The Auggies had led for most of the game before Gustavus Adolphus came back to score with 22 seconds left. Augsburg didn't need 22 seconds to get the lead back. Augsburg athletics photo by Kevin Healy

By Brian Lester
D3sports.com

Seven seconds to go. 34-yard line of Gustavus. Augsburg, trailing by four, standing on the doorstep of an opportunity to win a big MIAC game on the road.

Cade Sheehan let the ball fly as the blitz came at him. He said he just wanted to give his team a chance to win it. He didn’t think it would take forever for the play to unfold.

Or at least it felt like someone had hit the slow motion button as the ball sailed towards the front right corner of the end zone.

“That was the slowest and longest I’ve ever seen a ball go up in the air. It took forever to come down,” Sheehan said. “In my mind, I knew I got it there. I was just hoping for the best.”

Tyrone Wilson was there to make the catch, leaping to make the grab despite having two defenders on him as he caught his fourth touchdown pass of the season.

“I looked up and there was the ball. I just went up and got it,” Wilson said.

It was a memorable moment, but not the first time Augsburg has won a game against Gustavus via a Hail Mary pass. In 2012, Ayrton Scott threw a 42-yard scoring strike to Hakeem Bourne-McFarlane in a 26-24 win.

Wilson had never made a Hail Mary catch in his life. Sheehan once threw a Hail Mary attempt, but it didn’t quite end as well as the one this past Saturday.

“I threw one freshman year against Hamline before halftime and got picked off. This is the first one I succeeded in. It was surreal,” Sheehan said.

Gustavus did have one last chance to win the game. It attempted a series of laterals before one was picked off by Hamsa Kahin as the Auggies sealed the deal on a 33-31 win.

Head coach Derrin Lamker couldn’t have been happier for his players. He said the play the Auggies ran on the game winner was one they do often in practice. Like every other play, he believed it had a chance to work.

Augsburg led most of the day. The Auggies were up 14-0 after one quarter, 14-10 at halftime and 21-18 going into the fourth. Gustavus took the lead with 22 seconds to go.

“We were probably a little disappointed it got to that point. We had led the whole game and didn’t put them away in certain situations,” Lamker said. “But obviously things worked out. Our kids never quit. They kept battling and found a way.”

The game had more value, however, than just another mark in the win column. This was a statement game in a sense for the Auggies (3-0), who won their first two games of the year against opponents they were expected to beat, topping Northwestern (Minn.) 52-10 and Martin Luther 62-0.

Against the Gusties, they were facing a team that had gone 7-3 a year earlier and was 5-2 in the conference in 2022.

“We played a couple of games early that we won handily and everyone said we hadn’t played anyone. I can understand that. They had a good point,” Lamker said. “This was a prove it game. Gustavus is a really good team. We hadn’t beaten them since 2013.

“We are excited to be where we are at this point, but we want to stay,” Lamker continued. “We want to play with the top teams in our conference, compete with them and be talked about with the top teams. Hopefully, after that win on the road, we are put in those conversations.”

The players hope so as well.

“It was huge for us. A lot of motivation from it,” Sheehan said. “We went into it feeling like it was our prove it game.”

And the Auggies came out of it with a statement made.

“Like Cade said, it was a prove it game. We showed that we can compete. That we aren’t just going to back down,” Wilson said.

Augsburg was 6-4 overall last season. It finished 4-4 in the MIAC. Lamker is in his fourth season as the head coach here and has seen the program take steps forward. The team played just one game the pandemic year and went 4-6 two seasons ago.

“These guys really like each other. It’s cool to go into the locker room and have music playing and seeing the guys having fun,” Lamker said. “This is D3 football. The kids don’t have someone pushing them to do the work and they don't have a scholarship to live by. They are here because they love the game. They want to be here.”

Sheehan, who threw four touchdown passes against Gustavus – the eighth time he’s done that in his career – echoes that thought from his coach.

“I’ve seen us grow and connect. This is the most family-like group I’ve been a part of here. We all play for each other and want each other to succeed,” Sheehan said.

Lamker added that the players don’t want to let each other down.

“You have to have that little bit of fear of letting each other down. They don’t want to do that. They want to do the next thing they can for their teammate to keep things going. We just want to improve every week no matter who we play. We have Saint John’s this week. They are one of the top teams in the nation. I told the guys let’s go battle. Let’s go see what we can do against the best and where we can grow as a team.”

Lamker is an alum of Augsburg, a two-time All-MIAC selection and three-year starting quarterback for the Auggies who was a Gagliardi finalist in 1997. He helped the program win a conference title that year and led it to the NCAA playoffs for the first time in program history.

Lamker is hoping to see his players experience that same type of joy.

“The kids get sick of hearing about 1997,” Lamker said. “They want to create their own memories and that’s my hope for them. “I want these guys to experience what I got to experience and feel that joy of being a champion.”

The Auggies are ready to do what it takes to get to that point. Wilson knows the job isn’t done yet.

“We have to keep wanting it. We have more games to go. We want to succeed as a family and keep thriving,” Wilson said.

And as great as it was to win this past week against Gustavus, it’s time to move on to the next one.

“We had a big win but we can’t let it go to our heads,” Sheehan said. “It’s about the next week. The next game. We have to stay focused. Yeah, we won a game, but we’re not here for that. We’re here to win a MIAC title and compete with the top teams.”