NEW ULM, Minn. – The Macalester College football team scored 34 first-half points and never looked back, securing a 34-21 win over Martin Luther College in the first game of 2026 Saturday morning at the MLC Bowl. The Scots, who were 3-7 last year, are 5-1 in their last six season openers.
The win is the fourth in the last five meetings with the Knights, who were 5-5 a year ago as a member of the UMAC.
After Martin Luther took the opening kickoff and drove 69 yards on 13 plays for a touchdown, Macalester responded on its first possession. The Scots went 65 yards on nine plays, including a 33-yard run by sophomore running back
Brennan Litchford (Milwaukee, Wis./Ronald Reagan), culminating in a 3-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback
Jack Scully (Menlo Park, Calif./Sacred Heart Prep) to Litchford to tie the score at 7-7.
On the second play of the next possession, senior linebacker
Jason Weaver (Roselle Park, N.J./Pingry) stripped-sacked Knights' quarterback Brady Turriff and recovered the fumble at the Martin Luther 11-yard line. Sophomore running back
David Frechette (Hanover, N.H./Hanover) eventually ran it in rom the 2-yard line to put Macalester ahead, 13-7.
Early in the second quarter, the Scots stopped the Knights on a 4th-and-1 to take over at their own 47-yard line. Macalester needed 12 plays to go 53 yards, capped by a 13-yard touchdown pass from Scully to sophomore receiver
Kelly Storms (San Anselmo, Calif./Marin Catholic) for a 20-7 advantage. Martin Luther responded quickly, completing back-to-back long passes of 44 and 22 yards on its first two plays after Storms' score. But on the third play, sophomore defensive back
Addison Stirling (Los Angeles, Calif./Brentwood) picked off Turriff in the end zone. On the very next play, Storms caught a pass from Scully at the Macalester 40-yard line and raced past the defense into the end zone for an 80-yard touchdown and a 27-7 lead.
Another defensive stop gave the Scots the ball at their own 10-yard line with less than three minutes to play in the half. Scully connected with Frechette for 16 yards on 3rd-and-3 and later moved into Knights' territory with a 16-yard pass to Storms. On 3rd-and-4 at the 30-yard line, Scully threw a deep ball to junior receiver
Paxton Boyd (Newton, Mass./Newton South), with Boyd making an acrobatic catch just across the goal line for Macalester's fifth touchdown of the half. The Scots gained 203 yards in the second quarter alone, including 194 in the air, in building a 34-7 bulge at the half.
Martin Luther took advantage of a pair of Macalester turnovers as the Knights mounted a comeback. On the Scots' second possession, an interception gave the hosts the ball at the Macalester 12-yard line, resulting in a 2-yard touchdown run by Arthur Robinson. Another interception gave the ball back to the Knights, who drove 85 yards on 11 plays to score a touchdown on a 1-yard pass from Turriff to Trenton Heyn that made the score 34-21 Scots with 12:36 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Macalester took nearly six minutes off the clock on its next possession, which ended in a missed field goal. After both teams were forced to punt on their next drives, Martin Luther moved the ball down to the 6-yard line with less than two minutes to play. On 4th-and-goal, first year defensive back
Elijah Stewart (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xavier) broke up a pass to end the drive and effectively end the game.
Scully finished with 257 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions on 15-of-27 passing. Storms caught five passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns, while Boyd had four receptions for 77 yards and a touchdown. Litchford rushed 12 times for 42 yards. On defense, Weaver led the Scots with 13 tackles, including two tackles-for-loss. Sophomore linebacker
Zach Troeger (Edgerton, Wis./Edgerton) also had a strong game with 12 tackles.
Turriff threw for 316 yards with one touchdown and one interception for the Knights. Jude Pederson caught eight passes for 136 yards.
Macalester returns to action on Sept. 19, when the Scots host Carleton in the home and MIAC opener. The battle for the Book of Knowledge begins at 7:00 p.m. at John Leaney Field at Macalester Stadium.
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