Shane Henfling tossed five first half touchdown passes and finished with a 15-for-17 night for 286 yards and no interceptions as Carleton rolled to a 34-0 halftime lead and went on to defeat Macalester 34-0 Saturday night in front of a big crowd in St. Paul.
Macalester suffers its first defeat of the year and goes to 2-1 heading into next weekend's game at the University of Chicago , while Carleton is now 2-0. The Knights keep the “Book of Knowledge” traveling trophy for the fifth year in a row.
Macalester was going for its first 3-0 start since 1984 but the Knights turned a defensive struggle in the early going into a commanding five-touchdown advantage with a flurry of scores, starting with a 33-yard Henfling to Steve Ramey pass with 2:31 left in the first quarter and ending with 90-yard and six-yard scoring strikes in the final minute of the half.
The guests out-gained Macalester 306-65 while only allowing three first downs in the first 30 minutes of play. The Scots refused to lie down, however, and played a solid second half, especially defensively as the Knights gained just 24 yards and two first downs in the third and fourth quarters against the stingy Mac defense. In the second half the Scots managed 12 first downs and 154 yards in offense.
Macalester scored all the game's second-half points, getting a 27-yard Ben Pierson (Sr., Menomonie, Wis.) field goal and a 1-yard TD run from Jakub Koziol (Sr., Chicago, Ill. / St. Patrick). A bad snap set up Pierson's third quarter field goal. Koziol capped off an 11-play, 64-yard drive midway through the fourth quarter.
Macalester was led on the defensive side of the ball by Jeff Wankel (Sr., Bloomer, Wis.) with eight tackles. Matt Hurni (Fr., Little Falls, Minn.) came up with four tackles for loss, including a pair of QB sacks to give him 3 ½ on the season. Jack Carmichael (Jr., Evanston, Ill. / Evanston Township) picked up his first interception at Macalester in the second half and returned it 24 yards.
Jerad Phelps made nine tackles, including two for loss of yardage, while Mike Morrissey had three tackles for loss, to lead the Carleton defense.
When the Scots head to the Windy City next Saturday, they will be out to avenge a 34-7 defeat suffered to the Maroons a year ago.
