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St. Olaf Drops Homecoming Contest 38-6 to Bethel

Judy Stromayer
October 8, 2001

The St. Olaf football team lost its second straight game to #7 ranked Bethel College 38-6 before a packed house at Manitou field on Saturday afternoon October 6.

Bethel opened the scoring with Mike Johnson?s (Jr., Pine City, Minn.) three- yard touchdown run with 7:57 remaining in the first quarter to give the Royals a 7-0 lead. Johnson added a seven- yard touchdown run with 2:50 remaining in the first to extend the lead to 14-0. St. Olaf responded with Manuel Spreigl?s (Sr, South St. Paul, Minn.) one- yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 14-6. The ensuing extra point was blocked and Bethel?s Ben Kidd (Sr., Roseville, Minn.) returned the ball 90 yards for a two- point conversion to extend the Bethel lead to 16-6.

Bethel continued to pour on the offense in the second quarter with a 35-yard touchdown pass from Scott Kirchoff (Jr., Hutchinson, Minn.) to Joel Olson (Jr., Becker, Minn.) at the 6:15 mark. The extra point was missed and the score remained 22-6. Paul Tschetter (So., Brookings, SD.) added a 22-yard field goal with 25 seconds remaining in the first half to extend the lead to 25-6. The game remained a stalemate through the third quarter, but Johnson added his third and fourth touchdowns of the day, a three- yard run with 14:09 remaining and a one- yard run with 7:58 remaining, to give a Bethel the victory with a final score of 38-6.

Bethel dominated every major offensive category by rushing for 214 yards and passing for 338 for 552 yards of total offense compared to St. Olaf?s 75 yards rushing and 153 yards rushing for 228 yards total. Johnson had an outstanding day rushing as he carried the ball 35 times for 144 yards and 4 touchdowns. In the passing department, Kirchoff completed 15 of 28 attempts for 312 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Olson had a superb receiving performance, catching 8 passes for 200 yards and one touchdown. St. Olaf?s Spreigl ran for 64 yards on 22 carries and had one touchdown, while quarterback Brian Senske (So, Apple Valley, Minn.) completed 9 of 17 attempts for 113 yards. Senske injured his shoulder near the end of the first half and was forced to leave the game. His status is uncertain for next week. Defensively, the Royals were outstanding limiting the Oles to 228 total yards in offense while holding them to just two of six on fourth-down conversions.

With the loss, St. Olaf now drops to 3-2 overall (2-2 MIAC) while Bethel improves to 5-0 overall (4-0 MIAC). Bethel travels to Concordia College next Saturday, October 13, to take on the Cobbers at 1 pm in Moorhead while St. Olaf travels to St. Paul to take on the Tommies from St. Thomas at 1 pm. St. Olaf returns home in two weeks to take on the Concordia Cobbers at 1 pm at Manitou field.

Contact Judy Stromayer at 507-786-3315 or stromaye@stolaf.edu.