Box Score

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - The conditions Saturday were damp and chilly.  
 
But Trey Feeney came out of the gate red hot.
 
The Saint John's senior quarterback began the game 15 of 15 passing and threw for 355 yards and six touchdowns in all as the Johnnies rolled past Bethel 42-16 in a key MIAC clash at Clemens Stadium.
 
SJU - ranked No. 5 in both the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and D3football.com national polls - improved to 3-0 in MIAC play and 4-0 overall. Bethel - ranked as high as No. 7 - fell to 2-1 in the conference and 2-2 overall.
 
"I felt really good about our game plan coming in," Feeney (Moorhead, Minn.) said. "From there, it was up to us to go out and execute. And we did that. I thought we played really well all-around."
 
The game was delayed for 90 minutes due weather, but when it started, Feeney and the offense were ready to go. The Johnnies drove 44 yards in six plays on their first possession to score on a 4-yard pass to senior running back Corey Bohmert (Mahtomedi, Minn.), who finished the day with 111 yards in total offense (54 rushing and 57 receiving, most of that total coming on a series of short shovel passes).
 
"We kept our focus throughout the delay and came out ready to play," Bohmert said. "When you're playing at home, it's big when you can get off to a fast start. To go down and score the way we did was a huge momentum boost and we kept it going."
 
The Royals answered back on their next possession, tying the score 7-7 on a 3-yard touchdown pass from former Johnnie Cooper Drews to Aiden Eckert that capped a 75-yard possession aided by 20 yards in SJU penalties.
 
But that was where Bethel's offensive highlights largely ended. SJU limited the Royals to 263 yards of total offense and just 77 on the ground. Bethel entered play averaging 555.3 yards of offense and 242 yards rushing per game.
 
"The opening drive wasn't good," said junior defensive end Charlie King (Faribault, Minn./Bethlehem Academy), who finished with six tackles, including three of his team's six sacks. "We had to tighten that stuff up. But after that, things went pretty well.
 
"The key to getting all those sacks was stopping the run. My philosophy is you earn the right to rush the passer by shutting down the run. We did that today and it helped a lot."


 
The Johnnies spent the week preparing for the hurry-up offense the Royals employ and King said the homework paid off. 
 
"In practice Tuesday, we ran 132 defensive plays," he said. "We had three different scout teams so there were three different offenses. They'd be set and we'd run between the hashes. So we weren't tired at all. Herb (defensive coordinator James Herberg) told us they weren't going to be able to run a lot of plays if we got three-and-outs. And we did that a few times. That made a big difference."
 
The Johnnies, meanwhile, kept rolling most of the afternoon. Feeney threw touchdown passes of 9 and 1 yards to seniors Thomas Jacobs (Lakeland, Minn./Stillwater Area) and Andrew Harren (Rice, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice) in the second quarter to put SJU on top 21-7 at halftime.
 
Then he added an 11-yard touchdown pass to Jacobs on the opening drive of the third quarter to extend the margin to 28-7.
 
"Because of what they do, we knew Trey was going to have to have a big game," SJU head coach Gary Fasching '81 said. "He's been phenomenal this whole year, and if you look at what he did today, there were some plays he called on his own that ended up being touchdowns. His focus out there, and his knowledge of what the defense is trying to do, is tremendous.
 
"We've had a lot of good quarterbacks here over the years. But he's certainly one of the best when it comes to figuring out what the defense is doing."
 
The Royals cut the gap to 28-10 on a 28-yard field goal by Zach Bengston, but Feeney closed the third quarter with a 42-yard scoring strike to senior tight end Charlie Plum (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall), then connected with Jacobs on a 26-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to end the Johnnie scoring.
 
Bethel scored a late touchdown on a 27-yard pass from Drews to David Geebli, but by then, the outcome had long been decided.
 
"Trey had the kind of game we expect out of him," said Jacobs, who finished with seven catches for 82 yards and three touchdowns. "When he gets rolling like that, we're tough to stop."
 
And Saturday's victory served notice that stopping the Johnnies is not going to be an easy task for any team this season.
 
"This is the kind of win that gives us a ton of confidence," Feeney said. "Bethel is a great team, and when you can get a win like this against them, there's a lot of momentum that comes from that. We can't let up. We have to stay focused.
 
"But we're feeling really good about how we're playing right now."

Senior cornerback Vincent Pyne (Rosemount, Minn.) and senior linebacker Andrew Molenaar (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View) led SJU defensively with nine tackles each.
 
15 Straight
Feeney completed his first 15 pass attempts of the afternoon before a dropped pass snapped the streak. His 38 pass completions were the second-most in SJU history, six behind the record of 44 set by Aaron Syverson '24 on Oct. 7, 2023 vs. Concordia-Moorhead. The six-touchdown performance was Feeney's second of the season and fourth of his career.

6 Sacks
Saturday's six quarterback sacks were SJU's most in a single game since they posted six in a 34-0 home win over Gustavus Adolphus on Oct. 26, 2024. The total was the most for the Johnnies against a ranked opponent since week two of that season – 10 in a 35-13 victory over then-No. 5 Wartburg (Iowa) on Sept. 14 in Collegeville.

Scorigami!
Today's 42-16 win was SJU football's first of its kind and the second unique score of the season (471st overall). The Johnnies have played in 24 games – with a 22-2 record – in which a team has won by scoring 42 points. The last time SJU scored exactly 42 points in a win was the aforementioned 42-23 win over Concordia-Moorhead on Oct. 7, 2023. 

Rain-Soaked Saturday
Saturday's matchup drew a crowd of 13,661 - packing campus during a sunny Saturday morning, though the crowd thinned out somewhat during the long delay that preceded kickoff. And while the lightning stopped, allowing the game to finally proceed, the rain kept falling much of the afternoon.