Johnnie GameDay production adds new element to Johnnie tailgate

Johnnie GameDay, a pre-game show similar to the iconic College GameDay show hosted by ESPN, made its debut last Saturday ahead of the St. John’s vs Bethel MIAC football showdown. The show was live streamed on the MIAC Sports Network and was produced with the help of two SJU seniors: Ethan Eltgroth and Gabe Evenocheck.  

“Our initial sort of vibe was we want to do College GameDay, only we want to do it in the tailgate in Collegeville,” Evenocheck said. “It was our job to figure out how do we make that work and how do we bring that vision to life?” 

Both Eltgroth and Evenocheck credited SJU alum Mark Flynn (SJU ‘78), who reached out in early September, with the idea for the production.  

“The target for production was family weekend because that’s typically when we get the largest amount of people on campus,” Eltgroth said. 

13,661 fans watched the undefeated No. 5 Johnnies defeat No. 7 Bethel 42-16 on a windy and rainy afternoon at Clemens Stadium. The weather delayed kickoff by 90 minutes and also provided a challenge for the production of Johnnie GameDay, which started its show at 11 a.m.  

“The wind was something we had to contend with,” Evenocheck said. “It was a mix of making sure that we properly secured all of our staging, all of our set dressing to make sure it didn’t blow off, making sure we sandbag our cameras and [making] sure our TVs don’t tip over. The weather was definitely something we thought long and hard about.”  

Evenocheck also highlighted that members of the physical plant helped bring in and construct the stage and set used for the production.  

In total, the livestream had 2,482 total loads, 1,809 unique loads (users who watched for the first time) and is the highest viewed live-streamed event at CSB+SJU so far this year.  

Eltgroth and Evenocheck co-founded a company in August of 2024 called E&E Media Services. They serve clients who are looking for either web development or digital marketing services and are now expanding into video production and live production. 

Johnnie GameDay featured many segments including tailgate tours, Ring the Bell Challenge, interviews with CSB+SJU members and alumni and game previews and picks.  

“We had two segments of [the tailgate tours]: one with Frank Vascellaro, the other with Tom Wicka,” Eltgroth said. “I went around with them using a remote camera and visited some tailgates.”  

Carter Theisen, a senior pitcher on the SJU baseball team, and Nora Schmidt, a sophomore quarterback on the CSB flag football team and guard on the basketball team, participated in the Ring the Bell challenge (trying to hit a bell with a football) and were two of many guests featured on the show.  

“It was really cool to capture all the energy that was happening in the crowd and everybody got really involved,” Evenocheck said. “Tom Wicka did a great job of hosting that segment and really being able to foster that energy and bring it to the next level.” 

Other guests included Gary Fasching, head football coach; Dan O’Brien, SJU athletic director; Brian Bruess, CSB and SJU president; Zach Frank, former Johnnie All-American defensive lineman; Blake Elliott, College Football Hall of Famer and wide receiver on 2003 SJU national championship team; Patrick Reusse, Minnesota Star Tribune sports columnist; Aaron Syverson, former SJU quarterback; and Zach McBroom. 

WCCO’s Frank Vascellaro, whose son Joe Vascellaro played offensive line for the Johnnies from 2021-2025, hosted the show with assistant football coach Tom Wicka co-hosting.  

“Working with all those guys was really fun, and everybody was very gracious and willing to lend their time and see the show succeed,” Evenocheck said. “It’s always challenging to get that many people who are that busy in one spot and we credit a lot of that with working closely with Mark Flynn and Dan O’Brien.” 

One funny moment that occurred during the game picks segment was Reusse picking Bethel to win the game, to the dismay of Vascellaro, Wicka, Elliott and the crowd.  

“We were like, what? That took us off guard, and I think it took everybody off guard, but it was all in good fun,” Evenocheck said.  

A unique aspect of this production was the location, which was set up right beside the tailgate area near the baseball and soccer fields.  

“We had a couple different locations we were thinking of, and we landed on this one because we wanted to be in the middle of the tailgate, where we can get a lot of that atmosphere of the action,” Eltgroth said. “We wanted to get people in the background or around the whole stage just to amplify the vibe. That was a really big part of the feel of the show.”  

Evenocheck felt that a major driving force behind the project was to showcase what CSB+SJU has to offer.  

“It was very important to both us and Mark Flynn, who was really driving this project, to capture all the energy at St. John’s,” Evenocheck said. “I think sort of the mission statement of the show was, how do we capture that energy and share it with the world to say, here’s what’s happening at St. John’s, here’s all these cool things that we do here, and let people in on that.” 

Eltgroth said that the most rewarding part of the day for him was seeing all the hard work from the past few weeks pay off.  

“Seeing it all come to fruition after so many long weeks was definitely super heartwarming,” Eltgroth said. “We’re very proud of ourselves, but also, it’s a big learning experience. Overall, we’re super happy with how it worked out.”  

Both Evenocheck and Eltgroth noted that they hope Johnnie GameDay returns in the future. 

“I come from a production background, and I really enjoy doing this stuff,” Evenocheck said. “You’re very stressed leading up to it, and you’re stressed during it, but that’s sort of fun. We had a great turnout, and everybody really enjoyed watching it.”