SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus defense collected three interceptions and held Carleton to a season-low 228 total yards of offense, resulting in a 28-9 victory Saturday afternoon at Hollingsworth Field. The Gusties increase their winning streak to 25 games over Carleton dating back to 1997, while improving to 5-3 overall, 4-2 in the MIAC, and 2-1 in the Northwoods Division.
Carleton's first drive of the game resulted in a three-and-out, and the ensuing punt was blocked and recovered by
Matthew Carreon (Sr., Houston, Texas) at the Carleton two-yard line. Three plays later,
Ethan Hufendick (Sr., Edina), starting in place of the injured
George Sandven (Sr., Edina), connected with
Jake Breitbach (Jr., Golden Valley) for a three-yard touchdown pass and the Gusties took an early 6-0 lead. The Knights came back with a 12-play, 41-yard dive that stalled just outside the red zone and finished with a 42-yard field goal. Gustavus punched right back with an eight-play, 64-yard drive, capped by a 28-yard field goal by
Andrew Abegglen (Sr., Mound) and the Gusties led 9-3 after the first quarter.
On their second drive of the second quarter, the Gusties took a 12-3 lead on another Abegglen field goal, this time from 21 yards out after going 77 yards in 14 plays. The Knight answered with a long drive of their own, going 56 yards in 15 plays, but a 25-yard field goal attempt was no good and the score remained 12-3 at halftime.
Isaiah Chambers (Jr., Houston, Texas) intercepted a pass on Carleton's second possession of the third quarter, setting up a seven-play, 52-yard drive, capped by a 13-yard touchdown pass from
Andrew Gotziaman (So., Minneapolis) to Breitbach. The two-point conversion failed and the Gusties led 18-3 midway through the quarter. The two teams traded interceptions on their following possessions, the second by Graham Nister (Sr., St. Cloud), which set up a 20-yard field goal by Abegglen to take a 21-3 advantage with 2:12 left in the third.
Carleton's longest drive lasted 17 plays and went 80 yards midway through the fourth quarter, ending on a 12-yard touchdown pass to make the score 21-9. The Knights got the ball back with 51 seconds left in the game, but
Ezekiel Sundberg (Sr., Lakewood, Colo.) sealed the victory with a 45-yard pick-six for his MIAC-leading fifth interception of the season.
Hufendick and Gotziaman split time at quarterback and were limited to 44 and 43 yards passing, respectively. Instead, the rushing game totaled a season-high 48 attempts, led by the tandem of
Rohee Konde (Jr., Hopkins) and
Tanner Rennie (Fy., Cape Coral, Fla.). Konde had 24 carries for 151 yards and Rennie added 20 attempts for 81 yards. The ground-and-pound approach led to the Gusties owning possession for more than 35 minutes.
"We found out late in the week that George was going to be out of the lineup so
Ethan Hufendick had an opportunity to come in and did some nice stuff, and
Andrew Gotziaman came in there without having played a lot so to get those guys an opportunity was great," Head Coach Peter Haugen said.
Carson DeKam (Jr., Owatonna) led the defense with 14 tackles.
William Hawkins (So., New Orleans, La.) and
Zach Jakes (Sr., North Mankato) contributed eight stops apiece, including 1.5 tackles for loss from Jakes, increasing his season total to a team-leading 10.5
"The defense played so well," Haugen said. "You have to give them a ton of credit today. That's what good teams do, they make up for things when other areas are down. It was a really solid win on what I would call difficult circumstances in terms of how much time we had to get ready."
Gustavus travels to Northfield, Minn. next Saturday for its final road game of the season at St. Olaf.
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