St. John's shuts out Augsburg with balanced offense, dominant defense
MINNEAPOLIS – St. John’s University head coach Gary Fasching was pleased with the way his team put Saturday afternoon’s MIAC road matchup at Augsburg out of reach in the first half.But he was even happier to see the Johnnies keep it there after that. SJU rushed for four touchdowns in the first and second quarters - including two from senior running back Henry Trost and a 58-yard scamper by junior quarterback Aaron Syverson - then kept its foot on the gas en route to a 45-0 win over the Auggies before a homecoming crowd at sun-soaked Edor Nelson Field.
“I told our guys at halftime that we’ve been in this position before,” said Fasching, whose team – ranked No. 6 in the most recent D3football.com NCAA Division III top 25 – improved to 4-1. “We’ve been up big, then let the other team back into the game.
“So I told them, ‘Let’s go out there and finish it.’”
Indeed, the Johnnies led Wisconsin-River Falls 37-19 in the fourth quarter on Sept. 10, then had to hold on to win 37-34. They led Bethel 10-7 at halftime on Sept. 24, but fell 28-24. And, against Concordia last week, SJU led 35-7 in the third quarter before the Cobbers rallied to cut the gap to 35-28. It was only after an onside kick attempt went out-of-bounds with under a minute left that the Johnnies emerged victorious.
So Saturday’s four quarters of drama-free football came as a welcome relief.
“We know how we’re capable of playing,” said senior defensive back Cayden Saxon, who finished with three tackles, two pass breakups and a big interception early in the third quarter. “We just need to keep playing that way. Being able to go out there today and hold them to a zero on the scoreboard took that monkey off our back a little bit.”
While the defense recorded SJU’s first shutout since an 81-0 win over St. Scholastica on Oct. 30 of last year and forced four turnovers, the offense turned in perhaps its most balanced performance of the season. The Johnnies finished with 485 yards of total offense – a season-best 259 of it coming on the ground.
Trost finished with 13 carries for 55 yards and two touchdowns. Junior Troy Feddema, a St. Cloud Tech High School graduate, had six carries for 57 yards and one touchdown. But it was Syverson who led the way with five carries for 78 yards.
Of course, the bulk of that total came on his big touchdown run on the final play of the first quarter that put the Johnnies on top 21-0.
“That was kind of fun,” said a smiling Syverson, who also threw for 214 yards and two touchdowns before exiting the game late in the third quarter with his team in front 42-0. “It doesn’t happen much. Maybe it won’t ever happen again. But some of the guys have been making fun of my running, so it was fun to show off a little speed.”
The game marked the last MIAC interdivisional matchup for the Johnnies, who begin Northwoods Division play when they travel to Northfield to take on St. Olaf (3-2) at 1 p.m. next Saturday.
“It was great to get the shutout and play well all four quarters,” Saxon said. “But now we have to keep moving forward. We’re taking it game-by-game. We got a big win today. Now it’s on to next week.”
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: St. John's shuts out Augsburg with balanced offense
