ST. PAUL, Minn. – Timely interceptions and a dominant running game lifted the Macalester College football team to a 34-21 victory over Hamline University in the annual battle for the Paint Bucket Saturday afternoon at Klas Field. The Scots improve to 3-1 overall and 2-1 in the conference, while the Pipers fall to 1-3, 0-3 MIAC.
Both teams scored touchdowns on their second possessions of the game. Hamline quarterback Daylen Cummings threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Aiden Herz to complete a 6-play, 70-yard drive. Macalester tied it up two minutes later on a 2-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback
Jack Scully (Menlo Park, Calif./Sacred Heart Prep) to senior tight end
Will Watson (Mendota Heights, Minn./Two Rivers). The 6-play, 65-yard drive included a 42-yard touchdown pass from Scully to junior receiver
Jackson Janes (New York City, N.Y./Brooklyn Tech).
Early in the second quarter, the Scots completed an 86-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back
Brennan Litchford (Milwaukee, Wis./Ronald Reagan) for a 14-7 lead. Junior receiver
Paxton Boyd (Newton, Mass./Newton South) caught three passes for 49 yards in the drive. The Pipers answered quickly, scoring on their next possession on a 40-yard touchdown pass from Cummins to Tristan Falkowski to tie the score at 14-14. The defenses held the rest of the first half, with the Scots punting twice and Hamline punting once.
Macalester received the second-half kickoff, with sophomore running back
David Frechette (Hanover, N.H./Hanover) reeling off a 41-yard return to the 50-yard line. The Scots moved the ball to the 6-yard line, with Frechette gaining 17 yards and Litchford gaining 12 yards, with a facemask penalty on the Pipers mixed in. After a 2-yard loss, Scully scrambled to his right and sprinted to the pilon on the right side for an 8-yard touchdown run and a 21-14 lead.
Late in the third quarter, junior linebacker
Dylan Jeppe (Glencoe, Ill./New Trier) intercepted Cummings at the Hamline 32-yard line. Scully opened the drive with an 18-yard pass to Janes, and Frechette ended it with a 2-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter for a 28-14 advantage.
The Pipers responded by moving the ball into Scots' territory on their next possession, only to have first year defensive back
Patrick Webster (Philippi, W. Va./Philip Barbour) intercept Cummings at the Macalester 15-yard line. Frechette made it a 20-point lead with a 66-yard touchdown run for a 34-14 Scots' lead with six minutes remaining. Hamline went 64 yards on eight plays, with Herz catching a 12-yard touchdown pass from Cummings to make the score 34-21 Macalester. But that's as close as the Pipers would get, as the Scots won the Paint Bucket for the second straight year and the fourth time since Macalester rejoined the MIAC in 2021.
The Scots rushed for 195 yards while holding Hamline to 78 yards on the ground. Frechette rushed for a career-high 102 yards on 11 attempts and scored two touchdowns, while Litchford had 86 yards and a touchdown on 18 attempts. Scully was 19-of-26 for 194 yards, with Boyd catching five passes for 64 yards. First year receiver
Carter Hayden (Fort Wayne, Ind./Coral Springs Charter) also caught four passes for 26 yards. Defensively, sophomore linebacker
Asher Niemi (Meridian, Idaho/Rocky Mountain) registered nine tackles, including a tackle-for-loss, and Jeppe had seven tackles to go with an interception and two pass breakups.
Cummings threw for 288 yards and three touchdowns, and Ty Burgoon had five catches for 92 yards.
Macalester hosts No. 5 Saint John's in another MIAC game on Saturday, Oct. 10. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m. at John Leaney Field at Macalester Stadium.
