NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College football team's fourth-quarter comeback came up one play and 12 yards short in a 35-28 loss to crosstown-rival Carleton College in the annual meeting for the Goat Trophy on Saturday afternoon at Laird Stadium.

Carleton (2-1, 2-0 MIAC) led 28-14 at the half and 35-21 inside the final minute of the third quarter before St. Olaf (2-1, 1-1 MIAC) made it a seven-point game early in the fourth. An interception by the Knights with 1:24 remaining put the hosts in position to end the game with one first down, but the Ole defense forced a stop and a miscue on the punt set up St. Olaf at the Carleton 23-yard line, but the Oles were unable to convert the on third-and-10 at the 12-yard line on the final play of the game.

The win gave Carleton back possession of the Goat in the third consecutive one-score game between the two crosstown rivals. The Knights have won three of the last four meetings after a seven-game winning streak by the Oles from 2014-21.

On a day where he became Carleton's all-time leader in passing yards, Jack Curtis was 29-for-42 for 396 yards with three touchdowns and one interception for the Knights, connecting with Tyler Dimond seven times for 181 yards and a score and Rye Storrs nine times for 84 yards and two touchdowns. Carleton piled up 515 yards of offense in the win, 372 of which came in the opening half. Dimond did not have a catch after halftime.

St. Olaf outrushed Carleton by a 189-119 margin in the game, with junior Bryon Sauvy carrying the ball 16 times for a season-high 98 yards. Senior Gus Gartzke ran for 52 yards and a score on 19 carries, while sophomore Tory Pinkney Jr. had 80 total yards (40 rushing, 40 receiving) and a 35-yard rushing score. Senior Will Skemp hauled in eight passes from junior Luke Crosby for 131 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

On the opening possession of the game, Carleton marched to near the red zone before the St. Olaf defense got a stop on fourth and 10. The Knights eventually opened the scoring with a 13-play, 80-yard drive that ended in a one-yard scoring run by Evan Olds with 1:57 to go in the opening quarter to take a 7-0 lead after one.

The Oles answered quickly with a seven-play, 81-yard drive of their own, culminating in a 35-yard end-around to Pinkney Jr. for the sophomore's first collegiate touchdown inside the opening minute of the second quarter. Carleton responded with its second consecutive scoring drive, covering 75 yards in five plays, ending with a two-yard run by Jaden Coleman a little over two minutes later to go back ahead.

St. Olaf put together a response of its own when Crosby hit Skemp down the right sideline for a 32-yard touchdown to cap an eight-play, 88-yard drive on the next possession to tie the game at 14-14. Carleton took a 28-14 lead at the half thanks to touchdown passes of 40 yards from Curtis to Dimond and 13 yards from Curtis to Storrs in the final three-plus minutes of the half. The Knights averaged 9.3 yards per play and had 311 passing yards in the opening half.

After the teams traded punts to start the third quarter, Gartzke rumbled in from two yards out on a third-and-one play with 5:03 to go in the third to get the Oles back within a touchdown, but Carleton went back up by two scores on Curtis' second touchdown pass of the day with 33 seconds to go in the quarter.

Early in the fourth, St. Olaf went for it on fourth-and-10 at the Carleton 42-yard line and Crosby found Skemp up the left side for a 42-yard touchdown on a play where Skemp was interfered with and forced out of bounds, re-established himself in bounds, and went in for a touchdown when others thought the play was dead. The 100-yard game was the second in a row for Skemp, who has 15 catches for 288 yards and three scores in the last two weeks.

Carleton had a chance to add to its seven-point lead with 4:14 to go, but sophomore Josh Kerber blocked Marcus Merkelbach's 35-yard field goal attempt to keep the Oles in with a chance. Jake Reinke intercepted a Crosby pass on the next possession to give the Knights a chance to run out the clock with a first down, but the Ole defense stopped Olds on a third-and-two to force a punt.

After having a first-half targeting call against him overturned at halftime, sophomore Alec Mahoney – the reigning MIAC Football Defensive Player of the Week – recovered a fumble on the snap of the ensuing punt to set up St. Olaf at the Carleton 23-yard line. With no timeouts left, Crosby connected with Skemp for 11 yards and Skemp got out of bounds on the first play of the drive, but three consecutive incomplete passes saw the clock run out with the Oles 12 yards away from a tying score.

St. Olaf will look to bounce back with a trip to Augsburg University on Saturday, Oct. 4 for a 12 p.m. kickoff.