NORTHFIELD, Minn. — The Carleton College football team shook off a slow start and pulled away in the second half for a 41-7 victory over University of Minnesota-Morris on Saturday at Laird Stadium.
"I'm so proud of our scholars," said Carleton head coach
Tom Journell. "Our team overcame early adversity and kept its poise to stack another W. It was great to see us hang in there and not panic. All of the credit goes to our leadership and veterans. We continue to focus on daily improvement and preparation."
The Cougars (0-3) opened the game with a 17-play, 86-yard scoring drive, capped by a 14-yard touchdown pass from Jaden Littell to Keyton Johnson on fourth down. The Carleton (2-0) defense held firm the remainder of the afternoon, forcing eight punts and twice turning Minnesota-Morris over on downs.
The Knights responded in the second quarter with a 3-yard plunge by
Aiden Chang (Sr./Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto), marking his third touchdown rush of the season.
Carleton fumbled twice in Cougar territory and was forced to settle for a 7-7 deadlock heading into halftime.
The Knights started the third quarter with back-to-back touchdown drives.
Jonathan Singleton (Sr./San Martin, Calif./Live Oak) connected with
Beau Nelson (Sr./San Diego, Calif./Westview) and
Ntense Obono (So./Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence) on scoring strikes of 43 and 11 yards, respectively.
During the second of those drives, Singleton registered his 16th completion of the afternoon, at the time giving him 476 in his career and breaking the team record. He added four more to that total over the balance of the day.
A special teams play cemented the Knights' victory early in the fourth quarter.
Kevin Xiong (Jr./Lexington, Mass./Lexington) blocked a punt and recovered the loose ball in the end zone for a touchdown with 11:23 still to play. This was Carleton's first punt block in five years.
Three minutes later Singleton found Nelson for a 37-yard touchdown pass, and Chang tacked on a late 3-yard touchdown run to cap the scoring.
Singleton finished the day 20-of-26 for 279 yards and three touchdown tosses. He now has 50 scoring strikes in his career, tied with Ted Kluender for second-most in recorded team history. They are one behind Shane Henfling's program standard.
Nelson finished with eight catches for a career-best 162 yards as he had two touchdown catches for the second straight week.
Henry Detmer (Jr./River Forest, Ill./Oak Park and River Forest) led the defensive effort as he tallied a game-high 15 tackles, while
Isaac Simons (Sr./Oconomowoc, Wis./Lake Country Lutheran) collected 13 stops.
Carleton finished with 402 yards of total offense, good for an average of 7.4 yards per play compared to only 3.3 yards/play for Minnesota-Morris.
Up next for the Knights
Carleton travels to Klas Field in St. Paul, Minn., to face Hamline University in the MIAC opener for both squads. Kickoff on Saturday, Sept. 24 is slated for 1:00 p.m.
