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Football opens season with victory over Martin Luther College

Miark Heinert
September 10, 2001

The St. Olaf football team opened the 2001 season with a very impressive 35-21 victory Saturday afternoon in Northfield over the visiting Knights from Martin Luther College.

St. Olaf opened the scoring with a five yard touchdown pass from Joe Hammond (Sr, Neillsville, Wis.) to tight end Marc Davies (Sr, Richfield, Minn.) with 9:46 remaining in the first quarter. Hammond later tossed his second touchdown pass of the afternoon, a 15-yard scoring strike, to wide receiver Brian Sprout (Sr, Lake City, Minn.) with 8:01 remaining in the second quarter. Cornerback Cory Dingels (Sr, Gibbon, Minn.) intercepted a pass from Martin Luther quarterback Ben Kuerth on the following drive and the Oles made the Knights pay for the mistake on the ensuing drive. On the first play from scrimmage following the interception, quarterback Brian Senske (So, Apple Valley, Minn.) tossed a 53 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Steve Ryan (Sr, South St. Paul, Minn.) to give the Oles a 21-0 lead with 7:01 remaining in the second quarter. Martin Luther cut the lead to 21-7 on a one yard touchdown run from running back Paul Mattek with 2:39 remaining in the half. St. Olaf countered with an eleven play, 74 yard drive capped off by a one yard touchdown run by running back Manuel Spreigl (Sr, South St. Paul, Minn.) to give the Oles a 28-7 halftime lead.

St. Olaf continued to pour on the offensive pressure on Martin Luther with Hammond?s third touchdown pass, a 33 yarder to Sprout. His second touchdown reception of the game gave the Oles a comfortable 35-7 lead with 6:12 remaining in the third quarter. Martin Luther would add two touchdowns in the fourth quarter; a one yard run by Mattek with 14:56 left in the game, his second of the game, and a 32 yard pass from Kuerth to Stephawn Coleman with four seconds left to cut the score to 35-21. The Oles? lead was insurmountable and St. Olaf earned its first victory of the season.

St. Olaf finished the game with 115 yards rushing and 317 yards passing for a total of 432 yards offense compared to Martin Luther?s 53 yards rushing and 295 yards passing for a total of 348 yards offense. Running back Tim Baer (Jr, Ettrick, Wis.) led the way for the Oles in the ground game with 10 carries for 61 yards and one touchdown. Spreigl also had 11 carries for 46 yards to add to the ground attack. In the passing department, Hammond finished the game 14 of 24 for 148 yards and three touchdowns while his counterpart Senske finished 10 of 19 for 169 yards and one touchdown. Ryan led all receivers with six catches for 116 yards and one touchdown while Sprout finished with five catches for 74 yards and two touchdowns. Defensively, the Oles created three turnovers including two interceptions and one fumble recovery while holding the Knights to only seven points in the first half.

St. Olaf opens the year with a 1-0 record (0-0 MIAC) and travels to Collegeville for a 1:00 PM start, Saturday, September 15th, to take on the Johnnies from St. John?s to open up the MIAC season. St. Olaf returns to Northfield for a 1:00 PM kickoff on Saturday, September 22nd, to take on the Hamline Pipers.

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