MINNEAPOLIS -- Trailing 42-28 early in the fourth quarter, the Augsburg College football team rallied with 21 unanswered points in a 6:13 span, claiming a 49-42 victory over visiting Bethel University in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season-ending contest on Saturday afternoon at Edor Nelson Field.
THE BASICSFINAL SCORE:Â Augsburg 49, Bethel 42LOCATION:Â Edor Nelson Field, Minneapolis
RECORDS: Augsburg 5-5 overall (4-4 MIAC), Bethel 5-5 overall (4-4 MIAC)HOW IT HAPPENED• Tyrell Martin (SR, West St. Paul, Minn./Henry Sibley HS) rushed 18 times for 102 yards and tied a single-game school record with four rushing touchdowns, a first-quarter score and all three scores in the fourth quarter to rally the Auggies back for the win.• Trailing 42-28 with 13:46 left in the fourth quarter, Augsburg staged an incredible rally to claim the win. A six-play, 75-yard, 3:14 drive was capped with a Martin nine-yard touchdown with 10:32 left. The extra-point kick was blocked, however, leaving the Auggies trailing 42-34.
• Augsburg successfully completed an onside kick, with
Derek Ruff (SR, Shoreview, Minn./Totino-Grace HS) recovering at the Bethel 49-yard line. On the next play, quarterback
Ayrton Scott (SR, Minneapolis, Minn./Southwest HS) completed a pass to
Joey Sonnenfeld (SR, Maple Grove, Minn./Osseo HS), who lateraled to
Scott Bossard (SR, North Branch, Minn.). Bossard ran the ball to the Bethel 11, and Martin scored his third rushing touchdown of the game on the next play. A two-point conversion pass from Scott to Sonnenfeld enabled the Auggies to tie the game at 42-42 with 9:55 left.
• On Bethel's first play from scrimmage, Auggie
Bobby Collins (JR, Lompoc, Calif.) forced a Bethel fumble, which Collins recovered at the Augsburg 47-yard line. Ten plays later, Martin gave the Auggies the lead with a seven-yard touchdown rush with 4:19 left.
• Bethel went on a 16-play, 60-yard drive, getting the ball to the Augsburg 14-yard line with 30 seconds left. But on a 4th-and-1 play,
Raymond Carter (SO, Jordan, Minn.) stopped Bethel's Marshall Klitzke on a rush up the middle, forcing a one-yard loss and giving the Auggies the ball on downs.
• Scott completed 18-of-25 passes for 272 yards and a passing touchdown against an interception, while rushing 22 times for 167 yards and a first-quarter touchdown, finishing with 439 yards of total offense.
• Sonnenfeld caught six passes for 129 yards and a touchdown, while Martin caught five passes for 30 yards, Bossard caught three passes for 53 yards and Nicholas Brundy (SR, Lompoc, Calif.) caught three passes for 40 yards.
• Augsburg and Bethel combined for eight touchdowns on 11 first-half drives. Trailing 28-21 on the final play of the first half, offensive lineman Bob Rose (SR, Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson HS) caught a lateral from Scott and rambled three yards for a touchdown as time expired.• Defensively, Carter led all players with 14 tackles (two solo), while William Johnson (JR, St. Anthony Village, Minn.) had nine tackles (four solo). Mykar Groves (SR, West .St. Paul, Minn./Simley HS) and Khoa Nguyen (JR, Rochester, Minn./Lourdes HS) had eight tackles each.BEYOND THE BOXSCORE• With his 439 yards of total offense on Saturday, Scott finished his career with 14,523 career yards of total offense, finishing in second place in the category in NCAA Division III history. He finished his career 45 yards away from the Division III record, 14,568 yards, set by Kevin Burke of Mount Union (Ohio) from 2011-14.Â
• Scott's 363.1 total offense yards per-game average is second in Division III history, behind the 364.6 yards per-game average set by Brett Elliott of Linfield (Ore.) from 2004-05.
• Scott finished his career with school career records for passing yardage (10,281) and rushing yardage (4,756), along with rushing attempts (722), rushing touchdowns (37) and passing touchdowns (97). He finished second in pass completions (746) and pass attempts (1,238).
• In three seasons at Augsburg, Sonnenfeld finished with 210 catches for 3,550 yards, in second place in school history in career receiving yardage. His 39 receiving touchdowns as an Auggie are third-best in school history, and his 210 catches are fifth-best.FOR THE FOES• Marshall Klitzke rushed 25 times for 150 yards for Bethel, including a 70-yard touchdown run on Bethel's first play from scrimmage following an Augsburg drive early in the first quarter.
• Andrew Dzurik completed 24-of-33 passes for 280 yards and two touchdowns -- a 22-yard pass to Jackson Canfield in the second quarter and a 27-yard pass to Gunnar Bloom early in the fourth quarter. Bloom caught 10 passes for 93 yards, Canfield caught five passes for 90 yards and Drew Neuville caught seven passes for 59 yards.
• Josh Werness scored two rushing touchdowns for the Royals, a one-yard run early in the second quarter and a one-yard run early in the third quarter.
• Jesse Moeckly scored on a 34-yard interception return of a Scott pass in the second quarter.
• Defensively, Zach Eenhuis had 12 tackles (three solo) for Bethel, while Matt Mehlhorn had nine tackles (six solo), a tackle for-loss and two pass breakups. Josh Dalki had nine tackles (three solo) and Landon Mathis had eight tackles (three solo) with a pass breakup.