St. Scholastica football coach Greg Carlson usually has a lot to say to his team after a game, talking about things the Saints did well or need to work on.
On Saturday, he was almost speechless.
Carlson could find little fault in his team's 47-8 nonconference rout of Trinity Bible College at Public Schools Stadium, the Saints' first football win in school
history.
In a year of firsts for the inaugural program, this was the big one.
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"I'm very proud of the way we've hung in there after an 0-5 start," Carlson said. "We've been competitive in most of our football games, and I think our guys sensed that if they just kept working hard and doing what the coaches have been telling them to do, that a victory would eventually come. If they did that, it was just a matter of time."
St. Scholastica quarterback Jake Olson was 16-for-27 for 324 yards and four touchdowns, while junior running back Chris Henagin added 27 carries for 181 yards and two more scores. Olson's top target was receiver Mike VanMassenhove of Superior, who caught 10 passes for 243 yards and three TDs.
After Henagin's 3-yard touchdown run gave the Saints their first lead in program history midway through the first quarter, Olson and VanMassenhove hooked up on scores of 33, 72 and 4 yards to give the Saints (1-5) a commanding 28-0 halftime lead.
Trinity Bible (1-6), a private school with an enrollment of about 300 students in Ellendale, N.D., has now lost to first-year programs in back-to-back weeks.
"We knew Trinity Bible had struggled, but we didn't want to take them lightly. We had to get that win out of the way first," VanMassenhove said. "It feels great. All the guys are excited. We were in a lot of games this year, so to finally pull it out was big for the program."
Carlson said a game ball from Saturday will be permanently displayed in the Burns Wellness Commons on the St. Scholastica campus.
"Whenever these guys come back to campus, for the rest of their lives, they will be able to say they were part of that," Carlson said. "There was a lot of history accomplished with that win."
Trinity Bible College 0-0-8-0--8
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St. Scholastica 14-14-13-6--47
First Quarter
CSS -- Chris Henagin 3 run (Kyle Hoffman kick), 6:50
CSS -- Mike VanMassenhove 44 pass from Jake Olson (Hoffman kick), 1:15
Second Quarter
CSS -- VanMassenhove 72 pass from Olson (Hoffman kick), 13:38
CSS -- VanMassenhove 4 pass from Olson (Kyle Hoffman kick), 8:57
Third Quarter
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TBC -- Ricky Guittierr 29 pass from Justin Manning (Ben Jones run), 12:55
CSS -- Jonathan Bennett 15 pass from Olson (Hoffman kick), 5:34
CSS -- Henagin 2 run (Hoffman kick failed), 2:41
Fourth Quarter
CSS -- Henry Harden 17 pass from Alex Thiry (Hoffman kick blocked), 3:47
A -- 572
TBC CSS
First downs 5 29
Rushes-yards 15-20 51-255
Passing yards 135 358
Comp-Att-Int 16-33-0 19-30-1
Punts-Avg. 8-31.5 1-47.0
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 3-0
Penalties-Yards 7-65 11-70
Time of Possession 20:07 39:53
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- Trinity Bible: Jones 12-35, Greg Washington 1-3, Guittierr 1-(-1), Manning 1-(-17). St. Scholastica: Henagin 27-181, Matt Johnson 4-27, Keegan O'Neill 1-16, Geoff Torzewski 7-11, Bennett 1-9, Olson 5-9, Carl Switzer 3-5, Thiry 3-(-3).
PASSING -- Trinity Bible: Manning 16-31-1-135, Jones 0-1-0-0, Clyde Lewis Jr. 0-1-0-0. St. Scholastica: Olson 16-27-4-324, Alex Thiry 3-3-1-34.
RECEIVING -- Trinity Bible: Jones 7-52, Guittierr 4-64, Washington 4-1, William Hill 1-18. St. Scholastica: Mike VanMassenhove 10-243, Jonathan Bennett 3-38, O'Neill 2-13, M. Johnson 1-26, Harden 1-17, Tyler LeRoux 1-1, Todd Belger 1-10.
