Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Martin Luther College’s Thomas Kelpin celebrates a first down during the first half of an Upper Midwest Athletic Conference football game against Westminster in the MLC on Saturday afternoon.
NEW ULM — After giving up an early lead in the first quarter due to a fumble on a punt attempt, it was all good for the Martin Luther College Knights from there.
The Knights trailed 8-6 in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference football Saturday afternoon, but rallied for 40 points to beat the Westminster College Blue Jays 46-14. I won.
Less than a week after being named UMAC’s Offensive Player of the Week, MLC quarterback Brady Turriff had another strong performance on Saturday, completing 11 of 17 passes for 210 yards. , scored three touchdowns. Reece Locker had 22 carries for 133 yards and a touchdown, helping to establish the passing display, and Arthur Robinson had 12 carries for 61 yards. Zach Arndt also added a touchdown run.
Thomas Kelpin caught six passes for 164 yards and two touchdowns and was Turriff’s top target, while Calvin Breaux had two catches for 20 yards and Andrew Larsch had 15 yards. Recorded a TD grab.
Andrew Esmay led the MLC defense with a sack and a 54-yard interception return for a touchdown, continuing to be a pain for opposing offenses. Jeremiah Stanton and Mika Koschnitzke also had interceptions for the Knights, and Joey Oelke led MLC with five tackles. David Bauman and Joseph Dahlberg also each had a sack for MLC.
Westminster quarterback Keegan Zudibel completed 12 of 27 passes for 150 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions, and Aaron Parks scored the Blue Jays’ only offensive touchdown of the game. He had two catches for 47 yards.
MLC started the game with a four-play drive, eventually taking a 6-0 lead with a 53-yard TD pass to Kelpin. When the Knights forced a punt on Westminster, Westminster counterattacked, forcing the Knights to line up to punt deep in their own half. However, the snap fumbled and was recovered by Darran Brown in the MLC end zone, tying the score at 6-6. Kayden Olson’s two-point conversion run gave the Blue Jays an 8-6 lead.
No need to worry. The Knights quickly picked themselves up to start the second quarter, finishing off another four-play drive with a touchdown, this time with a 15-yard TD catch by Larsch. Koschnitzke made the extra point kick, giving MLC a 19-8 lead at 13:55 of the first half.
Koschnitzke then made a 29-yard field goal with 6:02 left in the first half to give the Knights a 22-8 lead. After Koschnitzke’s extra point with 1:04 left in the first half, Turif completed a 30-yard TD pass to Kelpin for a 29-8 lead that looked like it would go into halftime.
But on the first play of Westminster’s next drive, Esmay sacked Zudibel from shotgun, causing a fumble that was recovered by Daniel Bierman with 59 seconds left in the first half at the Westminster 18. Three plays later, Recker found the end zone with an RBI three. A yard run set up Koschnitzke’s extra point, making it 36-8 at the half.
After a rare scoreless third quarter, Esmay intercepted a pass to start the fourth and gained 54 yards on Koschnitzke’s extra point for a 43-8 lead. Koschnitzke gave the Knights the lead after 46-8 minutes before Parks scored the team’s only offensive TD of the day with a 36-yard catch.
MLC (5-2, 3-1) will play UMAC at Northwestern on Saturday at 1 p.m., while Westminster (1-6, 0-4) will play Greenville on Saturday at 1 p.m. will play a UMAC game.
LEICESTER PRAIRIE — Top-seeded Leicester Prairie defeated fourth-seeded Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop 39-6 on Saturday afternoon.
WABASSO — The fourth-seeded Wabasso Rabbits lost to fifth-seeded Renville County West on Friday night.
