NORTHFIELD, MINN.—The Hamline University football team's 2021 MIAC opener pitted them at Carleton College for a Saturday-afternoon showdown in Northfield, Minnesota. The Pipers avoided the shutout with 2:19 left in the third quarter off Alec Ralph's seven-yard touchdown run, which ended up being the final scoring play of the game as Carleton secured a 35-7 victory.
The Pipers' first loss of the season pushes their record to 2-1, 0-1 MIAC while Carleton stays unbeaten at 3-0, 1-0 MIAC.
Carleton 35, Hamline 7
The Knights punted on their first possession, but recovered a fumble on the play at Hamline's five-yard line. Quarterback Jonathan Singleton would punch it in from two yards out for Carleton, which gave them a 7-0 lead with 11:24 left in the first quarter. The Knights continued to see good field position as their next possession began at the Hamline 23 yard line. This set up Singleton's 16-yard touchdown pass to Ntense Obono that made the score 14-0 with 8:32 left in the first quarter.
Carleton's next two scores occurred courtesy of big plays via Singleton's 41-yard touchdown pass to Bert Bean with 12:11 left in the second frame, and a 28-yard touchdown toss to Will Irons with 5:49 left in the opening half en route to a 28-0 lead. The Knights concluded their scoring with 5:31 left in the third quarter, when Singleton connected with Nathaniel Streiff on a 16-yard score to make things 35-0.
Alec Ralph avoided the shutout when he scored from seven yards out with 2:19 left in the third, which proved to be the final scoring play with a 35-7 score.
Both teams struggled to run the ball as they combined for just 77 yards on the ground.
Connor Leavens went 23-of-38 passing for 200 yards and three interceptions for Hamline. Almost half those completions went to Triston Thomas, who caught a team-leading 10 balls for 67 yards. Godmar Gach tallied 2.5 sacks for the Hamline defense, while Sam Fritz paced his team with 10 tackles. Adrian Cracolici commanded the secondary with three breakups and an interception for Hamline. Alec Ralph led the Pipers ground attack with 62 yards.
The Pipers will host St. Scholastica for Homecoming on Saturday, October 2Â at 1:00 p.m.
