ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. –
Jonathan Singleton (Jr./San Martin, Calif./Live Oak) tied a career-high with six touchdown passes as the Carleton College football team rolled to a 51-0 road victory over Crown College. This game represents largest margin of victory for the Knights since their 52-0 win over Macalester in 2006.
Prior to this season, Carleton (2-0) had not scored 50 points in a game since 2013. This year, the Knights achieved the feat in both of their first two games as Carleton defeated Minnesota-Morris 50-13 in the season opener.
Despite the lopsided final score, Carleton did not get on the board until past the midway point of the first quarter. Crown (0-2) opened the game by recovering an onside kick and then marched down to the Carleton 5-yard line. The Knigths dug in, however, with
Travis Brown (Sr./St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville) forcing a 10-yard loss, followed by the Carleton defensive unit forcing three straight incompletions to give the visitors the ball.
The Knights' offense quickly made up for lost time, however, marching 87 yards in nine plays, capped by a 23-yard touchdown pass from Singleton to
Ntense Obono (Fy./Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence) to open the scoring.
Carleton followed with some special teams trickery of its own, recovering a short kickoff to once again set up the offense in Crown territory. Four plays later, Singleton found
Joseph Park (Fy./Fullerton, Calif./Troy) in the back corner of the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown, Carleton's second score in less than 80 seconds.
When the Carleton offense slowed down with a pair of three-and-outs at the start of the second quarter, the Knight defense picked up the slack with consecutive fourth down stops, including one at their own one-yard line, to keep the Storm off the board.
Halfway through the second quarter, the Carleton offense found its rhythm again. A 41-yard catch and run by
Bert Bean (Sr./Kansas City, Mo./Pembroke Hill School) set up Singleton's 7-yard touchdown pass to
Ty Judge (Sr./Evergreen, Colo./Clear Creek).
This score was followed later in the period by a Brown interception deep in Crown territory, and four plays later the Knights found the end zone again, this time Singleton connected with
Aiden Chang (Jr./Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) for a nine-yard touchdown to put the Knights up, 27-0, heading into halftime.
Carleton began the second half with a special teams turnover.
James Bradle (So./Lemon Grove, Calif./Steele Canyon) jarred the ball loose on the kickoff return, and
Doug Pham (So./Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East) recovered the fumble. Two plays later Chang ran it in from 20 yards out.
After yet another fourth down stop by the Knight defense,
Garrett Siff (Fy./Takoma Park, Md./Montgomery Blair) caught a 19-yard touchdown to bring Carleton's lead to 41-0 midway through the third quarter.
Bbefore the end of the third quarter, Carleton added a
Trent Ramirez (Jr./Denver, Colo./George Washington) 31-yard field goal and a 15-yard touchdown connection between Singleton and Park.
Singleton totaled up 280 yards through the air in only three quarters of action. His six touchdown passes tied the school record (see chart at bottom of release) and equaled his total from the Oct. 19, 2019 game against Augsburg. Singleton has already thrown for 645 yards and 8 touchdowns this season, with only a single interception to his name. He now has 27 career touchdown passes, tied for 10th in Carleton history, a feat more impressive given that he's only played 10 collegiate games (see chart below). Singleton is now 12th in team history with 2,801 career passing yards.
The Carleton defense recorded their first shutout since the opening game of the 2019 season on the strength of Brown and
Isaac Simons (Jr./Oconomowoc, Wis./Lake Country Lutheran), who combined for 18 tackles, a turnover, and 3.5 tackles for loss. Overall, Crown was 3-of-16 on third down and 1-for-7 on fourth down conversion attempts.
The Knights gained 399 total yards of offense compared to the Storm's 122. Crown quarterback Jared Gilmore, who entered the afternoon leading NCAA Division III with 462.0 passing yards per game, finished 29-for-54 for only 164 yards and the interception.
Up Next for the Knights:
Carleton hosts Hamline University next Saturday, Sept. 25 at 1:00 p.m. It will be the first game held at Laird Stadium since Nov. 16, 2019.
Most TD Passes (Game) at Carleton
TD -- Player -- Opponent -- Date
6 -- John Nielson -- vs. Gustavus -- 10/20/90
6 -- Christian Zaytoun -- vs. Hamline -- 10/6/18
6 -- Jonathan Singleton -- vs. Augsburg -- 10/19/19
6 -- Jonathan Singleton -- at Crown -- 9/18/21
5 -- John Nielson -- at Lawrence -- 9/9/89
5 -- Ted Kluender -- at Bethel -- 11/8/91
5 -- Ryan Beckers -- at St. Olaf -- 10/16/93
5 -- Darren Caspers -- vs. Macalester -- 9/19/06
5 -- Shane Henfling -- at Macalester -- 9/15/07
5 -- Shane Henfling -- at Cornell -- 9/13/08
5 -- Christian Zaytoun -- at Macalester -- 9/1/18
5 -- Christian Zaytoun -- vs. Lawrence -- 9/8/18
Most TD Passes (Career) at Carleton
TD -- Player -- Years
51 -- Shane Henfling -- 2005-08
50 -- Ted Kluender -- 1989,91-93
44 -- John Nielson -- 1987-90
40 -- Christian Zaytoun -- 2015-18
38 -- C.G. Shoap -- 1994-97
32 -- Tim Nielson -- 1985-88
30 -- Bill Ford -- 1978-79,81
28 -- Darren Caspers -- 2003-06
28 -- Vaughn Schmid -- 2008-11
27 -- Jon Groteboer -- 1998-01
27 -- Jonathan Singleton -- 2019-pres
Most Passing Yards (Career) at Carleton
Yards -- Player (Comp-Att-INT) -- 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
3979 -- Vaughn Schmid (323-558) -- 2008-10
3827 -- Tim Nielson (242-549) -- 1985-88
3191 -- Conor Lynch (275-506) -- 2010-13
2801 -- Jonathan Singleton (267-457-27) -- 2019-pres
2712 -- John Snowberg (169-391) -- 1967-69
2674 -- Bill Ford (182-397-33) 1978-79,81
