senior linebacker Hayden Sanders (Brooklyn Park, Minn./Champlin Park) on the final play sealed the win.

Sanders and senior defensive end Jake Schwinghammer (Woodbury, Minn./Tartan) finished the day with eight tackles. Senior linebacker Cooper Yaggie (Breckenridge, Minn.) led the way with nine and also added an interception on the Eagles' first possession of the game.

"I'm so proud of the way these guys have prepared all year, and certainly over the last two weeks in preparation for this game," said Fasching, whose team - the top seed in the expanded 40-team field - received a first-round bye last weekend.

"We made plays when we needed to today. We came up with big plays on both sides of the football and had a couple of good special teams plays as well. Now we get to move on."

No. 20 for Wheeler
Wheeler's third-quarter touchdown reception was his 20th of the year, which are the second-most in an SJU season. He is now two receiving touchdowns from the record of 22 set by Blake Elliott '03 in 2002.

1,000-Yard Duo
For the third time in program history, SJU now has two receivers with 1,000 yards on the season. In addition to his 20 touchdown receptions, Wheeler now boasts 78 catches for 1,093 receiving yards. Mendez, meanwhile, has 67 catches for 1,070 yards and 13 touchdowns. The other two occurrences were in 2019 and 1994.

-2019: Ravi Alston (88 catches for 1,444 yards and 13 touchdowns) and T.J. Hodge (73 catches for 1,068 yards and eight touchdowns), both in 14 games

-1994: Jeremy Loretz (68 catches for 1,340 yards and 18 touchdowns in 13 games) and Chris Palmer (53 catches for 1,051 yards and 12 touchdowns in 12 games)

Another Record for Syverson
Syverson finished 27 of 39 passing in Saturday's playoff win. The 39 pass attempts enabled him to break the program record of 1,368 owned by Alex Kofoed '07 with 1,372. Syverson already owns the school and MIAC records for pass completions (946), passing yards (12,422) and touchdown passes (142), as well as the SJU marks for completion percentage (.690), passing yards per game (310.5), total offense (12,498 yards) and 300-yard passing games (19). He is third in SJU history in both passing efficiency (174.9) and quarterback wins as a starter (36-4 record).

A Cold Afternoon
The temperature at kickoff was nine degrees, making it the coldest kickoff in Collegeville since at least 2000. That exceeded the 14-degree temperature at kickoff for a 49-0 victory over Northwestern (Minn.) in the first round of the Division III playoffs on Nov. 19, 2022; the 16-degree temperature at kickoff in a 45-14 victory over Coe (Iowa) in the second round on Nov. 30, 2002; the 17-degree temperature at kickoff in a 38-10 national semifinal victory over Rensselaer (N.Y.) on Dec. 13, 2003; and the 18-degree temperature at kickoff in a 29-26 win over Bethel on Nov. 8, 2003 (former head coach John Gagliardi's record-breaking 409th career victory).

The St. Cloud Times' account of a 61-0 national semifinal victory over Buena Vista (Iowa) on Nov. 27, 1976, put the game-time temperature at (-2) degrees with a windchill reaching (-19).