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October 11, 2009

Gustavus wins in closing seconds

Gusties pick up first homecoming win at new Hollingsworth Field

By Tyler Buckentine

ST PETER — When the Gustavus Adolphus football team opened the new Hollingsworth Field in 2007, there were a bunch of first-time occurrences that went down in the stadium’s record books.

Add another first to the list two years later.

The Gusties were victorious on homecoming weekend for the first time in three tries at Hollingsworth with a nail-biting, 34-33 nonconference win against Pacific Lutheran (Wash.) Saturday. It was the Gusties’ first homecoming win since defeating Augsburg 42-27 in 2005, but that was at the old Hollingsworth Field.

“The last few years we had a rough go of it on homecoming, so it feels great to get the win today,” said quarterback Jordan Becker, who completed 26 passes for 310 yards and five TD passes, including the game-winner with 12 seconds to play.

Becker and the Gustavus offense started the final drive on its own 44-yard line. Greg Ramaker had three rushes for 15 yards to start the possession, and Becker mixed in passes to Cameron Mauerer for 13 and 10 yards to put the Gusties deep in Pacific Lutheran territory.

On fourth-and-6 from the Pacific Lutheran 9, Becker hit Elliot Herdina for seven yards. However, after a couple of plays netted only 1 yards, the Gusties faced a third-and-goal.

“I told the guys (in a timeout) if we can’t get it in on a QB wedge, we’d have Jordan roll out,” said Gustavus coach Peter Hagen.

That’s exactly what happened. Becker rolled left and hit Herdina, who had to twist to his right to break the goal line and give the Gusties the game-winning touchdown with 12 seconds left.

“I was in the end zone, but I had to come out to get (the ball) and then throw myself back into the end zone,” Herdina said. “It just feels awesome.”

Herdina scored the Gusties’ first touchdown on a 33-yard pass from Becker to tie the game at 7 halfway through the second quarter. Gustavus opened the second half with a 60-yard drive that resulted in a TD pass to Brandon Jonker from 2 yards.

But the Lutes responded with a 57-yard bomb from Jordan Rassmussen to Greg Ford. And when Becker hit Cameron Maurer on a 5-yard touchdown pass, Rassmussen and Ford came right back with another touchdown hookup, setting a Pacific Lutheran record for receiving yards in a game (292 yards). Ford caught four touchdowns.

“That’s just football, you know you’re going to have back-and-forth games like that,” Becker said. “As an offense, we just went back with the mentality that we had to score.”

Trailing 33-22 midway through the fourth quarter, Becker threw his third TD pass of the half, this time a 6-yarder to Blake Noening, but the conversion failed and the score remained 33-28.

On Pacific Lutheran’s next possession, linebacker Dustin Kammerer came up with a key sack that helped force a punt, which Cody Sukalski returned 31 yards to set up Gustavus’ winning drive.

The Gusties (2-3, 1-2 in MIAC) picked up their first win since beating Hamline three weeks ago. Gustavus will play Carleton at 1 p.m. Saturday at Hollingsworth Field.

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