Football 9/23/00 -- St. John's 40, Augsburg 7

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (9/23/00) -- Taking advantage of three turnovers and several big plays, St. John's University rolled to a 40-7 victory over Augsburg College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football contest Saturday afternoon at SJU's Clemens Stadium.

With the win, St. John's, rated No. 8 in the latest NCAA Division III national poll, improved to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the MIAC. Augsburg drops to 1-2 overall and 1-1 in the MIAC.

St. John's won despite holding the ball for just 16 minutes, 46 seconds and only 46 offensive plays, compared to Augsburg's 43:14 and 83 offensive plays. The Johnnies amassed 253 yards of total offense (227 passing, 26 rushing), compared to Augsburg's 211 (165 passing, 46 rushing).

However, the Johnnies scored once on an interception return and took advantage of two other Auggie turnovers and later converted them for scores, leading to the blowout victory. St. John's has won 19 of the last 21 meetings between the two schools. Augsburg has not won at St. John's since 1980; Auggies' last win in the series came at home in 1997.

Despite controlling the ball for most of the game, Augsburg's offense failed to produce points. Augsburg only had 14 first downs and converted only seven of 23 third-down opportunities. Augsburg was forced to punt 11 times in the game.

Augsburg opened the scoring by converting a 13-play, 72 yard drive that consumed 7:47 of the clock. A three-yard scoring pass from Paul Tetzloff (Sr., Faribault, Minn.) to John Rotter (Sr., Montgomery, Minn./Montgomery-Lonsdale HS) capped the drive. The drive included a fourth-down conversion pass from Tetzloff to Ryan Hupka (Sr., Thunder Bay, Ontario/St. Patrick's HS) to the St. John's six-yard line. It marked the first time this season that St. John's had trailed to start the game.

St. John's scored at the 2:17 mark to tie the game on a 57-yard pass from Tom Linnemann (Sr., Melrose, Minn.) to Jeremy Forsell (Sr., St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Apollo HS), as Forsell beat the Augsburg secondary on a pass down the sideline.

Early in the second quarter, Augsburg turned the ball over on a fumble, and the Johnnies took advantage, taking the lead on a six-yard touchdown pass from Linneman to Chris Moore (Sr., Edina, Minn./St. Thomas Academy HS). The Johnnies would not relinquish the lead the remainder of the game.

Another turnover led directly to a Johnnie score, as Will Gibson (Sr., Winona, Minn./Cotter HS) picked off a Tetzloff pass and ran 45 yards for the touchdown. Mark Johnson (Jr., Hastings, Minn.) forced Gibson to fumble the ball, but Gibson fell on it in the end zone for the touchdown.

Augsburg had a chance to take advantage of a Johnnie turnover, when Kurt Werk (Sr., Herman, Minn./West Central Area HS) forced a fumble and Scott Archambault (Jr., Faribault, Minn.) recovered on a punt return. But Augsburg's drive stalled, and Matt Van Alstine's (Sr., Cottage Grove, Minn./Park HS) 32-yard field-goal attempt was blocked by St. John's Brian Zirbes (Sr., Melrose, Minn.) with 7:29 left in the second quarter.

Augsburg stalled on its first drive of the second half, and a 22-yard punt return by Jason Pflipsen (So., Sartell, Minn.) put the ball at the Augsburg 23-yard line. On the Johnnies' first play of the drive, Linnemann floated a pass to Nate Kirschner (Sr., Mora, Minn.) for a touchdown. Kirschner appeared to fumble the football in the end zone, but the officials ruled that he had possession for the score.

Augsburg's offense stalled in the third quarter, only gaining 18 yards of total offense and one first down in the frame. Augsburg gained just 67 yards in the second half, compared to St. John's 133.

St. John's inserted a new quarterback, Ryan Keating (So., Minnetonka, Minn.), and he converted on his first drive, throwing a 15-yard touchdown pass to Kirschner with 1:16 left in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Augsburg took advantage of a fumble recovery by Howard and attempted to turn it into a score. Utilizing a 13-yard pass from Tetzloff to Desman Oakley (Sr., Indianola, Iowa), Augsburg drove to the 1-yard line, where a rushing attempt for a score failed. On a second rushing attempt, the Auggies were pushed back on a chop-block penalty to the 15-yard line. Two pass attempts for scores failed, and the Auggies turned the ball over on downs.

Another fumble recovery on the next drive, this time by Augsburg's Werk, was nullified by consecutive losses on a pass and sack. After a 53-yard punt return by Blake Elliot (So., Melrose, Minn.), Keating floated a 33-yard touchdown pass to Forsell for his second score of the game to put the Johnnies ahead 40-7.

Both teams ended the game using reserve quarterbacks. John Goodale (Jr., Buffalo, Minn.) and Dave Fransen (So., Farmington, Minn.) finished the game for the Auggies.

Tetzloff threw for 146 yards, completing 15 of 32 passes, while Linnemann completed 10 of 17 passes for 149 yards. Oakley had 58 receiving yards on four catches to lead the Auggies. Forsell's 92 yards on five receptions paced St. John's, while Kirschner had four catches for 62 yards.

Beau LaBore (Sr., South St. Paul, Minn.) led the Johnnies with 14 tackles (six solo) and a sack, while Tim Pahula (Sr., Eagan, Minn.) had 10 tackles (six solo) and a sack.

Matt Chappuis (Jr., Faribault, Minn.) led the Auggies with five tackles (four solo) and two sacks, moving him into fifth place in school history in career sacks with 15.5. The school record, set by Bob Anderson (1992-95), is 28.5.

Augsburg plays at St. Olaf next Saturday (9/30) at 1 p.m. at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., while St. John's has its annual rivalry game at St. Thomas next Saturday at 1 p.m.

St. John's 40, Augsburg 7

Scoring Summary:
1st Quarter:
7:13 -- AUG -- John Rotter 3 pass from Paul Tetzloff (Matt Van Alstine kick), AUG 7-0.
2:17 -- SJU -- Jeremy Forsell 57 pass from Tom Linnemann (Joe Rotondi kick), TIED 7-7.

2nd Quarter:
13:33 -- SJU -- Chris Moore 6 pass from Tom Linnemann (Joe Rotondi kick), SJU 14-7.
11:36 -- SJU -- Will Gibson 45 interception return (Joe Rotondi kick), SJU 21-7.

3rd Quarter:
10:05 -- SJU -- Nate Kirschner 23 pass from Tom Linnemann (kick failed), SJU 27-7.
1:16 -- SJU -- Nate Kirschner 15 pass from Ryan Keating (Joe Rotondi kick), SJU 34-7.

4th Quarter:
9:58 -- SJU -- Jeremy Forsell 33 pass from Ryan Keating (kick failed), SJU 40-7.

Scoring by Period

1 2 3 4 Tot
--------------------------------------------------
Augsburg 7 0 0 0 7
St. John's 7 14 13 6 40
--------------------------------------------------
Attendance: 4200

Team Statistics

Augsburg St. John's
7 Points 40
5 First Downs Rushing 3
8 First Downs Passing 7
1 First Downs by Penalty 1
83 Total Offensive Plays 46
211 Total Yards Gained 253
2.54 Average Yards per Play 5.50
47 Plays Rushing 21
46 Yards Rushing 26
165 Yards Passing 227
36 Passes Attempted 25
18 Passes Completed 15
2 Passes Had Intercepted 0
23.6 Net Yards per Punt 34.8
2- 1 Fumbles-Fumbles Lost 5- 3
8- 80 Penalties-Yards 3- 30
7- 23 3rd Down Conversions 3- 10
.304 3rd Down Conversion Percentage .300
2- 3 4th Down Conversions 0- 1
.667 4th Down Conversion Percentage .000


Possession Time by Period

1 2 3 4 Total
-----------------------------------------------------------
Augsburg 11:51 10:23 9:20 11:40 43:14
St. John's 3:09 4:37 5:40 3:20 16:46
-----------------------------------------------------------

Rushing

Yds/ Yds/
Augsburg GP-GS Car Gain Ls Net Game Car TD LP
---------------------------------------------------------------
Brian Warden 1- 0 18 37 6 31 31.0 1.7 0 7
T.J. Bramwell 1- 1 4 22 2 20 20.0 5.0 0 15
John Rotter 1- 1 5 15 0 15 15.0 3.0 0 6
Jamie Smith 1- 0 2 10 0 10 10.0 5.0 0 6
John Goodale 1- 0 2 4 0 4 4.0 2.0 0 4
Justin Lehman 1- 0 4 6 3 3 3.0 0.8 0 6
Rico Washington 1- 0 1 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0 0
Dave Fransen 1- 0 2 0 12 -12 -12.0 -6.0 0 0
Paul Tetzloff 1- 1 9 14 39 -25 -25.0 -2.8 0 6
---------------------------------------------------------------
Augsburg 1- 1 47 108 62 46 46.0 1.0 0 15
St. John's 1- 1 21 59 33 26 26.0 1.2 0 14

Passing

Augsburg GP-GS Cmp Att Int Pct Yds Sck TD Cnv LP
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Tetzloff 1- 1 15 32 1 .469 146 5 1 0 24
John Goodale 1- 0 3 4 1 .750 19 0 0 0 11
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Augsburg 1- 1 18 36 2 .500 165 7 1 0 24
St. John's 1- 1 15 25 0 .600 227 3 5 0 57

Passing Efficiency

Yds/ TD Comp Int Rating
Augsburg GP-GS Att Pct Pct Pct Pts
--------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Tetzloff 1- 1 4.56 3.12 46.88 3.12 89.25
John Goodale 1- 0 4.75 0.00 75.00 25.00 64.90
--------------------------------------------------------------
Augsburg 1- 1 4.58 2.78 50.00 5.56 86.53
St. John's 1- 1 9.08 20.00 60.00 0.00 202.27

Pass Receiving

Rec/ Yds/
Augsburg GP-GS Rec Game Yds Rec TD LP
-----------------------------------------------------
Desman Oakley 1- 1 4 4.0 58 14.5 0 24
Mark Johnson 1- 1 4 4.0 46 11.5 0 24
Damien Roc.-Washingto 1- 0 2 2.0 27 13.5 0 15
John Rotter 1- 1 2 2.0 9 4.5 1 6
Brian Warden 1- 0 2 2.0 5 2.5 0 5
Ryan Hupka 1- 1 1 1.0 21 21.0 0 21
Justin Lehman 1- 0 1 1.0 0 0.0 0 0
Sammy Gross 1- 0 1 1.0 0 0.0 0 0
Rico Washington 1- 0 1 1.0 -1 -1.0 0 0
-----------------------------------------------------
Augsburg 1- 1 18 18.0 165 9.2 1 24
St. John's 1- 1 15 15.0 227 15.1 5 57

Total Offense

Yds/
Augsburg GP-GS Rush Pass Tot Game
------------------------------------------------
Paul Tetzloff 1- 1 -25 146 121 121.0
Brian Warden 1- 0 31 0 31 31.0
John Goodale 1- 0 4 19 23 23.0
T.J. Bramwell 1- 1 20 0 20 20.0
John Rotter 1- 1 15 0 15 15.0
Jamie Smith 1- 0 10 0 10 10.0
Justin Lehman 1- 0 3 0 3 3.0
Dave Fransen 1- 0 -12 0 -12 -12.0
------------------------------------------------
Augsburg 1- 1 46 165 211 211.0
St. John's 1- 1 26 227 253 253.0

All-Purpose Yards

Punt KO Tot Yds/
Augsburg GP-GS Rush Rec Ret Ret Yds Game
---------------------------------------------------------
Brian Warden 1- 0 31 5 0 46 82 82.0
Desman Oakley 1- 1 0 58 0 0 58 58.0
T.J. Bramwell 1- 1 20 0 0 32 52 52.0
Mark Johnson 1- 1 0 46 0 0 46 46.0
Damien Roc.-Washingto 1- 0 0 27 0 0 27 27.0
John Rotter 1- 1 15 9 0 0 24 24.0
Ryan Hupka 1- 1 0 21 0 0 21 21.0
Jamie Smith 1- 0 10 0 9 0 19 19.0
Justin Lehman 1- 0 3 0 0 10 13 13.0
John Goodale 1- 0 4 0 0 0 4 4.0
Rico Washington 1- 0 0 -1 0 0 -1 -1.0
Dave Fransen 1- 0 -12 0 0 0 -12 -12.0
Paul Tetzloff 1- 1 -25 0 0 0 -25 -25.0
---------------------------------------------------------
Augsburg 1- 1 46 165 9 88 308 308.0
St. John's 1- 1 26 227 90 6 349 349.0

Scoring

-- Conversions --
Augsburg GP-GS TD Run Pass Kick FG S DX Pts
------------------------------------------------------------
John Rotter 1- 1 1 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 0 0 0 6
Matt Van Alstine 1- 1 0 0- 0 0- 0 1- 1 0 0 0 1
------------------------------------------------------------
Augsburg 1- 1 1 0- 0 0- 0 1- 1 0 0 0 7
St. John's 1- 1 6 0- 0 0- 0 4- 6 0 0 0 40

Field Goals

Augsburg GP-GS 0-29 30-39 40-49 50+ Total LP
-----------------------------------------------------------
Matt Van Alstine 1- 1 0- 0 0- 1 0- 0 0- 0 0- 1 0
-----------------------------------------------------------
Augsburg 1- 1 0- 0 0- 1 0- 0 0- 0 0- 1 0
St. John's 1- 1 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 0

Punting

Ins
Augsburg GP-GS Att Yds Avg Bk LP 20
-------------------------------------------------
Brent Peroutka 1- 1 11 350 31.8 0 40 2
-------------------------------------------------
Augsburg 1- 1 11 350 31.8 0 40 2
St. John's 1- 1 5 183 36.6 0 45 3

Kickoff Returns

Augsburg GP-GS Att Yds Avg TD LP
----------------------------------------------
Brian Warden 1- 0 3 46 15.3 0 19
T.J. Bramwell 1- 1 3 32 10.7 0 16
Justin Lehman 1- 0 1 10 10.0 0 10
----------------------------------------------
Augsburg 1- 1 7 88 12.6 0 19
St. John's 1- 1 1 6 6.0 0 6

Punt Returns

Augsburg GP-GS Att Yds Avg TD LP
----------------------------------------------
Jamie Smith 1- 0 2 9 4.5 0 8
----------------------------------------------
Augsburg 1- 1 2 9 4.5 0 8
St. John's 1- 1 5 90 18.0 0 53

Interception Returns

Augsburg GP-GS Att Yds Avg TD LP
----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------
Augsburg 1- 1 0 0 0.0 0 0
St. John's 1- 1 2 43 21.5 1 43

Defensive Statistics

Augsburg GP-GS T A Tot CF RF FR-Yds TD PBU Prs TFL-Yds Sack-Yds I BK BP
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matt Chappuis 1- 1 4 1 5 0.0 0 0- 0 0 0 0 3.0- 16 2.0- 14 0 0 0
Larry Lyden 1- 1 4 0 4 0.0 0 0- 0 0 1 0 0.0- 0 0.0- 0 0 0 0
Brent Peroutka 1- 1 2 2 4 0.0 0 0- 0 0 0 0 0.0- 0 0.0- 0 0 0 0
Shane Gunderson 1- 1 2 2 4 0.0 0 0- 0 0 0 0 0.0- 0 0.0- 0 0 0 0
Kurt Werk 1- 1 3 0 3 0.0 1 0- 0 0 0 0 0.0- 0 0.0- 0 0 0 0
Luke Wittrock 1- 1 3 0 3 0.0 0 0- 0 0 0 0 0.0- 0 0.0- 0 0 0 0
Kyle Koch 1- 1 2 1 3 0.0 0 0- 0 0 0 0 1.0- 1 1.0- 3 0 0 0
Shaun McCoy 1- 0 2 1 3 0.0 0 0- 0 0 0 0 0.0- 0 0.0- 0 0 0 0
Scott Archambault 1- 0 2 0 2 0.0 1 0- 0 0 0 0 0.0- 0 0.0- 0 0 0 0
Adam Leiter 1- 0 1 1 2 0.0 0 0- 0 0 0 0 0.0- 0 0.0- 0 0 0 0
Andy Howard 1- 1 1 0 1 0.0 0 0- 0 0 0 0 1.0- 2 0.0- 0 0 0 0
Joe Souba 1- 1 1 0 1 0.0 0 0- 0 0 0 0 0.0- 0 0.0- 0 0 0 0
Brandon Fox 1- 0 1 0 1 0.0 0 0- 0 0 0 0 0.0- 0 0.0- 0 0 0 0
Rico Washington 1- 0 0 0 0 0.0 1 0- 0 0 0 0 0.0- 0 0.0- 0 0 0 0
Mark Johnson 1- 1 0 0 0 1.0 0 0- 0 0 0 0 0.0- 0 0.0- 0 0 0 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Augsburg 1- 1 28 8 36 1.0 3 0- 0 0 1 0 5.0- 19 3.0- 17 0 0 0
St. John's 1- 1 58 29 87 1.0 1 1- 2 0 4 0 9.0- 58 7.0- 53 2 1 0
Football 9/23/00 -- Augsburg at St. John's Game Notes

THE GAME: The Augsburg College Auggies (1-1 overall, 1-0 MIAC) travel to face the St. John's University Johnnies (2-0 overall, 1-0 MIAC) in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football game on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 1 p.m., at Clemens Stadium (5,500 capacity) in Collegeville, Minn. The game is the home opener for St. John's this season.

COACHES: Augsburg head coach Jack Osberg (Augsburg '62) is in his 10th season and currently has a 47-46 career mark. St. John's coach John Gagliardi (Colorado College '49) is in his 48th season at St. John's (52nd overall) and has a career mark of 366-107-11. He is 342-101-10 at St. John's.

RADIO: There is no radio coverage of Augsburg football this season. St. John's radio coverage is on KKJM-FM, 92.9 in St. Cloud, Minn., with Mark Lewandowski, Bryan Backes and Eric Fowler. The pre-game show begins at 12:50 p.m. Fans can listen to the game on the Internet, utilizing RealAudio software, at SJU's football website: http://www.csbsju.edu/sjusports/fball.html.

LAST WEEK: Augsburg won its first game of the season with a 24-15 MIAC triumph over Carleton last Saturday at Anderson-Nelson Field in Minneapolis, Minn. St. John's remained unbeaten with its second blowout win in a row, a 42-6 MIAC win at St. Olaf on Saturday.

SERIES: St. John's leads the all-time series 52-7-2, winning 18 of the last 20 games in the series. Augsburg's lone victories over the Johnnies in the last two decades were a 21-10 win at St. John's on Sept. 13, 1980 and a 20-10 win at Anderson-Nelson Field on Sept. 20, 1997. The 1997 win was the first in conference play and sparked the Auggies' 1997 MIAC championship season -- the only season since 1992 that SJU did not win or share the MIAC title.

LAST YEAR: Both Augsburg and St. John's entered last season's game with identical 3-0 records, but the Johnnies came away wth a huge 55-0 Homecoming win before nearly 8,000 fans in Collegeville, the Johnnies' largest margin of victory of the season. The Johnnies scored three touchdowns in each of the first two quarters to take a 42-0 halftime lead. Chris Moore scored three touchdowns, rushing for 116 yards on 19 carries. Quarterback Corey Stanger, in his first start of the year after starting quarterback Tom Linnemann broke his leg in the previous game, threw two touchdown passes and had two scoring runs himself. He threw for 216 yards in the game. Meanwhile, Augsburg gave up the ball six times on interceptions -- two returned for touchdowns by the Johnnies. St. John's outgained Augsburg by a 420-210 yardage margin on total offense. Brian Warden rushed for 30 yards on 15 carries, while catching two passes for 51 yards. Paul Tetzloff threw for just 96 yards, while backup John Goodale threw for 92 yards. Damien Rochon-Washington had two catches for 59 yards.

AUGGIES GAIN FIRST WIN OF YEAR AT HOME: After opening the season with a disappointing 17-13, last-minute loss to Wisconsin-Eau Claire, the Auggies bounced back with a convincing offensive performance to claim a 24-15 win over Carleton last Staturday night at Anderson-Nelson Field.

Brian Warden (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran HS) scored three touchdowns and accumulated 133 yards of total offense to lead the Auggies to the win. Warden had 27 rushes for 93 yards and caught three passes for 40 yards. He scored all three of his touchdowns in the first half as Augsburg built a 21-7 halftime lead. He had scoring rushes of 1 and 5 yards, and an 11-yard touchdown reception from Paul Tetzloff (Sr., Faribault, Minn.). Tetzloff completed 20 of 34 passes for 243 yards, a touchdown and an interception in the contest.

Augsburg dominated action from start to finish, with 82 offensive plays to Carleton's 54. Augsburg had a time-of-possession edge of 39 minutes, 52 seconds to Carleton's 20:08. Augsburg outgained Carleton by a 366-257 yardage margin.

Tight end Ryan Hupka (Sr., Thunder Bay, Ontario/St. Patrick's HS) led the Auggies in receiving, with 54 yards on three receptions. In all, five Auggies had 40 or more yards of receiving in the contest. Mark Johnson (Jr., Hastings, Minn.) had five receptions for 47 yards, while John Rotter (Sr., Montgomery, Minn./Montgomery-Lonsdale HS) had five catches for 42 yards.

Luke Wittrock (Jr., Boone, Iowa), Joe Souba (Sr., Hayward, Wis.) and Kurt Werk (Sr., Herman, Minn./West Central HS) had six tackles apiece to lead the Auggie defense.

SCOUTING THE AUGGIES: For most teams in the MIAC, a win over conference powerhouse St. John's would be a huge sign of a successful season. However, Augsburg coach Jack Osberg is trying to make sure that his Auggies don't overplay the importance of "Johnnie Week," instead treating the SJU game as important as any other on the Auggies' 10-game schedule.

"We just have to treat it like another game," said Osberg, who is 1-8 against the Johnnies in his previous nine seasons at Augsburg. "We just have to play our game and treat it without all of the hulabaloo. We have to execute a consistent level of play against a very good team."

Augsburg recovered from a disappointing loss to Wisconsin-Eau Claire with a convincing win over Carleton in the MIAC opener last week. However, the Auggies will have to put together a much more solid performance on both sides of the football to topple the mighty Johnnies this week.

Augsburg enters Saturday's game with a solid, yet unspectacular, 303-yards-per-game average on total offense (109.5 yards rushing and 193.5 yards passing per game). Augsburg is averaging 3.81 yards per play this season. However, its opponents are averaging 340.5 yards per game (271 passing, 69.5 rushing), an average of 4 .93 yards per play.

Augsburg's two offensive "stars", quarterback Paul Tetzloff and running back Brian Warden, have shouldered much of the team's burden on offense, as the two are responsible for all but 41 yards of Augsburg's 606 yards of total offense this year. Warden has rushed for 178 yards, while Tetzloff has thrown for 387. The Auggies have had a balanced receiving corps, with five players with more than 60 yards and four receptions this year. Fullback John Rotter leads the way, with 12 receptions for 88 yards. Warden has 65 receiving yards on five receptions, and tight end Ryan Hupka has 61 receiving yards on four receptions. Receivers Mark Johson (8 receptions, 82 yards) and Desman Oakley (Sr., Indianola, Iowa; 8 receptions, 77 yards) round out the Auggie offense.

"We're improving on offense," Osberg said. "We need to execute a better balance of run and pass. We need to be more consistent. We have to score more when we have the opportunity."

On defense, cornerback Larry Lyden (Jr., New Brighton, Minn./Irondale HS) has shined in his first year as a starter. He leads the team with 14 tackles (12 solo) and one interception so far. Transfer Luke Wittrock (Jr., Boone, Iowa),who starts alongside Lyden at cornerback, is second with 13 tackes (seven solo) and three pass breakups. Free safety Brent Peroutka (Jr., Faribault, Minn.) has 12 tackles (10 solo). Linebackers Joe Souba (Sr., Hayward, Wis.) and Kurt Werk (Sr., Herman, Minn./West Central Area HS) have 11 tackles apiece, and defensive lineman Andy Howard (Sr., Waseca, Minn.) has accumulated a team-high two sacks.

RECORD-WATCHING: Running back Brian Warden has moved into the top five in two Augsburg career rushing categories, and could become just the fourth Auggie to rush for 2,000 career yards this season. He enters Saturday's game with 178 rushing yards on 48 carries. On his career, Warden has 356 carries for 1,314 yards, putting him in fourth place all-time in career carries and fifth place all-time in career rushing yards.

Wayne Graves set the career carries mark at Augsburg from 1970-73 with 497, while Marty Alger set the career rushing yardage mark with 2,226 yards from 1991-95. Warden set Augsburg's single-season rushes record with 232 carries last year, while his 858 rushing yards were fifth-best in school history (Alger's 1,011 rushing yards in 1992 is the school single-season record). Warden has eight career rushing touchdowns; the career record, 18, was set by Dan Roff from 1978-81.

Quarterback Paul Tetzloff has now eclipsed the 4,000-yard career passing mark, with 4,192 career yards entering Saturday's game. He is fourth in school history in career passing yardage, fourth in career pass completions (324), sixth in career pass attempts (543) and second in career passing touchdowns (31). Current quarterbacks coach Derrin Lamker (1993-97) holds all of Augsburg's career passing records -- 1,022 passing attempts, 550 completions, 6,624 yards and 46 touchdowns. Tetzloff enters Saturday's games with 38 completions on 73 attempts with two interceptions and one touchdown for 387 passing yards this season.

FIRST QUARTER UP, SECOND QUARTER DOWN: Augsburg has had a Jekyll-and-Hyde first half in its first two games of the season -- Mr. Hyde in the first quarter, Dr. Jekyll in the second. Augsburg has outscored its opponents 24-0 in the first quarter of games, but have been outscored 17-7 in the second. As a comparison, St. John's has been a scoring machine in the first half this season, outscoring opponents 21-0 in the first quarter and 42-1 in the second.

"We have to play better in the second quarter. That's been our Achilles' heel. We have to execute better in the second quarter," said Augsburg head coach Jack Osberg.

COMMON OPPONENT IN BLUGOLDS: This year, both Augsburg and St. John's opened their seasons with nonconference games against Wisconsin-Eau Claire. On Sept. 2, St. John's traveled to Eau Claire, Wis., and scored a convincing 49-14 victory over the Blugolds. The following week, Eau Claire traveled west to Minneapolis, and claimed a last-minute, 17-13 win over Augsburg in the Auggies' season-opener.

Comparing the two games, despite the fact that Eau Claire entered the Auggie contest with one game under its belt, may provide some insight into what may face the Auggies this week in Collegeville. St. John's had 94 offensive plays to Eau Claire's 69, outgaining the Blugolds by a 460-253 yardage margin in total offense. Meanwhile, the Blugolds outgained the Auggies in the Sept. 9 game by a similar margin, 424 to 240, with 84 plays to Augsburg's 77.

The Johnnies took advantage of four turnovers by Eau Claire -- three interceptions and one fumble -- to jump out to a 28-14 halftime lead. Chris Moore (Sr., Edina, Minn.) rushed for three touchdowns, two in the first half, for 134 yards on 30 carries to lead St. John's. Tom Linnemann (Sr., Melrose, Minn.) threw for 232 yards and four touchdowns. Meanwhile, Augsburg got three turnovers from the Blugolds -- two fumbles and one interception -- and each resulted in a scoring opportunity. The Auggies scored a touchdown on its first drive after an interception, a first-quarter 6-yard run by Paul Tetzloff, and the two fumbles resulted in a missed field goal and a 41-yard three-pointer by Tim Mauseth (Jr., Kenyon, Minn./Kenyon-Wanamingo HS).

Tetzloff completed 18 of 39 passes for 144 yards. John Rotter (Sr., Montgomery, Minn./Montgomery-Lonsdale HS) led the Auggies with 46 yards on seven receptions. Brian Warden paced the Auggie rushers with 85 yards on 21 carries.

On defense, the Johnnies limited Eau Claire starting quarterback Brian Rasmussen to just nine completions in 34 passing attempts in the Sept. 2 game. Eau Claire gained just 97 yards through the air. But against the Auggies, Rasmussen had a field day, completing 27 passes in 46 attempts for 343 yards. Thirty-three of those yards came in the final minute, as Rasmussen completed a 4th-and-14 pass to Chad Crutchley to put the ball at the Augsburg 2-yard line. Two plays later, the Blugolds scored the game-winning touchdown with 38 seconds left.

SCOUTING THE JOHNNIES: St. John's coach John Gagliardi has assembled yet another dominant lineup on both sides of the football, which has already outscored their opponents by a 91-20 margin through two games. The Johnnies are averaging 433.5 yards of total offense per game, while limiting their opponents to just 257 yards per game, to sit at No. 8 in the American Football Coaches Association's Division III national rankings.

"You enjoy playing teams that are solid from top to bottom," said Augsburg coach Jack Osberg of the Johnnies. "To get ahead in the league, you have to play these guys and beat these guys."

Tom Linnemann (Sr., Melrose, Minn.) is back at quarterback, after breaking his leg in the third game of the season last year. Linnemann is on an impressive throwing clip, averaging 202 yards per game while completing passes at a 60.4-percent rate (32-of-53). He has yet to throw an interception this year (No SJU quarterback, of four who have seen action this season, have thrown an interception yet this year), while throwing for six touchdowns. Linnemann is 14th in the nation in passing efficiency (161.77 rating) in the latest NCAA Division III statistics, and he is just 54 yards away from amassing 3,000 career passing yards. His 2,946 career passing yards place him sith in school history.

Linnemann's passing targets -- tight end Nate Kirschner (Sr., Mora, Minn.) and wide receiver Jeremy Forsell (Sr., St. Joseph, Minn.) -- have put together solid seasons. Kirschner is averaging 112.5 receiving yards per game, while Forsell is averaging 74.5 yards per game.

On defense, linebacker Tim Pahula (Sr., Eagan, Minn.) leads the team with 20 tackles (14 solo) and one sack. Linebacker Beau LaBore (Sr., South St. Paul, Minn.) has 17 tackles (10 solo), a sack and an interception, and defensive tackle Nick Bruns (So., St. Cloud, Minn.) has 11 tackles (seven solo) and two sacks. The special teams have two blocks and one punt return for a touchdown.

"You hear so much about their offense, but they have a great defense, too. They give their offense the ball in great field position," Osberg said. "They put a lot of pressure on you, and you have to keep yourself from getting in a hole right away."

NEXT WEEK: Augsburg continues its road swing next Saturday (9/30), traveling to St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., for a 1 p.m. game at Manitou Field. St. John's will have its huge rivalry game with the University of St. Thomas next Saturday at 1 p.m. at UST's O'Shaughnessy Stadium in St. Paul, Minn.

AUGSBURG TWO-DEEP ROSTER -- DEFENSE
LE -- 71-Dave Sherry (Jr., 6-1, 230); 98-Derek Kuhlman (So., 6-3, 230)
LT -- 74-Brandon Ward (Sr., 6-3, 290); 52-Kyle Koch (So., 6-0, 245); 99-Ben Mulvey (So., 6-2, 250)
RT -- 54-Matt Chappuis (Jr., 6-0, 260); 55-John Simones (So., 5-11, 205)
RE -- 19-Andy Howard (Sr., 6-0, 225); 65-Nick Leach (Jr., 5-11, 235); 98-Derek Kuhlman (So., 6-3, 230)
SLB -- 40-Mitch Theisen (Jr., 6-2, 220); 32-Scott Archambault (Jr., 5-11, 210); 29-Brandon Fox (Fr., 6-1, 205)
MLB -- 51-Joe Souba (Sr., 6-2, 245); 68-Shaun McCoy (Fr., 6-4, 240); 42-Andy Stephenson (So., 5-9, 230)
WLB -- 13-Kurt Werk (Sr., 5-10, 205); 37-Adam Leiter (So., 5-8, 180); 45-Kyle Voelz (Fr., 5-10, 185)
CB -- 46-Luke Wittrock (Jr., 6-1, 210); 18-Mike Adler (Fr., 6-0, 175)
CB -- 34-Larry Lyden (Jr., 5-11, 195); 23-Josh Larsen (Sr., 5-9, 180); 6-Chad Thorp (Jr., 6-1, 205)
FS -- 12-Brent Peroutka (Jr., 5-11, 195); 38-Chad Scheitel (Jr., 5-9, 170)
SS -- 47-Shane Gunderson (Jr., 6-0, 240); 23-Josh Larsen (Sr., 5-9, 180); 6-Chad Thorp (Jr., 6-1, 205)

ST. JOHN'S STARTERS -- OFFENSE (SJU only provides projected starting lineups)
WR-- 86-Blake Elliot (So., 6-1, 195)
OT -- 53-Brent Vogt (So., 6-0, 225)
OG -- 55-Bryan Bohlman (Sr., 5-11, 225)
C -- 53-Josh Dirlam (So., 6-1, 246)
OG -- 62-Chris Salvato (Sr., 6-1, 265)
OT -- 79-Jeff Macalena (Sr., 6-4, 265)
TE -- 31-Nate Kirschner (Sr., 6-3, 215)
WR -- 22-Jeremy Forsell (Sr., 6-0, 190)
FB -- 41-Chris Moore (Sr., 5-11, 200)
QB -- 8-Tom Linnemann (Sr. 6-2, 200)
HB -- 44-Aaron Krych (Sr., 6-1, 235)

AUGSBURG TWO-DEEP ROSTER -- OFFENSE
WR -- 2-Desman Oakley (Sr., 6-3, 190); 1-Damien Rochon-Washington (Sr., 6-3, 190)
WR -- 28-Mark Johnson (Jr., 5-10, 190); 4-Sammy Gross (So., 5-9, 190)
TE -- 89-Ryan Hupka (Sr., 6-5, 225); 82-Tony Warren (So., 6-3, 215)
LT -- 66-Todd Boerboom (Sr., 6-1, 260); 78-James Brue (So., 6-3, 250)
LG -- 60-Andy Hansen (Sr., 6-2, 305); 59-Rich Nelson (So., 6-3, 250); 57-Lincoln Langhorst (So., 5-9, 265)
C -- 64-Chris Pelzel (So., 6-0, 235); 59-Rich Nelson (So., 6-3, 250); 53-Scot Olson (Sr., 6-1, 240)
RG -- 70-Mike Hokanson (Sr., 6-4, 260); 59-Rich Nelson (So., 6-3, 250); 56-Brad Motl (So., 6-3, 250)
RT -- 63-Bob Eckstrom (So., 6-0, 270); 86-Jesse Naughton (So., 6-4, 250)
FB -- 33-John Rotter (Sr., 6-0, 195); 16-Rico Washington (Sr., 6-7, 200)
HB -- 17-Brian Warden (Sr., 5-5, 185); 31-Justin Lehman (So., 5-9, 160); 44-T.J. Bramwell (So., 5-10, 185)
QB -- 9-Paul Tetzloff (Sr., 6-4, 220); 8-John Goodale (Jr., 5-10, 165)

ST. JOHN'S STARTERS -- DEFENSE (SJU only provides projected starting lineups)
DE -- 88-Phil Trier (Sr., 6-3, 220)
DT -- 94-Nick Bruns (Sr., 6-2, 235) or 54-Josh Hart (Sr., 6-1, 240)
DT -- 89-Alex Wesley (Sr., 6-3, 245)
DT -- 77-Brian Zirbes (Sr., 6-3, 225)
DE -- 1-Ryan Danielson (Jr., 6-2, 217)
LB -- 32-Beau LaBore (Sr., 6-2, 215)
LB -- 58-Tim Pahula (Sr., 5-10, 215)
CB -- 22-Will Gibson (Sr., 6-0, 200)
CB -- 2-Andy Hover (Sr. 6-0, 180)
FS -- 5-Brad Beyer (Jr., 6-2, 198)
SS -- 19-Marc Jerzak (Sr., 5-9, 183)

AUGSBURG SPECIALISTS
K -- 5-Matt Van Alstine (Sr., 5-9, 180) (placekicking); 90-Tim Mauseth (Jr., 5-9, 160) (kickoffs)
P -- 12-Brent Peroutka (Jr., 5-11, 195)
LS -- 53-Scot Olson (Sr., 6-1, 240); 77-Dustin Moilanen (Fr., 6-2, 255)
SS -- 59-Rich Nelson (So., 6-3, 250)
H -- 8-John Goodale (Jr., 5-10, 165)
KR -- 26-Jon Boeck (So., 5-10, 165); 44-T.J. Bramwell (So., 5-10, 185); 84-Mathew Shannon (Fr., 5-8, 160)
PR -- 22-Jamie Smith (So., 5-9, 170); 12-Brent Peroutka (Jr., 5-11, 195)

ST. JOHN'S STARTERS -- SPECIALISTS (SJU only provides projected starting lineups)
K -- 11-Joe Rotondi (Sr., 6-0, 204)
P -- 9-Charlie Carr (So., 6-1, 175)