MORRIS, Minn. – Playing its first game in 665 days, the Carleton College football team showed no signs of rust as the Knights raced out to quick start and cruised to a 50-13 victory at University of Minnesota-Morris.
This was the most points scored by Carleton since defeating Macalester 56-17 on Oct. 12, 2013.
"Great team win," said Carleton head coach
Tom Journell. "So many people contributed in many ways. I'm very proud of how we've dealt with two years of adversity and continue to move the needle toward championship level football."
The Knights (1-0) kicked off to start the game but found the end zone 61 seconds into the game.
Ryan McGregor (Sr./Ellsworth , Wis./Ellsworth) forced a fumble on the first defensive play, and
Skyler Kessenich (Sr./Baltimore, Md./Friends School of Baltimore) recovered the loose ball at the Minnesota-Morris (0-2) 28-yard line.
Jonathan Singleton (Jr./San Martin, Calif./Live Oak) completed back-to-back passes to bring Carleton to the doorstep, and
Aiden Chang (Jr./Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) powered in from a yard out for the first of the Knights' seven touchdowns on the day.
Carleton punted on its second possession but then scored points on seven of its next eight drives.
Trent Ramirez (Jr./Denver, Colo./George Washington) got that stretch started with 25-yard field goal at the 5:33 mark of the opening quarter, and
Beau Nelson (Sr./San Diego, Calif./Westview) went untouched on his seven-yard touchdown scamper right before the first quarter ended.
The second quarter saw Carleton put 20 more points on the board. Singleton found
Carl Marvin (Sr./Wilmington, Del./The Tatnall School) with a 16-yard touchdown pass,
Oryon Hamlin (So./Inglewood, Calif./Chadwick School) powered in from a yard out, and
Cameron Velasquez (Jr./Aurora, Ill./Metea Valley) outjumped the defense for a 12-yard touchdown reception shortly before halftime.
In the first half, Singleton accumulated 296 passing yards and connected passes with nine different receivers. Carleton led 36-7 at the break, the Knights highest point total in a half since scoring 38 first-half points in a 52-0 victory over Macalester on Sept. 16, 2006.
Hamlin capped the Knights' scoring with a pair of short touchdown runs. He finished the afternoon with 54 yards on 130 carries and became the first Carleton player with three rushing touchdowns in a game since Zach Creighton did so on Sept. 10, 2016 against Lake Forest College.
Chang added 61 yards on 15 rushes as the Knights finished with 133 yards on the ground.
In his three quarters of work, Singleton went 30-for-40 for 365 yards—the second-largest yardage total of his career—and the two touchdown tosses. Nelson was the most frequent target in the passing game, with eight receptions for 84 yards.
Kessenich had six tackles—including two tackles for loss—to pace the Carleton defense that came up with four turnovers and limited the Cougars to 158 yards of offense over the first three quarters.
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton is slated to travel to Crown College for a 12:00 p.m. kickoff on Saturday, Sept. 18.
