St. John’s University slams St. Olaf in MIAC Northwoods Division matchup
NORTHFIELD - It didn’t take Nick VanErp long to answer his own question Saturday afternoon.
Lining up in a new spot, the St. John’s University senior wide receiver hauled in a 58-yard touchdown pass on his team’s first possession of the game, getting the Johnnies’ offense going early en route to a 49-10 win over St. Olaf in an MIAC Northwoods Division matchup at Klein Field at Manitou.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect,” said VanErp, who finished the day with eight catches for 141 yards – marking the first 100-yard receiving performance of his collegiate career. “We kind of switched some things up, putting me on the short side to give a different look for (quarterback) Aaron (Syverson) and the rest of us. So I didn’t know what would happen.
“But everything turned out really well. They gave us the right coverage for what we had called. Aaron knew where to go and he trusted it.”
The touchdown got the Johnnies out to an early 7-0 lead. Things idled a bit as the Oles cut the gap to four on a 33-yard field goal by junior Collin Swan early in the second quarter. But rapid acceleration soon followed.
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Senior running back Henry Trost scored on a 2-yard touchdown run to extend the SJU margin to 14-3 and senior tight end Alex Larson followed with the first of his three touchdown catches – a 17-yarder that put the Johnnies on top 21-3 at halftime.
“We scored quickly, but then we had a bit of a lull where we weren’t very good,” said SJU coach Gary Fasching, whose team – ranked No. 5 in the most recent D3football.com NCAA Division III national poll – improved to 3-1 in MIAC play and 5-1 overall.
“We had a lot of penalties and some undisciplined stuff. But I was happy with the way we finished up the first half, and especially with the way we came out in the second half and took care of business.”
Indeed, Syverson connected with freshman tight end Joey Gendreau on a 3-yard touchdown pass with 5:47 to go in the third quarter – marking the first catch for the Minnetonka High School graduate at the collegiate level. Then, after St. Olaf scored on a 46-yard touchdown catch by senior Payton Schott to cut the gap to 28-10, Larson delivered touchdown catches of 9 and 15 yards as the Johnnies built a 42-10 lead with 11:06 remaining.
Syverson finished the afternoon 26 of 40 passing for 351 yards and five touchdowns.
“We’ve got a guy who can sling the rock back there,” said Larson, who finished with three catches for 41 yards. “When we give him some time, we know he’s going to be able to spread it around to all of us.”
The Johnnies got a late final touchdown when freshman running back Caden Wheeler broke free on a 68-yard touchdown run to close out the scoring.
“We just had to get going and pick it up on both sides of the ball,” said senior linebacker Erik Bjork, who had five tackles Saturday. “We really feel like the only team that can beat us is ourselves. When we focus on playing our game, and we don’t get in our own way, we really get things rolling.”
Now SJU rolls on toward a big Northwoods Division matchup against Gustavus at 1 p.m. next Saturday at Clemens Stadium. The Gusties are 3-1 in MIAC play and 4-2 overall after beating Hamline 44-7 Saturday.
“We’re getting to that point in the season where (Fasching) always says championship teams rise up,” VanErp said. “We want to start accelerating toward playing that championship level of football. I think that’s kind of what we’re hitting right now and we have to keep it going.”
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: St. John’s football slams St. Olaf in MIAC Northwoods Division matchup
