St. John's football rebounds against Bethel, wins first MIAC game
COLLEGEVILLE – St. John’s football is through its season-opening gauntlet.
The No. 8 Johnnies have played three ranked teams to start the season, beating No. 19 Bethel 27-7 on Saturday to open Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play in Collegeville.
“Last year, we started with three in a row as well, it's really good for us to kind of see how you stack up against good teams and start building a really good resume for yourself,” quarterback Aaron Syverson said.
After an overtime victory in Week 1 to then-No. 4 Trinity and a 56-28 blowout Sept. 9 against then-No. 8 Wisconsin-Whitewater, SJU coach Gary Fasching challenged his defense to step up in practice though the bye week.
Again led by junior linebacker Cooper Yaggie, the Johnnies did what they were asked and held the Royals to 233 total yards. Yaggie led SJU in tackles with 12 and he had an interception in the third quarter that was returned for 24 yards, setting the Johnnies up with prime field position. He had two interceptions in last year’s MIAC championship game against the Royals, too.
“I mean, week-to-week we know what we had to do, but we had a bit of a chip on our shoulders coming into this week after that Week 2 loss,” Yaggie said.
He said the unit was “flying around practice” for two weeks and ready to prove themselves again. Bethel was just 2-for-14 on third downs and turned it over three times on four fourth down attempts, all in Johnny territory. Quarterback Alex Call is a redshirt freshman and Saturday was his second collegiate start, but last week he went 24-34 with two touchdowns and 334 yards against Wisconsin–Eau Claire. SJU defenders sacked Call four times and broke up six of his passes. This week the QB was 15-33 for 144 passing yards.
Fasching said the offensive and defensive lines were the “difference in the football game.” Senior Joe Akoh came up huge with a fumble recovery in the second quarter on Bethel’s 29-yard-line that set up a field goal that put the Johnny’s ahead for the first time in the game 10-7. One negative was a targeting call against Erik Bjork in the second half which will disqualify him for a half next week, if an appeal does not overturn the call.
The Johnnie offense needed good field positions, as it also struggled to move the ball, especially in the first half. Syverson looked out of his element at times, either rushing through reads or missing a receiver with a pass out of reach. He ended up connecting with receivers on 18 of 34 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns.
“We just didn’t execute well in the first half well at all and it cost us, we only had seven points,” Syverson said. “Got to execute the game plan the coaches give to us and it starts with me. Missed assignments, not executing, bad balls by me, just kind of all that could go wrong.”
Receivers Dylan Wheeling, Alex Larson and Nick VanErp had the scoring plays for the Johnnies, but VanErp’s reception was especially big, taking a pass 74 yards to the house with 2:52 to play in the third quarter. Including wide out and returner Marselio Mendez, and running backs Devin Vouk and Troy Feddema, all of SJU’s skill positions are dangerous. Vouk broke off a 77-yard run in the fourth quarter, which made up a majority of his 92 yard-day. Feddema had 13 touches for 51 yards.
“If you can run the football, you always got a chance to win,” Fasching said. “We always haven't run it very well because our pass game is so good, but I thought today our offensive line did a great job of opening holes and then we had some great runs.”
He was also complementary of his receivers, calling them “weapons” who can “all catch the football.”
Next week SJU travels to Augsburg (3-0). The Auggies beat Gustavus Adolphus Saturday 33-31. St. John's won last year's meeting with Augsburg by a score of 45-0.
Contact reporter Reid Glenn by email at rglenn@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: St. John's football beats Bethel in first MIAC game of 2023
