MORRIS, MINN.—Following a week hiatus from competition, the Hamline University football team traveled to Minnesota Morris for a Saturday-afternoon affair. The Pipers held an 18-0 halftime advantage before Morris registered 28 second-half points and cut their deficit to 30-28 with 0:32 left in the contest. The Pipers kept the 30-28 score intact after they recovered an onside kick, and took a knee to seal the game.
The Pipers improve to 2-0 for the first time since 2016, when they kicked-off the season with a 3-0 start. The Cougars stay winless at 0-3.
Hamline 30, Minnesota Morris 28
Five different Pipers found the end zone in the contest, which began with the first drive of the game when Alec Ralph put the finishing touches on a 12-play, 73-yard scoring drive with a 6-yard touchdown run with 8:43 left in the first quarter that gave Hamline a 6-0 lead. The Pipers' second drive of the game concluded with Connor Leavens' five-yard touchdown pass to Charlie Wilson with 13:54 left in the second quarter that made the score 12-0.
The score read 18-0 after Leavens scored from one-yard out on a rush with 00:54 left in the second half.
The tables turned in Morris's favor as they outscored Hamline 28-12 in the second half. The Cougars scored on their first drive of the third quarter when Garrett Elison capped off an 11-play drive with a 10-yard touchdown run, followed by an extra-point kick that narrowed their deficit to 18-7 with 9:01 on the clock. The Pipers answered back on the ensuing drive courtesy of Matt Miller's 12-yard touchdown catch from Leavens that stretch Hamline's lead to 24-7 with 5:35 left in the frame.
The Cougars closed the third-quarter scoring with 1:00 left when QB Marcus Reeb found the end zone from one-yard out on a rush to make the score 24-14. The Cougars outscored Hamline 14-6 in both the third and fourth quarters. Hamline's fourth-quarter score occurred on Nikolas Rocafort's 39-yard touchdown run with 2:09 left in the final frame, which was sandwiched between a pair of Morris touchdowns courtesy of Marcus Reeb's 10-yard pass to Ethan Tang at the 2:32 mark, and Reeb's one-yard run with 0:32 left that made the score 30-28. The Pipers recovered the ensuing onside kick, and secured the victory.
Leavens went 18-for-24 passing for 200 yards and two touchdowns. Rocafort led the ground attack with 133 yards rushing and one touchdown, which included the 39-yard score in the fourth quarter. Miller and Wilson each caught touchdown passes for the Pipers along with six, and four receptions respectively. Sam Fritz came up big for the Pipers defense with 14 tackles, while Kaden Smith followed with 10. Chip Kindt registered a sack for Hamline.
The Pipers will open MIAC play on Saturday, September 25 at Carleton. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m.
