Box Score
EAGAN, Minn. – Coming into this season, Saint John's senior quarterback
Trey Feeney and his teammates had two goals.
They accomplished the first Saturday night. Now they turn their attention to the second.
Feeney (Moorhead, Minn.) - who leads all divisions of NCAA college football in passing yardage and touchdown passes - threw for 414 yards and six touchdowns Saturday night as the Johnnies (10-0, 9-0 MIAC) – ranked No. 3 in both national polls - rolled past St. Olaf 49-0 in the regular season finale at TCO Stadium in Eagan.
The victory gave SJU sole possession of the conference title, marking the 38th time the Johnnies have won or shared the MIAC crown.
Now SJU waits for the Division III playoff pairings to be announced at 4 p.m. (CST) Sunday (Nov. 15) on ncaa.com to find out who it plays next. The Johnnies – who had already wrapped up the MIAC's automatic bid entering play Saturday - are ranked No. 7 in the Division III NPI rankings, meaning they are likely to receive a bye in the first round next Saturday (Nov. 21) and host a second-round game on Nov. 28.
"Winning the conference title was our No. 1 goal this year," said Feeney, whose team finished second to Bethel a year ago. "We all wanted to bring that back home.
"Our second goal is winning a national championship, though, so we still have one more goal to go."
Feeney made sure SJU entered the postseason on a strong note, throwing for 372 yards and six touchdowns in the first half alone as the Johnnies took a 42-0 halftime lead. Two of those touchdowns went to senior wide receiver
Riley Schwellenbach (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) who led the Johnnies in receiving with 10 catches for 115 yards, giving him 74 receptions for 1,068 yards and 11 touchdowns this season.
Classmate
Thomas Jacobs (Lakeland, Minn./Stillwater Area) added seven catches for 115 yards and a touchdown, increasing his season totals to 70 receptions for 974 yards and 14 touchdowns. Fellow senior wideout
Sam Nolan (Lakeville, Minn./North) caught a pair of first-half touchdowns and senior tight end
Charlie Plum (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) added a 47-yard touchdown catch and run early in the second quarter.
"We wanted to come out and set the tone right away, and kind of use this game as a tune-up for the playoffs," SJU head coach
Gary Fasching '81 said. "We did a great job of preparation all week long and our guys came out and executed really well.
"That first half might have been the best first half we played all year."
On both sides of the ball. The SJU defense came up with a pair of first-half interceptions from junior safety
Will Peroutka (Rosemount, Minn.) and senior linebacker
Aiden McMahon (Maple Grove, Minn.) - each of which set up touchdowns.
In all, the Johnnies allowed the Oles (4-6, 4-5 MIAC) just nine first downs.
"We wanted to be playing our best ball at the end of the year and I think we're doing that," said McMahon, who led SJU in tackles with seven. "Everything is firing on all cylinders right now."
So now it's on to the postseason as the pursuit of higher aspirations begins.
"I thought we built great momentum tonight," Feeney said. "Going undefeated and winning a conference title is hard to do, and it's a great feeling to accomplish that.
"Now we have to continue that into the playoffs. We don't know who we'll be playing. But we just need to stay focused on playing our best football."
