Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Augsburg’s Omer Madkour carries the ball while being chased by Martin Luther College defenders Tom Bulge (4) and David Baumann (8) during a DIII non-conference football game at the MLC Bowl on Saturday afternoon.
NEW ULM — Pressure from both the offensive and defensive sides of the Augsburg Auggies made it a tough day for the Martin Luther College Knights in Saturday afternoon’s game at the MLC Bowl.
Augsburg’s win up front led to a 438-207 yards advantage and a 34-7 victory in the DIII non-conference football game.
The Auggies (1-1) sacked Knights (2-1) quarterback Brady Turriff eight times and held him to 22-of-36 passing for 197 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Turriff felt the pressure and had his eyes on the field, making it hard for MLC to generate the big plays needed to counter Augsburg’s big plays.
“We knew before we came that their line was big and physical,” MLC head coach Paul Huebner said. “The last two years, they’ve beaten us and pushed us pretty hard. I thought our O-line, D-line held up a lot better than they did the last two years, which is good and something we need to build on. But for our guys, it’s just learning how to play against bigger, stronger opponents. You’re going to see some strong defensive lines in the conference (UMAC) and you’re going to see some strong offensive lines in the conference.”
“It’s a good test and a good opportunity for our guys to see what they can do against a big, physical front line with a lot of junior and senior depth. … We don’t have depth, we’re a small program, we don’t have 15 offensive linemen and 12 defensive linemen. Half of them are juniors or seniors who have been starters for two or three years. That’s what we’d like to have, but we have what we have and they work hard.”
Augsburg quarterback Marcus Freeman completed 19 of 28 passes with two touchdowns and one interception. Tyriq Givens had nine receptions for 111 yards and Tyrone Wilson had eight catches for 165 yards and two touchdowns for Augsburg. Augsburg’s Will Smith had 13 carries for 84 yards and Lamar Webb Jr. rushed five times for 64 yards and two touchdowns.
The Knights’ defense started well, forcing the Auggies to punt about nine minutes into the first quarter, but the offense struggled to get going after that. But the Auggies quickly got their first punt back on a three-play drive that ended with a 45-yard touchdown pass from Freeman to Wilson with 4:33 left in the first quarter. Augsburg scored two more touchdowns on another three-play drive early in the second quarter, capped by a 51-yard run by Webb Jr. up the middle. Augsburg added another touchdown with 6:42 left in the half when Freeman again found Wilson for a five-yard touchdown at the end of a nine-play drive. The Auggies tried to go for two but were thwarted, making the score 20-0.
MLC drove 74 yards in 11 plays and finally got the points on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Turriff to Andrew Larsh, and a Micah Koschnitzke kick made it 20-7 by halftime.
Webb Jr. had another touchdown run with 7:06 left in the third quarter, this time from six yards out, to put the Auggies ahead, 27-7. As the Knights tried to rally in the fourth quarter, Jax Bochman intercepted a Turriff pass and ran 44 yards for a touchdown and score with 10:25 left.
Turriff was under a lot of pressure but spread his passes around, completing passes to five receivers, led by Thomas Kelpin who had six catches for 51 yards. Lars had five catches for 69 yards and a touchdown, while Jude Pedersen had five catches for 38 yards, Zach Arndt had four catches for 21 yards and Corey Tipton had two catches for 18 yards.
Reece Locker led the Knights’ ground game with 71 yards on 24 carries.
Matthew Hilmer led the Knights defense with nine tackles, Joey Oelke had six tackles and a sack and Jeremiah Stanton had an interception.
Huebner said Saturday’s game was a good test for his players to see what they can hold against more strong teams in the near future.
“Like I told my guys, we come into this game 2-0 down. We’re not letting our guard down, but we know we’re not the champions of anything,” Huebner said. “Let’s not get too cocky just because we’ve won two games. We have a lot of tough opponents on our schedule, so we’re going to prepare as best we can, practice hard, take care of our bodies, study film and do all the little things that it takes to reach big goals. Our guys have big goals.”
The Knights were 2 of 16 on third down while the Auggies were 3 of 10.
Bye Week
The lack of games next weekend gives MLC some breathing room to prepare for homecoming opponent Minnesota Morris (1-2) on Oct. 5. The Oct. 5 matchup will mark the Knights’ first Upper Midwest Athletic Conference game of the season.
Huebner said his team will have to work to win the battle of explosive plays on both ends of the floor.
“On the offensive side, we need to create more explosive plays, pass plays of 15-plus yards, run plays of 12-plus yards, and a lot of that comes down to pass protection and having the time to develop those routes,” he said. “Defensively, it’s about limiting explosive plays, winning those one-on-one battles with good wide receivers and blitzing to send the quarterback home when we’re playing Cover 1, Cover 0, things like that.”
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