Box Score

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – Westin Hoyt (Forest Lake, Minn.) was riding in a car with friends Friday night when he received a text message that boosted his confidence sky high.

It came from senior linebacker and leader Hayden Sanders (Brooklyn Park, Minn./Champlin Park), who wanted to let the Saint John's University freshman cornerback know the rest of the defensive huddle was behind him as he prepared to make his first collegiate start in the Johnnies' MIAC opener at Bethel Saturday afternoon.

"That meant the world to me," said Hoyt, who officially found out he'd be starting in place of injured starter Mateo Cisneros (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View) Friday afternoon. "I felt the emotions flood over me when I saw that.

"He's the leader of our defense, and he said he was proud of me and that he'd have my back. That got me so fired up."

The emotion was evident as Hoyt went out and recorded three tackles and a pair of interceptions – including one that set up a key first-quarter touchdown - as SJU topped the Royals 45-20 before a crowd of 6,982 at a sunbaked Royal Stadium.

"I just wanted him to know we were all confident in him," said Sanders, who led the SJU defensive effort with nine tackles, a fumble recovery and one of his team's four sacks. "He believes in himself. He has that attitude and swagger to him and he brought it today."

"I told him Friday, 'Hey you're going to start,' and he's a competitor," SJU head coach Gary Fasching '81 added. "He didn't flinch."

The Johnnies – ranked as high as No. 4 in the most recent American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) top 25 poll – improved to 3-0. Bethel – ranked No. 24 by D3football.com – fell to 2-1.

"We're all feeding off each other's energy," Sanders said. "Offense, defense and special teams. We're such a cohesive team that there's never a down moment. 

"Even when there might be a down play that goes against us, our attitude never gets down. We're showing we're really resilient and that's good to see."

SJU did have to call on that resiliency early Saturday. 



After senior quarterback Aaron Syverson (Minnetonka, Minn.) connected with junior wideout Dylan Wheeler (St. Paul, Minn./Mounds View) on a 15-yard touchdown pass that put the Johnnies on top 7-0, the Royals answered with a 69-yard scoring strike of their own from quarterback Cooper Drews (a transfer from SJU) to Matt Jung (a defensive back in on offense).

The Johnnies jumped back in front 14-7 on a 4-yard touchdown run by junior running back Caden Wheeler (Andover, Minn.), who was making his return after breaking his foot in the preseason.

Then, after Bethel got the ball back, Hoyt (who missed last season due to injury) picked off his first pass – returning the ball 24 yards to the Royals' 14 to set up a 1-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Will Blakey (St. Paul, Minn./Central) that extended SJU's lead to 21-7.

"(Linebacker) Cooper Yaggie and the defensive line had great pressure on that play and (Drews) had to get the ball out fast," Westin said. "It just ended up in my hands and I made the play."

Syverson again connected with Dylan Wheeler, this time on a 4-yard touchdown pass that made the score 28-7 in the second quarter. Syverson finished the day 28 of 38 passing for 362 yards and three touchdowns.

"Aaron played really well," Fasching said. "When he plays like that, it's going to be tough for other teams to beat us."

A Bethel touchdown just before halftime cut the gap to 28-13, but the Johnnies scored on a 2-yard run by Blakey in the third quarter, then had the ball deep in Royals' territory on their next possession before an 84-yard interception return for a touchdown by Jung prevented them from throwing the knockout punch.

But senior defensive lineman Landon Gallagher (Murrieta, Calif./Vista Murrieta) had an interception early in the fourth quarter that set up a 29-yard field goal by senior Conor Murphy (Sioux Falls, S.D./O'Gorman), which extended the SJU lead to 38-20.

Then Syverson connected with senior Marselio Mendez (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) on a 38-yard touchdown pass with 6:04 remaining to close out the scoring.

"I thought everyone just played really well," Syverson said. "Nobody tried to do too much from the start. We stuck to the game plan, we were balanced and we wore them down."

Dylan Wheeler finished with nine catches for 113 yards. Caden Wheeler had 20 carries for 86 yards to lead the way on the ground five weeks and one day after preseason surgery that put a screw in his foot to repair his injury – known as a Jones fracture.

"I got most of the rust off this week in practice," he said. "So I was ready to go today. It was just awesome to get back out there."

The finishing touches on the win were applied by Hoyt, who went up and took the ball away from the receiver for his second interception on Bethel's final offensive series.

"At SJU, we kind of have a next-guy-up mentality," said Hoyt, who did have a chance to work with the first team after Cisneros was hurt in practice earlier this week.

Though Cisneros was not officially ruled out until Friday.

"Our starters are great," he continued. "But we have twos, we have threes and even fours who can all play. Anyone who gets in there is ready to go."

The Johnnies are back in action when they play host to Augsburg (1-2, 0-1 MIAC) for Homecoming at 1 p.m. next Saturday, Oct. 5, in Clemens Stadium.

"We feel good about where we are, but there's no drop-off from here," Sanders said. "The most important game to us is always the next one. So we need to come out focused and ready to go next week."

3 From the MIAC Record
The three passing touchdowns enabled Syverson to pass Jackson Erdmann '19 (2016-19) for second in MIAC history with 76 in conference play, three behind the record of 79 owned by Augsburg's Ayrton Scott (2012-15). The 300-yard passing game was the 12th for Syverson, who is now three from the program record of 15 held by Erdmann. The win also broke Syverson's tie with Tom Linnemann '00 and Kurt Ramler '97 for sole possession of third in SJU history with 28 (28-4 record). 

An SJU Record for Wheeler
Dylan Wheeler became the first Johnnie in program history to record 100 receiving yards or more in the season's first three games in the win. He caught nine passes for 139 yards and three touchdowns in the Sept. 7 season opener vs. Carthage (Wis.) and followed that with 12 grabs for 105 yards Sept. 14 against Wartburg (Iowa). The 100-yard receiving game was the sixth for Wheeler, who now has 84 receptions for 1,105 yards and 13 touchdowns over his last 12 games.

Blake Elliott '03 eclipsed 100 receiving yards in four of SJU's first five games in 2002, but fell eight yards short (six catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns) in the Johnnies' week-two, 56-0 win over Hamline in Collegeville. Elliott owns the program record for 100-yard receiving games with 22.

Big-Man Interception
Gallagher's fourth-quarter interception was the first for an SJU defensive lineman since Collin Franz '21 – a current SJU assistant coach on the defensive line – in the Johnnies' 49-0 shutout of Concordia on Oct. 2, 2021, in Moorhead.

Abnormal Afternoon in Arden Hills
SJU improved to 37-10 all-time against Bethel, including a 15-7 record on the Royals' home field, with the victory. The 45 points scored were the most for the Johnnies in the series since 1996 – 52-8 on Nov. 2 in Collegeville – and the most in Arden Hills since 1995 (49-14 on Sept. 16). Although SJU pounded its way to 113 yards on 40 carries (2.8 avg.), BU entered the game averaging -34.5 rushing yards allowed per game through the season's first two contests.

Another MIAC-Opening Win
The Johnnies are now 70-25-7 (.721) all-time in their first MIAC game of the season, including a 36-14-3 (.708) record away from Collegeville and a 7-1 record against Bethel (4-0 in Collegeville and 3-1 on the road). It took SJU until its 11th season in the MIAC to win its first conference game of the season, a 7-0 home shutout of Hamline on Oct. 3, 1931. SJU was 0-6-4 in its first 10 conference openers and is 70-19-3 (.777) since.