Johnnies fall to Linfield to end NCAA tournament run

St John’s ended their season on Saturday after falling to Linfield (11-0 (7-0 NWC)) in the second round of the D3 football playoffs. Jerry Haugen, the SJU defensive coordinator was named the head coach for this game after Coach Gary Fasching contracted COVID-19. This came after the Johnnies cruised past Lake Forest in the first round in Collegeville.

In the Lake Forest game, St John’s jumped out to a quick 27-0 lead and dominated the entirety of the first quarter and the beginning of the second quarter. The last ten minutes of the first half belonged to Lake Forest, however, as the Foresters punt unit pinned the Johnnies on their own one yard line and their defense forced a safety on the ensuing play. Then, with 56 seconds left in the half, the Foresters made it a three-score game with a four-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Tre Stewart.

The Johnnies came out strong in the second half as well, scoring two touchdowns in the third quarter to increase their lead to 41-8.

“We had a great start,” said head coach Gary Fasching. “The second quarter wasn’t great but at halftime we talked about reestablishing the line of scrimmage and I thought we did that.”

“Our O-Line had an amazing day, just working and fighting,” senior Devin Vouk said.

As time wound down and the starters were taken out of the game, Lake Forest scored one last time as St. John’s advanced to the second round with ease, beating the Foresters 41-14.

The Johnnies’ second round matchup proved to be much more difficult. While the Johnnie offense had little trouble moving the ball and putting points on Lake Forest, the Linfield defense proved to be a great test and gave the Johnnie offense many problems, especially early in the game.

“The Linfield defense was sound,” said senior quarterback Chris Backes. “They played well in helping slowdown our run game a little bit.”

Haugen reiterated Backes’ point saying “Their defense was stout up front.”

Indeed, this was the case as the Linfield defense allowed only 72 yards on the ground against a Johnnie rushing attack that averaged over 200 yards per game coming into the game.

After both offenses struggled to find any rhythm in the first quarter, the Johnnie offense finally put something together early in the second quarter and jumped out to an early 7-0 lead after a one-yard run by senior running back Henry Trost.

After Linfield scored late in the half to draw even, it seemed that the game would be tied 7-7 going into the half. However, with just 24 seconds left in the half, SJU punt return unit muffed a punt on their own 20 yardline. On three plays, Linfield scored to take a 14-7 halftime lead.

Unfortunately for the Johnnies, that was not the end of their special teams’ woes. On the Johnnies’ first possession of the second half, they were forced to punt and a low snap meant that sophomore punter Spencer Ell could not get the punt off, giving Linfield great field position. The Wildcats capitalized on the Johnnies special teams miscue once again and took a 21-7 lead early in the half.

“Special teams become so important,” Haugen said. “When you get a group that’s been working together all year long then a few guys go down, it’s always an opportunity for some guys to step up, which is hard.”

The two teams then spent the remainder of the game trading scores. They tried fighting their way back into the game and had an opportunity late in the game to tie it when they were down 28-21. However, the Johnnies could not drive down the field and ended up turning the ball over, which then led to a Linfield field goal to seal the deal.

St. John’s ended their 2021 season with an 11-1 record, going 8-0 in the MIAC.