DULUTH, MINN.—The Hamline University football team made the two-hour trip northbound to face St. Scholastica on Saturday afternoon. The Pipers held a 42-40 lead with under 1:00 remaining in the game, where St. Scholastica's eight-play drive ended with Kyle Oswald's game-winning 26-yard field goal that propelled them to a 43-42 victory.
The Saints' first-ever MIAC victory gives them a 2-2, 1-1 MIAC record, while the Pipers fall to 2-2, 0-2 MIAC.
St. Scholastica 43, Hamline 42
The Saints kicked things off on offense, and capped an 11-play drive with a 7-0 lead at the 10:52 mark of the first quarter.
Hamline finished with the upper hand in total offense with 576 yards against St. Scholastica's 465. Charlie Wilson played a large role in that with 14 receptions for 187 yards and two touchdowns, along with 80 yards on six carries. His big-play abilities began on Hamline's first offensive series that started at their eight-yard line. Wilson's 20, and 13-yard catches helped march his team down to the one-yard line, where Nikolas Rocafort plunged his way into the end zone to tie the score at 7-7 with 4:20 left in the first quarter.
Both teams traded a touchdown on their next offensive drives, which included David Couper's six-yard scoring grab from Villanueva that tied the game at 14-14 with 13:11 left in the second quarter.
The latter part of the second frame resulted in Hamline's first lead of the contest. Charlie Wilson's 35, 16, and eight-yard catches helped put his team at the Saints two-yard line, where Terrell Jones finished the job with a touchdown that gave Hamline a 21-14 lead with 1:59 left in the second half.
The Saints went three-and-out on the ensuing drive, but got the ball right back at the Hamline 34 thanks to a Pipers fumble on the punt return. It took them just three plays to record a touchdown with 0:08 on the clock, but missed the extra point and went into the locker room trailing Hamline 21-20.
The Pipers held onto that lead, which eventually grew to as large as 42-27 with 3:17 left in the third quarter thanks to seven, and 15-yard touchdown grabs from Charlie Wilson. As well as a seven-yard rushing score from Villanueva.
The Saints came through with 16 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, which culminated in Oswald's 26-yard field goal that lifted his team to a 43-42 victory.
Alejandro Villanueva finished with 31-of-43 passing for 309 yards and three touchdowns for Hamline. Charlie Wilson accounted for 267 yards of offense for the Pipers, while his 14 catches was four shy of a single-game school record. Ryan Lauterbach was also effective with eight catches for 46 yards.
Zach Griebel and Jevon Jones each notched 12 tackles for the Hamline defense, which Croix Zacharias came through with the game's lone interception.
The Pipers will travel to No. 18 Bethel on Saturday, October 8 for a 1 p.m. game.
