DULUTH, Minn. – The St. Olaf College football team overcame a 10-point deficit in the final 4:02 to claim a 35-31 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) victory over the College of St. Scholastica on Saturday afternoon at Duluth Public Schools Stadium.
St. Scholastica (0-7, 0-6 MIAC) held a 31-21 lead after scoring a touchdown with 4:02 remaining, but St. Olaf (2-5, 2-4 MIAC) scored just 1:20 later to get back within three points. After a failed onside kick, the Oles' defense forced a turnover on downs before the offense put together a game-winning drive, culminating in a four-yard touchdown pass from junior
Landon Dillon to junior
Jackson Kauck on a halfback pass with 13 seconds remaining.
The victory improved St. Olaf to 6-0 all-time against St. Scholastica, although the Oles' wins in the last three seasons have come by a combined total of 10 points. St. Olaf entered the game having scored just 56 points in six games before putting a season-high 35 on the board.
Senior
Luke Crosby put together his most effective game of the season by going 13-for-23 for 183 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions, while also rushing seven times for 28 yards and a score. Dillon also had a passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown in the win, finishing with 15 carries for 81 yards. Kauck recorded the first 100-yard game of his career by catching a career-high 10 passes for a career-high 117 yards and the game-winning touchdown. Senior
Bryon Sauvy ran for 49 yards and a touchdown, while junior
Erick Brunsvold had two catches for 56 yards and a touchdown.
After St. Scholastica got on the board first with a field goal seven seconds into the second quarter, St. Olaf took its first of two leads in the game on a 10-yard run by Sauvy with 6:39 to go before halftime. The Saints answered with an 11-play, 64-yard drive to retake the lead on a two-yard run by quarterback Elijah Adzimahe with 1:08 to go in the half. Junior
Alec Mahoney ran the ensuing kickoff back 88 yards for a touchdown, but it was called back for a holding penalty, as St. Scholastica took a 10-7 lead into the locker room.
Out of the break, the two teams scored touchdowns on six consecutive drives to set the stage for the dramatic finish. The Saints extended their lead to 17-7 on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Adzimahe to Jeremiah Jackson just over three minutes into the third quarter, but St. Olaf responded with a 66-yard scoring drive that ended in a 19-yard run by Dillon.
After another touchdown pass by Adzimahe, the Oles got back within three on a five-yard run by Crosby 2:05 into the fourth, but the Saints chewed 8:48 off the clock on a 15-play scoring drive to go back up by 10 at 31-21 with 4:02 remaining. St. Olaf started its late comeback by covering 61 yards in just four plays and 1:10 to get back within three on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Crosby to Brunsvold on the left sideline.
St. Scholastica recovered the ensuing onside kick, but St. Olaf's defense forced a turnover on downs after senior
Tytan Small broke up a pass on a fourth-and-two play at the St. Olaf 36-yard line. Crosby led the Oles down the field with no timeouts remaining for the game-winning score, finding Kauck for 28 yards on the second play of the drive and 13 more yards on a third-and-six play three plays later to get into the red zone.
Three consecutive runs by Dillon moved the chains for a first down at the nine-yard line. After a spike stopped the clock, Dillon got five more yards before going out of bounds at the four-yard line. Out of a St. Scholastica timeout, Dillon ran to the right before pulling up and lobbing the ball to Kauck, who made a sliding catch in the middle of the end zone for the game-winning score. The Saints returned the ensuing kickoff to their own 45-yard line before senior
Nick Rollinger intercepted a Hail Mary on the final play of the game.
Rollinger recorded eight tackles, seven of which were solo stops, and the game-sealing interception for his third pick of the season. Junior
Logan Bosch led the Oles with nine tackles, with eight of the nine being solo tackles.
St. Olaf will host Macalester College for Senior Day and its final home game of the season at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31.
