You reached this page through the archive. Click here to return to the archive.

Note: This article is over a year old and information contained in it may no longer be accurate. Please use the contact information in the lower-left corner to verify any information in this article.

St. Olaf to host Carleton in first ever "Cereal Bowl"

David Gonnerman
September 5, 2003

One of the nation?s oldest rivalries in college football will continue Saturday, Sept. 13, when St. Olaf College and Carleton College compete in their annual contest. This year?s event is being dubbed the Cereal Bowl in honor of Malt-O-Meal Co. participation. The hot and cold cereal manufacturer, which has a plant in Northfield, will donate cereal to all attendees. The game will be played at St. Olaf?s Manitou Field in Northfield at 1 p.m.

?We?re excited about the first Cereal Bowl game,? said Malt-O-Meal CEO John Lettmann. ?We?ve always tried to be a good neighbor in Northfield by supporting the community and the colleges. This is a continuation of that support.?

Carleton won the first game against St. Olaf in 1919. Since then the series standings are nearly equal at 40 wins for St. Olaf, 39 for Carleton and one tie. The series has been interrupted only four times: three years during World War II and in 1991, due to the Halloween blizzard, which dumped 25 inches of snow on the playing field.

The 84-year-old rivalry has fostered traditions. The winning team takes home ?the Goat?, a wooden trophy created by a St. Olaf carpenter in 1931. The back of the trophy, currently at St. Olaf, shows the results of each game. New to the game this year, will be a Cereal Bowl trophy, presented by Malt-O-Meal to the president of the winning school.

Another annual tradition has fans marching to downtown Northfield, where they turn the eagle on the city?s Civil War monument in Bridge Square to face the winning school.

This year?s game will also feature a halftime tribute to St. Olaf?s undefeated 1953 football squad.

Both college coaches are relatively new. This is the second season for St. Olaf coach Chris Meidt and the third season for Carleton coach Chris Bann. They are excited for this year?s game, especially with Malt-O-Meal?s participation.

?We?re expecting a hard-hitting battle with Carleton this year,? said Meidt. ?The addition of Malt-O-Meal as a sponsor will only make this game better by getting the community involved.?

Although Carleton is fielding 29 first-year players ? its largest recruiting class ever ? both teams hope to benefit from their returning starters: 17 for St. Olaf and 18 for Carleton. Each team has players to watch, including Carleton?s top rusher and receiver Erik Fisher (Sr., Maple Lake, Minn.). He returns this year after having been named the team?s Most Valuable Player last year. With 5,358 yards, St. Olaf quarterback Brian Senske (Sr., Apple Valley, Minn.) is the school?s all-time leading passer. Through its Northfield production facility, Malt-O-Meal benefits city organizations with donations, sponsorships and community service. The company raised $2,108 for Northfield Public Schools during August, when it donated 50 cents for each of 4,216 bags of Malt-O-Meal cereal purchased one weekend from a local grocery store. Malt-O-Meal also donated pre-season training breakfasts to both college football teams this year.

Malt-O-Meal moved to Northfield in 1927, eight years after being founded in Owatonna, Minn. A privately held company headquartered in Minneapolis, it is the fifth largest cereal manufacturer in the United States and the nation?s fastest-growing cereal company.

Contact Le Ann Finger at 507-786-3834 or finger@stolaf.edu.