ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Carleton College football team defeated Macalester College for the second time this season and retained the Book of Knowledge with a 48-45 road win. The back-and-forth game featured 990 yards of total offense and six lead changes. The victory means the Knights finished the year with a 7-3 record, their best record since 2008.
 
"Only nine times in the history of Carleton Football had a team won seven games in a season," said Carleton head coach Tom Journell. Today, we made that number 10."
 
These two rivals have been playing since 1898, but this is first time that the teams played twice in the same season. That also meant that the Book of Knowledge traveling trophy was up for grabs again. Carleton (7-3, 5-3 MIAC) improved to 55-13-1 all-time against the Scots (3-7, 2-6 MIAC).
 
"I don't know if I've been in a game with as many ebbs and flows as today," said Journell. "The credit goes to our guys who had to battle through, whether it was a mistake, a bad decision, or call that didn't go our way. The guys believed in the process and in each other and got the win.
 
"The process is working. We continue to stack 'W's every day. We're not finished, and we're going to continue to make progress and compete in the MIAC at a high level. A lot of people deserve a lot of credit for believing in the process since 2018, our players, the coaches, and the administrators."
 
Not surprisingly, in a game with 93 total points scored, several plays turned in spectacular offensive efforts. Carleton quarterback Jonathan Singleton (Jr./San Martin, Calif./Live Oak) capped off the season with 287 passing yards and five touchdowns, four via the air and another on the ground.
 
Aiden Chang (Jr./Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) led the emerging Carleton rushing attack with 111 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. It was his second straight game with at least 100 rushing yards and the third such game of the season.
 
Nathan Strieff (Fy./New Glarus, Wis./New Glarus) led the Carleton receiving corps with a season-bests of 9 receptions and 109 receiving yards, Beau Nelson (Sr./San Diego, Calif./Westview) and Ntense Obono (Fy./Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence) both had a pair of touchdown grabs.
 
On the other side of the ball, Ryan McGregor (Sr./Ellsworth, Wis./Ellsworth) had 10 solo tackles, an interceptions and forced a fumble, a loose ball that safety Travis Brown (Sr./St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville)—who also had an interception—turned into a 40-yard scoop-and-score.
 
The Carleton defense came up with a turnover on the second play from scrimmage, recovering a fumble at the Macalester 26-yard line. Five plays later, Obono had a beautiful one-handed snag in the back of the endzone to give the visitors an early lead.
 
Macalester responded with a touchdown drive to take the 7-6 lead, but another fumble by the Scots on their next possession led to more points for the Knights as Brown picked up the loose ball and raced 40 yards to the endzone to push Carleton back in front 13-7 after the Trent Ramirez (Jr./Denver, Colo./George Washington) extra point.
 
Macalester's ensuing drive culminated in another touchdown, this one a 32-yard pass from Michael Nadeau to Rex Desso that put the Scots back in front, 14-13, late in the opening quarter.
 
The Knights' defense once again led to a quick offensive strike early in the second quarter. McGregor returned an interception, his fourth of the year, to the Macalester 44-yard line to give the Knights a short field to work with once again. Five plays later, Chang raced untouched from seven yards out to give the visitors the lead back at 20-14.
 
After Macalester kicked a field goal to cut the deficit to three, Carleton embarked on an eight-play, 53-yard drive as time wound down in the first half. Nelson snagged a tipped pass for a 1-yard touchdown to put the Knights up 27-17.
 
The Scots were able to find the endzone one more time with only four seconds remaining in the second quarter to bring Carleton's lead down to 27-23 at the half.
 
Snow started to fall as the teams emerged from the locker room for the second half, but the Carleton offense did not miss a beat. On the first drive of the second half, Singleton found Obono for an 8-yard touchdown grab, the pair's second touchdown connection of the day.
 
Macalester proceeded to score twelve a dozen unanswered points to take a 35-34 advantage midway through the third quarter.
 
Undeterred, Singleton orchestrated an 99-yard touchdown drive. After a long rush by the Carleton quarterback set the Knights up just outside the red zone, Nelson hauled in a 25-yard touchdown, Singleton's fourth touchdown pass of the day. Carleton completed the 2-point conversion and restored a 7-point lead at 42-35 with 12 minutes remaining.
 
Another Macalester field goal brought the score to 42-38, and the home team got the ball back with less than 3 minutes remaining in the game. However, a Brown intercepted a pass and returned it to the Scots' 8-yard line, setting up Singleton for a two-yard quarterback sneak with 1:31 remaining.
 
Macalester made things interesting with an Nadeau to Ty Bruckner 25-yard touchdown pass with 0:43 still to go.
 
Ty Judge (Sr./Evergreen, Colo./Clear Creek) recovered the ensuing onside kick, allowing the Knights to run out the clock.
 
Singleton wrapped up the season with 2,098 passing yards and 25 touchdown passes. Those figures rank eighth and tied for third, respecticely, in team history. For his career, he now has 4,254 passing yards and 44 touchdowns, totals that rank ninth and tied for third, respectively, in program annals.
 
Most Passing Yards - Season
Yards  --  Player  --  Year
3045  --  Shane Henfling  --  2008
2305  --  Darren Caspers  --  2006
2261  --  Christian Zaytoun  --  2018
2237  --  John Nielson  --  1989
2197  --  John Nielson  --  1990
2156  --  Jonathan Singleton  --  2019
2122  --  Conor Lynch  --  2013
2098  --  Jonathan Singleton  --  2021
2070  --  Vaughn Schmid  --  2009
 
Most Passing Yards - Career
Yards  --  Player (Comp-Att)  --  Years
5429  --  C.G. Shoap (391-833)  --  1994-97
5297  --  Darren Caspers (468-905)  --  2003-06
5058  --  Ted Kluender (331-705)  --  1989-93
4983  --  Shane Henfling (416-664)  --  2005-08
4749  --  Jon Groteboer (401-870)  --  1998-2001
4742  --  Todd Nickodym (336-672)  --  1983-86
4611  --  John Nielson (303-612)  --  1987-90
4450  --  Christian Zaytoun (475-856)   --  2015-18
4254  --  Jonathan Singleton (437-760)2019-pres
3979  --  Vaughn Schmid (323-558)  --  2008-10
 
Most TD Passes - Season
TD  --  Player  --  Year
30  --  Shane Henfling  --  2008
27  --  Christian Zaytoun  --  2018
25  --  John Nielson  --  1990
25  --  Jonathan Singleton  --  2021
20  --  Shane Henfling  --  2007
19  --  Ted Kluender  --  1992
19  --  Jonathan Singleton  --  2019
 
Most TD Passes - Career
TD  --  Player  --  Years
51  --  Shane Henfling  --  2005-08
50  --  Ted Kluender  --  1989,91-93
44  --  John Nielson  --  1987-90
44  --  Jonathan Singleton  --  2019-pres
40  --  Christian Zaytoun  --  2015-18