College Football Oct. 31 -- Augsburg 31, Carleton 28

Story courtesy of Carleton Sports Information; game statistics will be available via this link

NORTHFIELD, Minn. -- Scott Hvistendahl caught 12 passes for 183 yards and three touchdowns as Augsburg College (5-3 overall, 4-3 MIAC) survived a gritty Carleton College comeback to win 31-28 at Carleton's Laird Stadium Saturday in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football action.

Hvistendahl (Sr., Cannon Falls, Minn./Randolph HS) moved into second place on the all-time NCAA Division III receiving charts, with 4,220 career yards on 253 receptions. He is now 91 yards shy of the all-time Division III record of 4,311 yards, held by Kurt Barth of Eureka (Ill.) College, and trails the all-divisions record of 4,693 yards on 301 receptions, set by Jerry Rice of
Mississippi State, by 473 yards.

Carleton (2-6 overall, 1-6 MIAC) almost negated Hvistendahl's efforts, however, with a late scoring splurge. After trailing 24-14 late in the third quarter, the Knights struck back when quarterback Jon Groteboer (Fr., Rochester, Minn./John Marshall HS) hit Aaron Golden (Jr., Mishicot, Wis.) on a 44-yard scoring pass to draw to 24-21 with eight seconds remaining in the period. Augsburg responded with a 64-yard TD pass from Paul Tetzloff (So., Faribault, Minn.) to
Hvistendahl, but Carleton countered with a 56-second, 70-yard scoring drive, keyed by a 68-yard completion from Groteboer to Mike Lynch (Fr., Monticello, Minn.) and capped by a two-yard TD plunge by Kyle Swartout (So., Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson HS) with 4:07 remaining in the game to pull to 31-28.

Carleton then forced Augsburg to punt, but turned the ball over on downs at midfield with a little over a minute remaining to seal the Auggie victory.

The two teams combined for 838 yards of total offense; Augsburg rolled up 508 yards to Carleton's 375. Tetzloff completed 24 of 35 passes for 303 yards and four touchdowns, while his counterpart, Groteboer, connected on 16 of 35 for 269 yards and one touchdowns. Lynch led the Carleton receiving corps with four catches for 110 yards, while Golden had four receptions for 97 yards.

Swartout led all running backs with 88 yards rushing, with Augsburg's Thane Drier (Sr., Durand, Wis.) and Brian Warden (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran HS) combining for 155 yards (85 and 70, respectively) on the ground. Jim Peterson (Sr., Eyota, Minn./Dover-Eyota HS) had 119 yards of total offense -- 62 rushing and 59 receiving.

Carleton's Josh Carter (Sr.,Creve Coeur, Mo.) led all tacklers with 13 arrests, with Todd Hamer (Sr., Lakeville, Minn.) pacing Augsburg with nine stops (four solo) and two pass break-ups. Dane Lund (Jr., Burnsville, Minn.) and Kurt Werk (So., Herman, Minn./West Central Area HS) had seven tackles apiece, and Matt Chappuis (Fr., Faribault, Minn.) had one sack and three tackles for loss.

The Auggies now face Bethel at home next weekend, while Carleton will take on the unbeaten St. John's Johnnies in Collegeville, Minn.

Pregame Media Notes:

The Augsburg College Auggies (4-3 overall, 3-3 MIAC) face Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rival Carleton College (2-5 overall, 1-5 MIAC) on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 1 p.m. in Northfield, Minn.
Stadium: Laird Stadium (cap. 7,500).
Coaches: Augsburg, Jack Osberg (8th season, 39-40); Carleton, Bob Sullivan (20th season, 99-94).
Series: Carleton leads 12-5-0. Last year, Augsburg topped Carleton 35-21 at Augsburg's Anderson-Nelson Field.
Broadcast: Augsburg broadcast on KKMS-AM 980 with Tom Witschen on play-by-play and Russ Bohaty on analysis. Carleton broadcast on KYMN-AM 1080 with Jeff Johnson and Wally Gorka.
Outlook: Two teams who suffered devastating losses last week face each other as the season goes into the home stretch. Augsburg was shocked 29-28 in two overtimes at St. Thomas last week, while Carleton lost to St. Olaf 21-7 in the annual "Goat Trophy" game in Northfield.

Carleton coach Bob Sullivan has been in pursuit of his 100th career victory for the past three weeks -- the Knights' last win was a 34-7 triumph over Macalester on Oct. 3. Losses to Hamline (27-24), St. Thomas (28-24) and St. Olaf (21-7) have followed in consecutive weeks.

The Knights have been hit by the injury bug in recent weeks. Quarterback Andy Quist went down with a rib injury against St. Olaf and will miss Saturday's game and running back Jon Hodgson will miss with a hamstring injury. In their place will be two players who themselves are recovering from injuries -- freshman Jon Groteboer at quarterback (knee ligament tear in JV action three weeks ago) and sophomore Dan Rieder (leg injury earlier this season) at running back.

Last week against St. Olaf, the Knights played a similar game as Augsburg -- outgaining the opponents (356-305) and holding an advantage on offensive plays (81-59), like Augsburg did in both yardage (339-327) and plays (92-67) against St. Thomas -- but four interceptions for both St. Olaf and Augsburg, including one in the endzone for each team, spelled defeat in their games. Keeping the football inside the red zone and limiting mistakes may be the key to this week's game.

Auggies suffer heartbreaking 2-overtime loss at St. Thomas
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- University of St. Thomas senior tight end Chris Chappuis (Fairbault, Minn./Bethlehem Academy HS) caught an 18-yard pass and the subsequent two-point conversion in the second overtime as the Tommies (4-3 overall, 4-2 MIAC) overcame a 28-21 overtime deficit and rally past the Augsburg College Auggies (4-3, 3-3) at UST's O'Shaughnessy Stadium on Saturday.

In running their win streak to three, the Toms overcame a school-record 15-catch, 252-yard receiving perfromance by Augsburg All-American Scott Hvistendahl (Sr., Cannon Falls, Minn./Randolph HS). The Auggie senior became the third player in NCAA Division III history to surpass 4,000 receiving yards. Hvistendahl now has 4,037 yards (No. 3 all-time) and 241 catches (sixth all-time).

The Toms, who didn't have a turnover and intercepted four Auggie passes, tied an NCAA record on a 99-yard TD pass from Greg Kaiser (Jr., Mora, Minn.) to Mark Warder (Sr., Burnsville, Minn.) in the second period that built a 21-3 lead. The Toms also scored on the first play from scrimmage as Brad Grossman (Jr., Cottage Grove, Minn./Park HS) dashed 80 yards for a score.

The Auggies, trying to win at St. Thomas for the first time since 1970, rallied from a 21-3 second-period defict and forced overtime with a score and two-point conversion early in the fourth period. The Auggies stopped the Toms on downs in the first overtime but missed a chance to win as Martin Hlinka's (Sr., Bratislava, Slovakia/Farmington HS) 39-yard field goal went wide left. The Auggies came back and scored a 13-yard TD pass from Paul Tetzloff (So., Faribault, Minn.) to Tim Hamer (Sr., Lakeville, Minn.), and Hlinka's kick made it 28-21. The Toms came back with the ball at the Auggie 25 and completed two passes, with Chappuis breaking two tackles after his catch to reach the end zone. Instead of going for a kick to try to tie, the Toms went for two and Kaiser hooked up again with Chappuis for the winning two-point score.

Augsburg outgained the Toms in total offense 488-452 with 290 second-half yards. Thane Drier (Sr., Durand, Wis.) rushed 16 times for 99 yards, 100 yards in regulation. Tetzloff rushed for two short TDs and completed 25-of-44 passes for 339 yards and one TD. Hlinka kicked field goals of 25 and 27 yards and became the schools all-time leader in career field goals.

Jake Kern (Jr., Faribault, Minn.) led the Auggies with 10 tackles (six solo) and a pass break-up, while Andy Zigan (Sr., Coon Rapids, Minn.) had eight tackles (five solo) and Joe Souba (So., Hayward, Wis.) had seven (four solo).

The Hvistendahl Watch: Auggie WR goes over 4,000-yard mark
Augsburg wide receiver Scott Hvistendahl (Sr., Cannon Falls, Minn./Randolph HS) is closing in on the NCAA Division III career receiving yardage mark. Hvistendahl's 252-yard, 15-catch effort at St. Thomas on Saturday pushed him over the 4,000-yard mark, making him just the third player in Division III history (and the 12th in NCAA college football history among all divisions) to go over the mark. He is now at 4,037 career yards (third) on 241 catches (sixth all-time in career catches) with three games remaining in his career.

The Division III record is 4,311 yards, set by Kurt Barth of Eureka (Ill.) last year. Second place is Jeff Clay of Catholic (D.C.) who completed his career last year with 4,101 yards. The Division III record for career receptions is 287, set by Matt Newton of Principia (Pa.) from 1990-93. Hvistendahl is just 274 yards away from the Division III record -- ironically, he had a school-record 271-yard receiving effort (eight catches) in the first game of this season, a 45-13 win over Mayville State. In that game, he only played three quarters. Hvistendahl has had five 200-plus-yard receiving games in his career.

The NCAA all-divisions record for career receiving yardage is 4,693 yards, set by Jerry Rice (1981-84) at Mississippi Valley State. He also holds the career reception record with 301. Both those records will be threatened next year by junior Scott Pingel of Westminster (Mo.), who has 3,888 yards on 270 receptions with just two games remaining this year (Augsburg has three). Pingel, who had averaged more than 200 yards receiving per game to lead the nation (Hvistendahl was second), caught 11 passes for only 109 yards (and three TDs) in a 55-50 Westminster Homecoming win over Northwestern-Roseville on Saturday. Westminster is off this week.

Pingel is now averaging 198.1 receiving yards per game to lead the country; Hvistendahl is second with a 171.6 average. Using those averages as a base, Hvistendahl would finish his career with 4,552 career yards, while Pingel would finish this season with 4,284 yards.

After passing Carleton's Jim Bradford (1988-91) in last week's game, Hvistendahl now owns the MIAC career receiving records for yardage (3,609 yards) and receptions (207) in conference games. He set single-season conference records for yardage (1,273) and receptions (78) last season. Currently, he has 60 catches for 930 yards in conference games in 1998.

"He (Hvistendahl) can beat you all by himself -- he's probably the top receiver in the U.S.," Carleton coach Bob Sullivan said in Carleton's pre-game notes for Saturday's game. "He's so quick, and you can't cover him one-on-one."

Auggies look to break 20-year skid at Carleton on Saturday
Earlier this year, Augsburg ended a 70-year road losing streak at one college in Northfield, when the Auggies edged past St. Olaf 31-24 at Manitou Field. Now, another Northfield losing streak is on the line on Saturday, when the Auggies travel to face Carleton.

Augsburg last beat Carleton at the Knights' lair, Laird Stadium, on Sept. 23, 1978, when the Auggies toppled the Knights 28-7 in the first game ever between the two schools.

Carleton leads the all-time series between the two schools 12-5, with Augsburg's other four victories coming at its home fields of Parade Stadium (1979, 34-6 and 1983, 31-21) and Anderson-Nelson Field (1995, 20-7 and 1997, 35-21).

In last year's game at Augsburg, the Auggies had to rally from a 21-7 deficit to score a 35-21 win in the school's Homecoming game. Thane Drier scored on a 21-yard touchdown run, Scott Hvistendahl found the end zone three times on passes of 26, 48 and 33 yards from Derrin Lamker, and Andrew Anthony scored on a 20-yard touchdown run to complete the scoring.

But the big story of the Auggie victory was the defense, in particular senior cornerback Jason Exley, who tied a single-game school record with three interceptions and added five pass break-ups, earning National Defensive Player of the Week honors from Don Hansen's National Weekly Football Gazette, in addition to MIAC Defensive Player of the Week honors. Linebacker Bob Schultz contributed 13 tackles while breaking up three passes and forcing a fumble.