Box Score

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Joey Gendreau (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) played just two quarters Saturday afternoon. But that was more than enough to put up some big numbers.
 
The senior All-America tight end finished with six catches for 115 yards and four touchdowns before he and the rest of the starters called it an early day as the Johnnies - ranked No. 11 in the most recent American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division III national poll - rolled past Macalester 70-0 before a crowd of 6,142 at a sunny Clemens Stadium.
 
Gendreau, who entered Saturday with three touchdown catches in his team's first four games, more than doubled that total against the Scots.
 
"I just seem to be open and the quarterbacks seem to keep finding me," said Gendreau, whose team improved to 3-1 in MIAC play and 4-1 overall. "I'm appreciative of that. Things went pretty well today."
 
They certainly did.  In the first meeting between the two schools since 2001, the Johnnies scored touchdowns on all eight of their first-half possessions en route to building a 56-0 halftime lead on the Scots (2-3, 1-3 MIAC).
 
SJU finished the first half with 458 yards of offense while holding Macalester to 48.
 
"We talked all week about how every week is a playoff for us now," said SJU head coach Gary Fasching '81, whose team fell 17-10 at Bethel last week. "We have to practice like that and we have to approach games that way. I thought our guys did a great job of preparation this week and it showed."
 
Fasching's team rotated at quarterback by series in the first half with junior Trey Feeney (Moorhead, Minn.) finishing 13 of 14 passing for 250 yards and three touchdowns and senior Zander Dittbenner (Mankato, Minn./West) going 8 of 10 for 168 yards and three touchdowns of his own.
 
Senior All-American wide receiver Dylan Wheeler (St. Paul, Minn./Mounds View) finished with five catches for 113 yards and a touchdown. Junior Riley Schwellenbach (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) had six catches for 78 yards and sophomore Carson Hegerle (West Fargo, N.D.) added two catches for 53 yards.


 
"We did a really good job scheming for them," said Gendreau, who now has 37 catches for 577 yards through the season's first five games. "Guys like Dylan and Schwell, Carson and (senior) Owen (Amrhein, who had one catch for 38 yards), were all threats in their own way. 
 
"If you're going to take away one of us, someone else will be open."
 
SJU also got production on the ground, despite being without its top two running backs - senior Caden Wheeler (Andover, Minn.) and junior Corey Bohmert (Mahtomedi, Minn.) - due to injury. Sophomore Wyatt McCabe (Mayer, Minn./Watertown-Mayer) and junior Dylan Kirchner (Andover, Minn.) each rushed for first-half touchdowns. Sophomore Maverick Harper (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) added a 64-yard touchdown run to close out the scoring in the fourth quarter.
 
And sophomore Logan Eisele (Becker, Minn.) also scored on what was credited as a 6-yard pass early in the second quarter.
 
"That just points to how deep our running backs room is," McCabe said. "You don't like to see anyone have to sit out, but we have a lot of guys who can step up. (Assistant coach) Will Blakey gets us all prepared. He's been a great addition to the coaching staff this year. He was a great running back for us last season, but he may be an even better coach. He gets us all whipped into shape."
 
The Johnnies finished with 630 yards of offense in all. Meanwhile, the defense made life difficult on Macalester quarterback Jack Scully, recording four sacks - one of which led to a fumble recovered by freshman defensive back Tyler Smith (Carver, Minn./Chanhassen) early in the fourth quarter. 
 
Sophomore defensive back Hudson Poole (Excelsior, Minn./Minnetonka) also picked off a Scully pass and returned it 21 yards for a touchdown in the third. SJU has now recorded shutouts in four of its five games this fall, equaling the most in a single season since 2021.
 
"We were flying around and I thought we played pretty well," said senior defensive lineman Landon Gallagher (Murrieta, Calif./Vista Murrieta), who tied for the team lead in tackles with five, including two for a loss. "For the most part, everybody was executing the way we needed to execute.
 
"It was just good to get another win and get the team feeling good and positive about itself," he continued. "We needed to play well and it seemed like we did today."
 
Gendreau, too, said the win was a nice bounce-back for the Johnnies after the loss to the Royals a week ago. Now he and his teammates will try to continue building momentum when they travel to Moorhead to face Concordia at 1 p.m. next Saturday (Oct. 18).
 
"It was a tough loss last week, but I think it was a good kick-in-the-butt for us," he said. "Our attention to detail and effort started strong on Monday and kept getting better in practice all week. It's always good when our execution is super-high. Now we have to keep that rolling."
  
Boz
A moment of silence was observed prior to kickoff in memory of former Johnnie lineman Warren 'Boz' Bostrom '95, a well-respected accounting professor and highly visible campus booster. Bostrom - who also wrote several books, including one on his legendary former head coach John Gagliardi, passed away earlier this week after battling illness at the age of only 52. SJU players - a number of whom were his students and/or had close relationships with him - also wore Boz stickers on their helmets.

"When we heard the news Thursday, our guys were stunned," Fasching said. "I had players call me in tears asking if it was true. He meant a lot to this program - not just as a former player. Up until this fall, he was out here at practice almost every day and was always coming down to the field and talking to our guys after games. 

"He's had a big impact on a lot of our players. We wanted to find a way to honor him for the rest of the year. Putting his name on our helmets felt like the right thing to do."
 
70 Points in a Game
The 70 points equaled the amount scored in a 70-0 win at St. Scholastica on Nov. 2 of last season. The last time SJU has scored more than that came in an 81-0 win over St. Scholastica on Oct. 30 of 2021.

56 Points in a Half
The 56 points scored in the first half are the most for SJU since last fall – the 63 points tallied in the 70-0 victory at St. Scholastica on Nov. 2, 2024. The Johnnies also scored 63 points in the first half of the 98-0 win over St. Scholastica in the 2017 season opener. 

Wins After Losses
The Johnnies are now 11-0 after a loss, in the same season, under the direction of Fasching. SJU is 117-70-5 all-time after a defeat, including a 72-23-4 record under legendary head coach John Gagliardi. The Johnnies were just 23-44-1 after a loss before 1946 (94-26-4 since).

4 Receiving Touchdowns
Gendreau's four receiving touchdowns are the most by a Johnnie since Will Gillach '19 caught four, three in the first half, on Nov. 10, 2018, vs. Thomas More (Ky.). Jeremy Loretz '95 owns the record with five receiving touchdowns in a game, all in the first half (four in the first quarter), on Nov. 10, 1994, against Macalester in the Metrodome. He also caught four first-half touchdowns earlier that season (Oct. 22, 1994) at Carleton. 

Joey on the TE Lists
Saturday's performance enabled Gendreau to pass Nate Kirschner '01 for second on SJU's tight ends list with 1,753 receiving yards, as well as break his tie with Jared Streit '19 and climb past Tom Ramboldt '92 for third with 18 receiving touchdowns (by a tight end).

Another 100 for Wheeler
The 100-yard receiving game was the second-consecutive for Wheeler and the 12th of his career, which broke his tie with Adam Herbst '99 for third in program history. A pair of Gagliardi Trophy winners, Chris Palmer '96 (15) and Blake Elliott '03 (22) are ahead of him on that list. Wheeler also broke his tie with Palmer for the third-most receiving touchdowns by a Johnnie with 37. Herbst is next at 41 and Elliott owns the program record with 63. The 113 receiving yards lifted Wheeler past Ravi Alston '21 and Kyle Gearman '07 for seventh on SJU's all-time list with 2,437.

Great Scot!
The Johnnies are now 55-17-4 all-time against the Scots on the football field, including a 27-7-3 mark in Collegeville. SJU has now won each of the last 34 meetings overall. Macalester's last win in the series was a 36-30 victory on Oct. 12, 1968, in Collegeville.