Saints win at home, wherever that may be

John Gilbert

 

 St. Scholastica quarterback Zach Edwards was cocked and ready to throw five  touchdown passes in a  41-13 victory Saturday. Photo credit: John Gilbert
St. Scholastica quarterback Zach Edwards was cocked and ready to throw five touchdown passes in a  41-13 victory Saturday. Photo credit: John Gilbert
Mitchell Adrian raced 70 yards in St. Scholastica;s 4-TD second quarter outburst.  Photo credit: John Gilbert
Mitchell Adrian raced 70 yards in St. Scholastica;s 4-TD second quarter outburst. Photo credit: John Gilbert
Reese Jansen made a lunging catch of Zach Edwards’s 41-yard touchdown pass for  a 34-6 halftime lead over Presentation. Photo credit: John Gilbert
Reese Jansen made a lunging catch of Zach Edwards’s 41-yard touchdown pass for a 34-6 halftime lead over Presentation. Photo credit: John Gilbert
Dylan Paulsen of Presentation showed that St. Scholastic didn’t have the only  receivers who could make spectacular catches. Photo credit: John Gilbert
Dylan Paulsen of Presentation showed that St. Scholastic didn’t have the only receivers who could make spectacular catches. Photo credit: John Gilbert

St. Scholastica had such a good time rallying to beat Mayville State in overtime at Malosky Stadium that the Saints came back to Malosky last Saturday and romped to a 41-13 victory over Presentation behind the strong right arm of quarterback Zach Edwards.

But the UMD Bulldogs come home this weekend to face St. Cloud State at Malosky, so St. Scholastica has to move back to Public Schools Stadium for Saturday’s homecoming game against Crown.

The way Edwards has been throwing the ball, and his new corps of receivers has been catching it, the location of the game is unimportant.

Against Presentation — alsothe Saints — St. Scholastica appeared to be in a battle at the start. Edward opened by hitting Mitchell Adrian for an 18-yard touchdown pass, but Presentation came back with a touchdown but failed on the extra point, leaving St. Scholastica up 7-6 after a quarter.

But Edwards led the Saints — Duluth variety — to four touchdowns in the second quarter to settle the issue. He hit Lavell Jackson for a 22-yard score, then turned Adrian loose for a 70-yard touchdown dash up the sideline, and then hit Jackson for a 21-yard touchdown. Before halftime, Edwards uncorked a 41-yard bomb that Reese Jansen caught at the goal line for the fourth TD of the quarter and a 34-6 lead.

For the game, Edwards threw five touchdown passes, and Adrian caught 10 passes for 68 yards and ran for 80 yards on six carries. Jansen caught three passes for 97 yards, and Jackson had 71 yards on five receptions.

He also threw a second-half touchdown pass to Dominic Klaas for 21 yards. The big day boosted Edwards, a senior from Henry Sibley High School, to school records for touchdowns with 67 and career completions with 476.

Against Presentation, the flow of the game seemed to find Edwards firing high and long passes to the end zone, and his receivers coming through for a variety of diving catches. Not a bad formula.

New coach Mike Heffernan might be thinking there’s nothing to this coaching business, as he now stands 2-0 as head coach, with Crown coming in for the 6 p.m. third game for the Saints, and homecoming as well. Wherever their home might be, this weekend.

UMD had to rally from a surprisingly stiff test from Minnesota State-Moorhead last Saturday in Moorhead, as the Dragons took a 20-13 lead into halftime. But the Bulldogs came out storming for the second half, and quarterback John Larson led the charge to four touchdowns in the third quarter, and cruised to a 48-20 victory.

Larson was 17-24 passing for 252 yards and three third-quarter touchdowns, to Wade Sullivan, Quincy Woods and Zach Ojile. Larson also ran for 104 yards, and the first UMD touchdown. Cazz Martin scored on a 9-yard run in the third quarter, and added a 55-yard scoring run in the fourth.

Things might get a little stiffer this Saturday, when St. Cloud State brings a 2-0 record to Malosky Stadium to test UMD’s 2-0 mark.

The success of Duluth’s two college teams makes an interesting contrast to the Minnesota Vikings and, for the most part, to the Gophers. The Gophers have had to scratch and claw to beat three teams that were clear underdogs, but all three had the chance to upset Minnesota in the closing seconds.

Last Saturday, Georgia Southern blocked a punt and returned it 77 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, and came right back to score on a 44-yard fumble recovery to turn a 28-20 Minnesota lead into a startling 32-28 leads with less than four minute remaining. Only then did the Gophers make a determined drive, with quarterback Tanner Morgan thew a long pass to Tyler Johnson with 13 seconds left to set up a 2-yard scoring run with time running out. Johnson caught three touchdown passes in the game.

The Vikings had one of the weirdest games in their long history against the Green Bay Packers, as quarterback Kirk Cousins had a horrendous day passing, while Aaron Rodgers led the Packers to a 21-0 first-half lead.

The Vikings stopped the Packers offense after that, and made a stirring comeback, thanks to Dalvin Cook’s 75-yard touchdown run. But having climbed back to a mere 21-16 deficit, Cousins had a chance to redeem himself for the worst game of his NFL career. Instead, he made it worse, leading the Vikings down to a first and goal at the 9, with time remaining.

On first down, Cousins rolled to his right, and saw Stefon Diggs in the right corner of the end zone. Only trouble was, there were two Packers on him, and a third arriving as the ball floated high and into the end zone. Cousins said he intended to throw it where either Diggs could catch it or it would be out of the end zone. Unfortunately, it wasn’t close to being out of the end zone, and Kevin King easily outjumped Diggs to intercept a ball that should have never been thrown.

Cousins was 14-32 passing in the game and came away with a passer rating of 52.9 — worst in the entire NFL. It was his worst day passing in two seasons with the Vikings. Russell Wilson of Seattle, by comparison, ws 29-35 for 300 yards, three touchdowns, and a 131.0 quarterback rating, in a 28-26 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. And while the Washington Redskins lost 31-21 to the Dallas Cowboys, Case Keenum — remember Case Keenum? — was 26-37 with two touchdowns and a 103.5 passer rating.