COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. — No. 10 Saint John's team led 35-0 after one quarter and scored six touchdowns in its first seven possessions to defeat Carleton 49-7 on Saturday, Oct. 12, at Clemens Stadium.

The Johnnies opened the scoring at 13:48 after a Carleton fumble as junior Blake Elliott caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from senior Ross Denne. Denne then connected with sophomore Lee Clintsman at the 8:08 mark on a 25-yard touchdown pass and the Johnnies went up 14-0. 

After another Knight fumble, senior Kent Crowley scored on a 6-yard run. On the first play after a Carleton punt, Denne connected with junior Jed Riegelman on a 56-yard touchdown pass and SJU led 28-0 only 10 minutes into the game. The final score of the first quarter came with 35 seconds left as Crowley scored on a 24-yard run.

SJU added one more touchdown in the second quarter as junior Josh Nelson scored on a three-yard run. SJU led 42-0 at halftime.

In the third quarter, SJU freshman Tyler Bartling caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Zach Vertin. Sophomore Brandon Keller was 7-for-7 on extra points for the Johnnies.

The final scoring of the game came with 5:01 left in the fourth quarter as Carleton senior Erik Fisher scored on a 5-yard run to make the final score 49-7 in favor of the Johnnies.

The Johnnies controlled the final statistics as they had 462 yards total offense, compared to 204 yards for the Knights. SJU rushed for 263 yards and passed for 199 yards. The 263 yards rushing was the most for the Johnnies since they had 469 yards rushing against Macalester on Sept. 18, 1999. Carleton had five turnovers in the game. The Johnnies did lose three fumbles. Total offense at halftime was 326 to 78 in favor of the Johnnies.

Individually for SJU, Crowley rushed five times for 55 yards and sophomore Jake Theis had nine carries for 53 yards and one touchdown. Denne was 7-for-12 passing for 146 yards and three touchdowns. Six SJU quarterbacks had statistics in the game. Crowley also had four catches for 63 yards. Juniors Ryan Weinandt and Paul Schreiner each had five tackles to lead the SJU defensive unit.

For Carleton, Fisher rushed 18 times for 64 yards and one touchdown and caught eight catches for 56 yards. Carleton used two quarterbacks as freshman Nick Wanka was 12-for-21 passing for 79 yards and freshman Ben Cooprider was 5-for-19 passing for 32 yards and three interceptions. Freshman Nick Brokke had 10 total tackles and a fumble recovery for the Knights.

SJU improved to 5-1 overall and 4-0 in the MIAC. SJU and Concordia-Moorhead are the only undefeated teams in the MIAC. The Cobbers are 5-1 overall and 5-0 in the MIAC. The Johnnies have now won 10 straight games at Clemens Stadium and are 20-0 all-time against Carleton. Carleton falls to 0-6 overall and 0-5 in the MIAC.