Saint John's University

By Dave DeLand, SJU Executive Director of Marketing & Communications

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Leadership isn’t a statistic.

Confidence doesn’t show up on a drive chart.

Trust is impossible to quantify.

But in a game filled with numbers, there was nothing more important than those intangibles Saturday when the resilient Saint John’s football team turned Allianz Field into its home away from home.

“It’s an experience element, it’s leadership and it’s a trust element in your teammates,” senior offensive tackle Ben Bartch (Dayton, Ore./Blanchet Catholic) said after the Johnnies rallied from a rocky start and pulled away for a 38-20 victory over arch-rival St. Thomas.

“We knew we were good. We knew we were going to come out and do our stuff once we started clicking,” added senior quarterback Jackson Erdmann (Rosemount, Minn.), who led the offensive surge that erased the Johnnies’ 14-0 first-quarter deficit. “Good things happened.”

They happened because the 5-0 Johnnies didn’t get rattled by the Tommies’ early surge. Instead, they made defensive adjustments and shredded St. Thomas for 558 yards of total offense, much to the delight of the crowd of 19,508 that was approximately two-thirds red at the start of the game and about 98 percent red at the end.

“No panic. We weren’t really fazed,” said Erdmann, who threw three touchdown passes and completed 32 of 47 passes for 451 yards – the second-highest total in school history, surpassed only by his 470 passing yards vs. St. Thomas in 2018. “Obviously we don’t like being down, but they weren’t doing anything we didn’t expect.”

“When everyone trusts each other, you’re not insecure. You don’t need to say, ‘Guys, let’s go.’ You trust each other. You know you’re going to do it,” Bartsch said.

“They jumped out to that early lead, but I’m so proud of our guys. They stuck with it,” SJU head coach Gary Fasching added. “We know we can throw the football. Jackson does it better than anybody I’ve ever seen in this league in forever.”

Saint John’s outscored St. Thomas 38-6 after the Tommies’ two-touchdown flurry in the game’s first 11:37. Erdmann started the comeback with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Kenneth Udoibok, then directed five more touchdown drives as the Johnnies shredded St. Thomas with a five-receiver spread offense.

Kai Barber put Saint John’s ahead to stay with a 29-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter, and Erdmann added an exclamation point with a 16-yard scoring strike to T.J. Hodge with 34 seconds left.

“I was thinking ‘We’ve got this. Just settle down.’ I don’t think anyone panicked,” Bartch said.

“I just told each and every one of them, ‘Just do your thing and we’ll be good,’ “ Erdmann said. “Me being a fifth-year senior, I’ve played in games like this before – close games, big games, big venues.

“All I care about is the (win), but man, it’s just fun torching them.”

It also was fun bringing the “Holy Grail” traveling trophy back to Collegeville. Saint John’s technically earned the trophy with its 40-20 win last year at Clemens Stadium, but it had remained in St. Paul.

“Last year I don’t think they thought we could beat them, so they never brought it with them,” Fasching said.

“Standing out on that field with that trophy was great,” Erdmann added. “We finally brought it back.”