8 October 2023
Aaron Syverson had a football game to remember in a 42-23 St. John’s victory over Concordia (Moorhead) on Saturday at Clemens Stadium in Collegeville, Minn.
Syverson, the Johnnies’ veteran quarterback, completed 44 of 60 passes for 498 yards and five touchdowns. He had a 170.6 quarterback rating as he completed 73.3 percent of his throws to eight different receivers.
His main targets were Nick Vanerp, who had eight receptions for 147 yards and two TDs; Alex Larson, who had 13 catches for 124 yards and one TD; Dylan Wheeler, who finished with 10 receptions for 109 yards; and Marselio Mendez, who had four catches for 50 yards and two TDs.
Concordia’s Cooper Mattern had a big game, too, completing 23 of 45 passes for 254 yards and two TDs.
Carleton 33. St. Olaf 31
Marcus Merkelbach kicked a 30-yard field goal with 23 seconds left in the game as the unbeaten Knights rallied to edge the rival Oles in Northfield, Minn. Next up for Carleton is its biggest game of the season, against St. John’s. Both team are 3-0 in the MIAC’s five-team Northwoods division.
Augsburg 41, Hamline 7
Cade Sheehan completed 20 of 28 passes for 227 yards and five touchdowns as the Auggies overwhemed the Pipers in an MIAC game as Klas Field in St. Paul. Braden Tretter was on the other end of much of Sheehan’s production, catching eight passes for 114 yards and three TDs. Alejandro Villanueva was 15 of 31 passing for 107 yards and one TD for Hamline.
Gustavus Adolphus 63. St. Scholastica 12
Jake Breitbach had 11 catches for 133 yards and three touchdowns, and the Gusties’ offense scored on nine of 11 drives to overwhelm the Saints in an MIAC game in Duluth, Minn. Breitbach leads all NCAA divisions in receptions per game and receiving yards per game this season. He has 63 catches for 958 yards and eight TDs in five games in 2023.
Sioux Falls 35, Concordia-St. Paul 28
The Golden Bears led 21-20 and had the ball in the Cougars’ red zone late in the third quarter before a lost fumble at the USF 7-yard line turned the NSIC game around at Sea Foam Stadium in St. Paul. Jaylin Richardson kept the Concordia-St. Paul offense moving with 162 yards and three touchdowns on 23 rushes.
Minn. State Mankato 24, Moorhead 21
Matthew Jaeger kicked a 34-yard field goal with four seconds left to lift the unbeaten Mavericks, ranked No. 4 in Division II, over the Dragons at Blakeslee Stadium in Mankato, Minn.
North Dakota State 38, Missouri State 10
The Bison got 534 yards of total offense and forced four turnovers on defense to roll over Missouri State in a Missouri Valley Football Conference game at Plaster Stadium in Springfield, Mo. Logan Kopp had nine tackles, two pass breakups, and forced and recovered a fumble for NDSU, while teammate Julian Wlodarczyk had a team-high 10 tackles with two pass breakups.