NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Sophomore Landon Dillon ran for a career-high 228 yards on 43 carries as the St. Olaf College football team topped Hamline University, 41-34, on Senior Day on Saturday afternoon at Klein Field at Manitou.

Dillon carried the load offensively in his first collegiate 100-yard performance for St. Olaf (4-5, 3-5 MIAC), which racked up 467 yards of offense, 288 of which came on the ground. Hamline (1-8, 0-8 MIAC) gained 403 yards of offense and averaged 7.3 yards per play in a game that feature 870 yards of combined offense. Prior to the game, the Oles recognized their 14 seniors and their families on the field on the day of their final contest at Klein Field at Manitou.

In addition to Dillon's big day on the ground, junior Luke Crosby was an efficient 12-for-15 for 179 yards and two touchdowns through the air while also rushing for a score. Crosby hit sophomore Jackson Kauck six times for 65 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Gus Gartzke ran for 53 yards and a touchdown on eight carries on his Senior Day.

Sophomore Ethan Hess connected on field goals of 31 and 44 yards to improve to 14-for-17 on the season and break the single-season record of made field goals set by Haakon Nelson in 1999 with 13.

Defensively, senior Noah Barrett had a team-high six tackles and a fumble recovery. Sophomore Jonah Blackman forced a pair of fumbles, one of which came on a strip sack. Sophomore Josh Kerber and first year Ciaran Less registered five total tackles and a fumble recovery each, while Kerber also blocked an extra point.

After receiving the opening kickoff, St. Olaf marched 75 yards in 13 plays, culminating in a one-yard sneak by Crosby for the opening points of the game. Hamline responded on its second possession with a 23-yard touchdown from Zayden Stevens to Dawson Schaffer to tie it at 17-17 early in the second quarter.

It took the Oles less than three minutes to respond, however, when Dillon plunged in from a yard out on a third-and-goal play three plays after Crosby hit Gartzke for a 41-yard gain into the red zone. Blackman forced the ball out and into the hands of Barrett on a strip sack on the next possession by the Pipers and, two plays later, Crosby found Kauck for a 25-yard strike to make it 21-7.

Hamline got it back to a one-score game on a one-yard run by Stevens, but St. Olaf pushed its lead back to 28-14 on a six-yard pass from Crosby to Kauck on third-and-goal with juts 21 seconds to go in the half. The Oles scored touchdowns on four of their five first-half possessions, not counting a one-play drive on a hail mary to end the half.

St. Olaf continued to move the ball offensively in the second half, scoring points on three of its five possessions, with another drive that ran 8:20 off the clock to end the game. Hess made both of his field goals in the third quarter on eight side of a 20-yard touchdown strike from Stevens, leaving the Oles ahead by a 34-21 score.

In the closing seconds of the third, the Pipers got within a score when Stevens connected with Isaiah Watson from 31 yards out to cap a 98-yard drive and make it a 34-27 game heading into the fourth after Kerber blocked the PAT.

St. Olaf went right down the field on the next possession behind five rushes by Dillon and Gartzke, who ran around the left side for a nine-yard score to cap the drive. The Pipers once again responded, as Stevens threw his fourth touchdown of the game – his fifth total touchdown – to Samuel Pachuta from eight yards out with 8:26 to go for what proved the be the final points of the game after the Oles ran out the remainder of the clock.

St. Olaf will wrap up its season with a trip to nationally-ranked Saint John's University for a 12 p.m. start on Saturday, Nov. 15.