St. Paul, Minn. - Erik Fisher and Wade Thompson ran wild over Macalester as Carleton racked up 341 rushing yards, the second-most in school history, as the Knights took back the Book of Knowledge by beating Macalester, 45-13.
Fisher picked up 183 yards and a pair of touchdowns and Thompson ran for 87 yards and added a 65-yard punt return as the Knights cruised to their second straight win.
Carleton's rushing total came mostly from Fisher (Maple Lake, Minn.) and Thompson, with quarterback Darren Caspers (Fy./Bemidji, Minn.) picked up 39 yards. Fisher's season total of 1,218 yards on the ground leaves him only 26 yards behind Adam Henry for Carleton’s single season rushing record. The rushing total was second only to the 416 rushing yards the Knights racked up in a 1986 upset of the University of St. Thomas.
Thompson turned in perhaps the most impressive day of his young career picking up 215 all-purpose yards, including an electric 65-yard punt return for a touchdown and a 54-yard scamper when the Knights were stuck deep in their own territory.
Caspers was also effective through the air completing 7-of-11 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown.
The Knights came out of the gates quickly scoring on a two-yard plunge by Fisher on their opening drive. A field goal from Pat Barry (Hercules, Calif.) early in the second quarter put the Knights up 10-0.
The Scots countered with a touchdown with five minutes left to play in the first half. Carleton calmly marched down the field and scored with just under two minutes on another touchdown run from Fisher.
The Knights’ defense came up big at the end of the first half. Leading only 16-7, the Knights' Randy Foss (Fy./Hastings, Minn.) recovered a Scot fumble at midfield with only 1:14 left. A Fisher 9-yard run and a Caspers-to-Ben Cooprider (So./DeKalb, Ill) 7-yard pass put the Knights at the Scots' 34-yard line. Caspers would scramble 34 yards for the score with 28 seconds remaining, sending the Knights into the locker room ahead 22-7.
Thompson put the game out of reach early in the second half when he received a punt from Alex Zweber on the Carleton 35-yard line and was sprung to the outside by a huge block. Thompson outran the remaining Macalester defenders on his way to the end zone.
After another Barry field goal, the Knights’ defense caused a fumble in Macalester territory and the offense promptly advanced the ball into the red zone. On third-and-goal from the 8-yard line Caspers rolled to his right and it appeared as if the Scots had all his receivers covered. He delivered a dart, however, splitting two defenders to find Nate Flaherty (Sr./Oakdale, Minn./ Tartan) for a touchdown.
Robert Hirai (West Lebanon, N.H.) ended the scoring taking a handoff up the middle and plowing over a defender for a nine-yard touchdown run.
Foss paced the Knight with eight tackles, including the fumble recovery and a tackle for a loss. Mike Gravelle (Fy./Austin, Minn.) added seven tackles, four for losses, and forced a fumble. Adam Rossow (Fy./Le Sueur, Minn.) tallied six tackles and intercepted a final deperation pass by Macalester in the waning moments of the game.
Carleton closes out the regular season with a trip west to face Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colo, on Saturday, Nov. 15. Kickoff is at 2 p.m. CST, 1 p.m. MST. The game can be heard live on KYMN 1080 AM or live here on Knights Online.
