Box Score | SJU Press Conference | SUSQ Press Conference

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Playing with an injured right shoulder that kept him out of practice all week, Saint John's University quarterback Aaron Syverson (Minnetonka, Minn.) was still able to bring his team back from a two-touchdown deficit in the fourth quarter Saturday.

Unfortunately for the Johnnies, Syverson didn't have the ball last.

Susquehanna quarterback Josh Ehrlich did, and he moved the River Hawks' offense 55 yards down the field in the final minutes, setting up a game-winning 37-yard field goal by Dominic Bourgeois as time expired to lift his team past SJU 41-38 in the third round of the NCAA Division III playoffs at Clemens Stadium.

"We feel like we can score whenever we need to," said Syverson, who completed a 16-yard touchdown pass to junior tight end Joey Gendreau (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) with 6:39 remaining, then connected with senior wide receiver Marselio Mendez (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) on a 19-yard scoring strike that tied the score at 38 with 3:31 to play.

"Obviously, that wasn't the case today though. We needed a little bit more of that. We needed one more chance."

The Johnnies - who finished their season 11-1 - didn't get that. But that didn't make Syverson's performance any less impressive. The senior - who closes his career as the school and MIAC career leader in both passing yardage (12,888) and touchdown passes (147), among others - injured his shoulder early in a second-round victory over No. 18 Wisconsin-La Crosse a week ago.

The four-year starter finished that game, throwing for 357 yards and three touchdowns. But he didn't practice all week.

"It was a little bizarre," said Syverson, who threw for 466 yards and five touchdowns Saturday. "I probably threw about five passes all week. Maybe 10. But that's the benefit of being around for a long time. You know what's going on."

SJU head coach Gary Fasching '81 couldn't say enough about the way Syverson played.

"That's a gutsy performance by that kid," Fasching said. "He's the best we've ever had here, I believe. And he's certainly one of the best in the country. I don't know if anyone else could have done what he did today."

But sixth-ranked Susquehanna boasts a talented offense as well, as the River Hawks demonstrated Saturday. Ehrlich finished with 274 yards passing and one touchdown while running back Rahshan La Mons carried the ball 29 times for 176 yards and three touchdowns.

The last of those scores was a 30-yarder that put his team on top 38-24 with 9:15 to play. It appeared he came close to going down early in the run, but the officials ruled his knee didn't touch and he was able to stay upright and continue to the end zone.



"That running back is better than anybody I've seen in our league," Fasching said. 

"We missed a lot of tackles today, but part of that was probably due to him. He makes you miss a lot of tackles."

The game's real swing though may have come late in the first half. After sophomore Riley Schwellenbach (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) scored on an 89-yard touchdown pass (his second of the game) to put the Johnnies up 17-7, Bourgeois connected on a career-long 43-yard field goal to cut the gap to seven.

SJU then drove to the Susquehanna 29-yard-line with the chance to expand their lead and get the opening kickoff of the second half.

But the Johnnies turned the ball over on downs on an incomplete pass from Syverson to freshman Charlie King (Faribault, Minn./Bethlehem Academy) and the River Hawks took just 1:02 to march 71 yards in seven plays - scoring on a 2-yard touchdown run by La Mons that tied the score 17-17 at halftime.

"That was the play of the football game," Fasching said. "We go down and score, then we get the ball to start the second half, and we could be up by three scores. So that was a big swing."

"That probably changed the game," added Susquehanna coach Tom Perkovich, whose team (11-1) will play host to Bethel (which won 24-14 on the road at Wartburg) in the national quarterfinals next Saturday (Dec. 14).

"If we went down by two scores, and they got the ball coming out of the half, you're probably sitting there thinking this isn't a good one for us. It was just a huge stop by our defense getting us the ball back."

The Johnnies did indeed score to start the second half when Syverson connected with junior All-American Dylan Wheeler (St. Paul, Minn./Mounds View) on a 10-yard touchdown pass. But La Mons scored on a 17-yard run that tied the score at 24, then Ehrlich connected with senior Kyle Howes on a 1-yard touchdown pass with 1:22 to play in the third quarter to give his team the lead.

A strip sack and fumble (the game's lone turnover) gave Susquehanna the ball back at the Johnnie 40-yard-line with 11:21 to go, and the River Hawks converted on a huge 3rd-and-25 play just before La Mons scored his final touchdown.

In all, Susquehanna was 10-for-17 on third-down conversions, including converting five times on third-and-seven or longer. The Johnnies were just 3-for-8 overall.

"They were just making plays when they needed to," said SJU senior linebacker Hayden Sanders (Brooklyn Park, Minn./Champlin Park), who finished with a team-best 11 tackles. "We needed to do a better job of containing their quarterback. We kept him in the pocket for the most part, but he did a great job of making the pocket deeper."

SJU was also penalized seven times for 71 yards while the River Hawks had just four penalties for 34 yards. Despite all that, the Johnnies battled back to tie the score. 

But it was Susquehanna that came up with the final offensive highlights on an afternoon full of them.

"I'm proud of our guys for not giving up," Fasching said. "When you're down two touchdowns with however many minutes to go, it's tough. We fought our way back to a tie game, but it seemed like whenever they needed to make a big play, they were able to make it."

Syverson, though, ended his career with another huge performance. He now holds 15 of the program's single-game, season and career passing records. That includes the single-season mark for touchdown passes (51), which he set Saturday.

He also recorded his 20th career passing performance of 300 yards or more, giving him five more than any other SJU quarterback.

"I wouldn't change anything, other than the result today," Syverson said. 

"But when it comes to my actual time (at SJU), I wouldn't change a thing. I grew a lot as a person, as a football player and as a leader. That's a testament to everyone here."

•    Senior Conor Murphy's (Sioux Falls, S.D./O'Gorman) 33-yard field goal in the first half gives him a career total of 25, moving him into sole possession of third place in school history. He also finished his career with a program-record 244 extra points.
•    Schwellenbach's 89-yard touchdown catch in the first half was the fifth-longest in school history. He finished with nine catches for 167 yards and two touchdowns.