Box Score
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. –
Trey Feeney describes senior tight end
Andrew Harren as one of the smartest guys on the Saint John's football roster.
"He not only knows what the tight ends are doing, he knows what the offensive line does and he knows what the receivers do," the SJU signal caller said of the 6-foot-5, 230-pound Sauk Rapids-Rice High School graduate. "So he can help everyone else on the field.
"
Andrew Harren is just a beast, man."
And the beast roared when his team needed it most Saturday afternoon, catching a 6-yard touchdown pass from Feeney on third down with 4:50 to play that gave SJU the breathing room it needed to hold off Wisconsin-La Crosse 24-21 in its season opener before a crowd of 11,871 at a hot and sunny Clemens Stadium.
"It was exciting," Harren said. "But I'm just happy I could come through when the team needed me. We have so many talented players on this team.
"Any one of them is capable of stepping up and making plays too."
And a lot of them did on an afternoon when SJU had to rally back from adversity on a number of occasions.
"The thing that impressed me most was that our guys played the same way from beginning to the end," said SJU head coach
Gary Fasching '81, whose team (1-0 overall) was ranked No. 11 in the D3football.com Division III national preseason poll while the Eagles (0-1) were ranked No. 10.
"They played hard and they played physical. We made some mistakes, but when we had to make plays, we did."
That started with a defense that came up with a pair of fourth-down stops at big times.
The first came when senior linebacker
Andrew Molenaar (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View) sacked UWL quarterback Kyle Haas on 4th-and-1 at the SJU 33 late in the second quarter with the score tied 10-10.
The Johnnie offense then marched 58 yards in six plays to score on a 6-yard pass from Feeney to another senior tight end,
Charlie Plum (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall). That touchdown put SJU on top 17-10 at halftime.
"We know if we do our jobs, we'll be successful," said Molenaar, who finished with eight tackles – second on the team only to senior defensive back
Vincent Pyne's (Rosemount, Minn.) 11.
"Sometimes they're going to make plays. They're a really good team. But if we know the calls and do our jobs, eventually we're going to make stops."
Haas did make plays in the passing game, throwing for 332 yards and a touchdown. But the Johnnies held La Crosse to just 35 yards on the ground and finished with three sacks - a performance made even more impressive by the fact that SJU was playing without senior All-American linebacker
Aiden McMahon (Maple Grove, Minn.). The team's leading tackler last season was sidelined with a hamstring injury Saturday.
"Next man up, that has to be the attitude," said Molenaar, who rooms with McMahon and Plum. "Aiden stepped in and coached us. He provided his leadership, which helped a lot. But we have a lot of talent on this defense and we're confident we can plug a new guy in and still play well."
That's exactly what happened during a key sequence early in the fourth quarter with SJU clinging to a 17-13 lead. The Johnnies were stopped on 4th-and-goal at the Eagles' 1, then La Crosse converted on a huge 3rd-and-10 when Haas connected with wide receiver Brodie Mickschl on a 63-yard strike that put the ball at the SJU 36.
But on 4th-and-1 at the Johnnies' 27, senior defensive lineman
Chandler Obering (Orange, Calif./Villa Park) and sophomore defensive lineman
Melvin Wallace (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) pressured Haas out of the pocket, forcing an incompletion. The defense then held the Eagles to a three-and-out on their next possession, setting the stage for Harren's touchdown catch.
"The defense played great today," said senior wide receiver
Riley Schwellenbach (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge), who finished with four catches for 91 yards, including a 35-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter that tied the score at 7. "They came up with some big plays that gave us the momentum back and we were able to score as an offense when we needed to.
"We knew La Crosse was going to be a good team and it was hot out. So it was going to be a battle. But it was the home opener, there were a ton of fans here and we brought the energy when we had to have it."
The Eagles cut the gap to just three when senior tight end Calahan Miles caught an 8-yard touchdown pass with 2:44 remaining, the hauled in the two-point conversion attempt in traffic to make the score 24-21 with 2:44 to go.
But senior running back
Corey Bohmert (Mahtomedi, Minn.) carried the ball four-straight times for a pair of first downs and the Johnnies were able to run out the clock. In all, Bohmert accounted for 96 yards of total offense (14 carries for 59 yards and eight catches for 37).
"At the end of the game, when it was run versus run, Corey, our offensive line and our tight ends helped us finish it off," said Feeney, who threw for 386 yards and three touchdowns Saturday - his fifth passing performance of 300 yards or more in a Johnnie uniform.
"That was unreal and it's something we're going to need to win big games as the year goes on."
For now, though, SJU can celebrate a 1-0 start and a victory over a team picked to finish second in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) this season.
"When you're playing against a good team like this, there's going to be peaks and valleys," said Fasching, whose team is off next weekend and opens MIAC play against Hamline at 1 p.m. on Sept. 19 at Clemens Stadium.
"But you have to stick with it, and I think that's the thing I'm most proud of today - the way our guys stuck with it all game long."
Single-Game Lists
Feeney's 36 completions were the third-most in an SJU game, while the 51 attempts are tied for seventh.
Hansen Gets His Kicks
Senior kicker/punter
Matt Hansen (Longmont, Colo./Niwot) kicked a 21-yard field goal in the second quarter, finished 3-for-3 on extra points and averaged 52.7 yards-per-punt on three opportunities. One of the punts was downed at the nine-yard line in the third quarter. He also had a 60-yard punt negated on a running-into-the-kicker penalty.
Season-Opening Success Continues
SJU improves to 84-28-3 (.743) all-time in season openers, including a 13-0 record under the direction of head coach
Gary Fasching. The Johnnies have won each of their last 21 season openers, 22 of their last 23, and 38 of their last 42 since 1984.
Another Non-Conference Win
The victory was also the Johnnies' 40th – 40-5 record (.889) – in regular-season, non-conference games since 2002. All five losses were to members of the WIAC, including four to UW-Eau Claire (2002, 2004, 2010 and 2011). Two of the four defeats were in overtime on the road (2002 and 2010) and another was decided by two points (30-28 in 2004).
SJU, however, is now 7-1 all-time against Wisconsin-La Crosse and 37-16 (.698) against current members of the WIAC.
