RIPON, Wis. - The Martin Luther College football team overcame a slow start to win its long-awaited season opener 34-16 at Ripon College on Saturday.
The game did not start the way the Knights were hoping as the Red Hawks held a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter, but MLC dominated the from that point, scoring 34 unanswered points to get the season-opening win.
The run game once again led the way on offense for the Knights as they ran for 345 yards and four scores in the game.
Austin DeNoyer scored a pair of first-half touchdowns, while
Joshuah Kren and
Elliott Butler added scores on the ground in the second half.
MLC only threw four passes in the game for 21 yards as the ground game chewed up yardage and clock. The Knights attempted 68 running plays in the game, and held the Red Hawks to only 54 offensive snaps.
Kren, the defending UMAC Most Valuable Player on offense from 2019, led the charge on the ground for MLC with 23 carries for 210 yards and one score. First-year back
Carson Oestreich finished with 64 yards on 10 carries in his debut, while Butler added nine carries for 57 yards. DeNoyer, who played quarterback for much of the game, carried 22 times for 25 yards and two scores, and also threw a four-yard touchdown pass to
Mike Radue in the fourth quarter.
After allowing two scores in the Red Hawks' first three drives, the Knights' defense settled in and took control the rest of the way. Ripon totaled 91 yards in its first three drives, but MLC held the Red Hawks to only 64 yards and zero points in their next seven drives, Two of those seven drives ended in turnovers, including a
Brice Guse recovered fumble at the Ripon one-yard-line to set up the Knights for a go-ahead score late in the first half.
The Red Hawks finished the day with only 246 yards and 11 first downs.
Jake Kieselhorst and
Noah Nordlie led the defense with eight and seven tackles, respectively. Guse and
Adam Arrowsmith each finished with 1.5 sacks, while Guse and
Abel Bain each recovered a fumble.
MLC move to 1-0 following the win, while Ripon fell to 0-1 on its season in defeat.
The Knights will return to action on Saturday, April 10, when it travels to Minnesota Morris for a game scheduled to start at 1 p.m.
