SAINT PAUL, MINN.—The Bucket remains on campus!
The Hamline University football team won their second-straight Annual Paint Bucket Game by a 37-35 score down Snelling Avenue at Macalester on Saturday night.
The Pipers improve to 3-5, 1-5 MIAC, while the Scots fall to 0-8, 0-6 MIAC. Hamline has won nine of the last 13 Paint Bucket Games.
Hamline 37, Macalester 35
The Hamline defense forced four Macalester punts in the opening quarter, all of which were three-and-outs.
Dawson Schaffer led the Hamline receiving corps with nine catches for 219 yards and three scores. His biggest play occurred on his team's second play on offense, a 72-yard touchdown grab that gave Hamline a 6-0 lead with 12:12 left in the first quarter.
The Pipers began their third series of the contest with good field position on Macalester's 35 yard line with 6:43 left in the first quarter. It took them just four plays to find the end zone courtesy of Nicholas Vasko's three-yard run that widened Hamline's lead to 13-0 with 4:47 on the clock.
Hamline was flagged for an illegal formation on the opening play of the second quarter, which was a punt. This paid dividends for the Pipers, who recovered Macalester's muffed punt return with 14:43 on the clock. The ensuing drive resulted in a 36-yard field goal from Durham Welch that pushed the Pipers' lead to 16-0 with 12:27 left.
Malik Wynn and Nicholas Vasko combined for 39 yards rushing on Hamline's next series. This set up quarterback Alejandro Villanueva's 22-yard touchdown connection to Schaffer that pushed the score to 23-0 with 5:51 left in the second quarter.
The Scots responded with a 14-play drive that brought the clock down to 00:41 left in the half, when quarterback Jude Wallin found Paxton Boyd from two yards out that narrowed Hamline's lead to 23-7.
Hamline opened the second half with the ball, and capitalized. Villanueva completed 4-of-4 passes for 35 yards on the drive, which set up his seven-yard touchdown run that pushed Hamline's lead to 30-7 with 11:28 left in the third quarter.
This ignited a Macalester squad who outscored Hamline 28-7 from that point forward, which included 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. The Pipers' final score of the contest was Dawson Schaffer's 35-yard touchdown catch from Villanueva with 4:30 left in the third quarter, which made the score 37-14.
The Scots nearly came from behind to tie the contest with a 13-play drive at the tail-end, which ended with Vasco Sierra's three-yard touchdown that narrowed the Pipers' lead to 37-35 with 00:31 left. Hamline stopped Macalester's two-point attempt to secure the two-point victory.
Villanueva completed 17-of-25 passes for 303 yards and three touchdowns. Vasko accumulated 97 yards rushing on 15 carries, followed by 66 yards on nine attempts from Villanueva. Hamline finished with 497 yards of total offense, while Macalester had 411.
Wallin completed 32-of-50 passes for 310 yards and three touchdowns for the Scots.
Croix Zacharias finished with a game-high 15 tackles for the Hamline defense.
The Pipers will host St. Scholastica at Klas Field on Saturday, November 9 at 1 p.m.
