ST. PETER, Minn. – The St. Olaf College football team was unable to slow down the run game of Gustavus Adolphus College in a 21-10 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) loss on Saturday at Hollingsworth Field.

St. Olaf (6-2, 4-2 MIAC, 2-1 Northwoods) led 10-7 late in the third quarter before Gustavus (5-3, 4-2 MIAC, 2-1 Northwoods) broke loose for a pair of long touchdown runs over the final 15-plus minutes of the game. The Gusties piled up 314 of their 461 yards of total offense on the ground and averaged 8.1 yards per rush to overcome 11 penalties that cost the hosts 105 yards.

Conversely, the Oles gained 320 of their 331 yards of offense through the air while being held to 11 rushing yards on 21 attempts. Senior Theo Doran tied St. Olaf's all-time passing touchdowns record – established by Dan Dobson '13 – with the 67th of his career and finished 29-for-52 for 320 yards with one touchdown and four interceptions.

Fifth-year senior Derek Hansen and senior Evan Hammonds both had over 100 receiving yards for St. Olaf, which got eight receptions for 59 yards and a score from junior Will Skemp. Hansen matched a season high with seven catches for a season-best 135 yards, while Hammonds caught a career-high 11 passes for 108 yards. Hansen's 135 receiving yards were one shy of his career-high 136 set against Gustavus two years ago.

Senior Tate Sauerwein registered a team-high 11 tackles, including eight solo stops and 3.0 tackles for a loss, while fifth-year senior Deonta Thomas picked up six tackles and his second interception of the season.

After being pinned at its own 13-yard line to start its first possession, Gustavus drove 87 yards in nine plays to open the scoring on a 32-yard pass from Jacob Ginskey to Caden Kleinschmidt with 8:40 to go in the opening quarter. St. Olaf got down to the Gustavus 25-yard line on the ensuing possession before a third-down interception halted the drive.

Late in the opening quarter, senior Tony Avila-Tovalin forced a fumble that junior Noah Barrett recovered to set up the Oles near midfield. On the next play, Doran found Hansen for a 47-yard gain down to the 11-yard line and, two plays later, Doran connected with Skemp for a 12-yard score to tie the game at 7-7 in the final minute of the opening quarter.

Neither team was able to put points on the board in the second quarter, as the two teams went into the halftime break tied at 7-7. The score remained deadlocked until fifth-year senior Collin Swan made a 21-yard field goal with 5:25 to go in the third quarter to give the Oles their only lead of the game.

Senior Elijah Short broke up a pass to force a turnover on downs on Gustavus' next possession, but the Oles went three-and-out to give the ball right back. River Wood broke free for an 87-yard touchdown run on the first play of the drive for the Gusties with 37 seconds remaining in the third quarter for what proved to be the game-winning score.

The two defenses combined for four interceptions in the fourth quarter, as the lone points came on a 61-yard run by De'Marion Brown with 4:04 left. Wood and Brown combined to run for 297 of the Gusties' 314 rushing yards on 35 attempts.

The schedule does not get any easier for St. Olaf with a trip to nationally-ranked Saint John's University on Saturday, Nov. 9 for a 1 p.m. kickoff.