Johnnies defeat nationally ranked Bethel 31-25

Last Saturday, the No. 5/6 ranked St. John’s football team took the field at Clemens Stadium to take on the No. 13/15 ranked Bethel Royals to begin the MIAC season.

Much to the expectations of many throughout the conference and across the nation, this turned out to be a back-and-forth game, with the Johnnies coming out on top 31-25.

Head Coach Gary Fasching said that he got what he expected from this Bethel team.

“Any time you play Bethel, you know that you will be in for a physical game,” Fasching said. “They like to run the football, and they play very solid defense.”

The top-notch Royals defense certainly came to play in the first half, allowing only one Johnnie score on a 12-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Aaron Syverson to senior wide receiver Ravi Alston late in the second quarter.

“The first quarter was a little rough,” Syverson said about the offense’s play. “But we felt like we really kicked into gear and started finding a rhythm as the game went on.”

The Johnnie offense came out of the gates of the second half firing on all cylinders and flipped the switch from their first half performance, putting up 24 points for the remainder of the game.

On the other side of the ball, the Johnnie defense shut down the Bethel offense in the first half and then struggled in the second half.

After holding the Royals to six points and less than 100 yards of offense during the first half, the Johnnie defense gave up three scores and over 200 yards of offense in the second half. Most of Bethel’s yardage came from big plays in the passing game.

“I was disappointed with our pass coverage,” Fasching said. “We gave up too many big plays to them when we were up by two touchdowns.

Bethel’s success in the second half was due to them making big plays in the pass game.”

While the Johnnie secondary and pass defense struggled, the defensive front and run defense shined in the win.

Bethel only mustered 61 yards on 26 carries on the ground for a 2.3 average.

On the flip side, the Johnnie offense ran the ball much more effectively than the Royals to a tune of 145 yards and two scores.

Fasching attributes his team’s running success on both sides of the ball to the play of the offensive and defensive lines.

“I was really pleased with our offensive and defensive lines. I thought they both played very well,” Fasching said. “We were able to run the football effectively because of our offensive line, and our defensive line put great pressure on their QB.”

The Johnnies look to continue their success up front and shore up their problems in the secondary as they hit the road for the first time this year on Saturday, Oct. 2 to face Concordia-Moorhead (1-2 (0-1 MIAC)).