NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College football team maintained possession of the Goat Trophy and improved to 3-0 for the first time since 2008, using a big third quarter to defeat cross-town rival Carleton College by a 33-21 score on Saturday afternoon at Laird Stadium.
Senior quarterback and reigning Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week Ricardo Johnson III accounted for five total touchdowns for the second-straight week, throwing for three and rushing for two more to lead St. Olaf (3-0, 1-0 MIAC) to its fifth-straight victory over Carleton (1-2, 0-1 MIAC). The Oles have defeated the Knights in 19 of the last 22 meetings between the two schools dating back to the 1997 season.
Johnson III was 18-of-34 passing for 191 yards and threw three touchdowns with one interception, while also rushing the ball 24 times for 116 yards and two scores. All three of Johnson III's passing touchdowns went to classmate Ben Smithson, who found the end zone on all three of his catches in the game.
In addition to Johnson III's 116 yards on the ground, junior Khayleb Willis returned to rush for 79 yards on 11 carries and first-year Eddie Odangagained 52 yards on 12 carries, as the Oles rushed for 247 yards and averaged 5.3 yards per carry. The 247 rushing yards were the most for St. Olaf since the 2011 team piled up 295 yards against Hamline on Oct. 29, 2011 in a 40-0 victory.
Defensively, St. Olaf held a Carleton passing attack that entered the game ranked second in Division III in passing (395.5 yards per game) to 216 yards and intercepted four Christian Zaytoun passes in the win. Max Karpinske, Shiloh Goodwin, Ridley Weeks and Marcel Diggs each had an interception for the Oles.
Carleton stopped St. Olaf on downs on the first possession of the game and proceeded to drive 61 yards in seven plays to score the game's first touchdown on a four-yard pass from Zaytoun to Fletcher Metz. The Oles, however, answered with a 14-play, 66-yard drive that included two fourth-down conversions and spanned 6:47. The drive ended with a five-yard touchdown run by Johnson III, who connected with Gonzalo Pirela to convert a fourth-and-five at the Carleton 32-yard line earlier in the drive.
With the score tied at 7-7 after one quarter, the Knights took their second lead of the game with 10:33 left in the second quarter, when Zaytoun found Metz up the right side for a 44-yard strike, the pair's second touchdown connection of the game. Again, the Oles answered, when Johnson III just broke the plane of the goal line before the ball came loose on a six-yard touchdown run to complete an eight-play, 72-yard drive. The extra point was blocked, however, leaving the Knights up one, 14-13.
Johnson III found Smithson for the pair's first touchdown of the afternoon on a fourth-and-goal from the two with 2:44 left in the opening half to give the Oles a 19-14 halftime lead after the two-point conversion was no good. St. Olaf was 6-for-9 on fourth downs in the game to offset a 5-for-16 rate on third down.
St. Olaf broke the game open late in the third quarter with a pair of Johnson III scoring strikes to Smithson 3:06 apart on what appeared to be identical plays. The seniors connected from nine yards out and again for a two-point conversion to make it a 27-14 lead with 6:22 left in the third after a Goodwin interception halted a Carleton drive that was approaching the red zone.
After a Karpinske interception on Carleton's next possession set up the Oles at midfield, Johnson III found a wide-open Smithson over the middle and Smithson barreled into the end zone to stretch the St. Olaf lead to 33-14 late in the third.
The Knights finished off the scoring with a 13-yard pass from Zaytoun to Sean Goodman Jr. with 6:40 left before the Oles methodically ran the remaining 6:40 off the clock. Zaytoun completed 18-of-39 passes for 216 yards with three touchdowns and four interceptions for Carleton, which got 17 tackles from Kwaku Bodom.
St. Olaf hosts Augsburg University on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 1 p.m. at Klein Field at Manitou.