New Ulm, MN - MLC football avenged their 30-27 loss to Minnesota Morris from last season with a knockout punch this year when Rees Roecker ran it in the end zone from the four-yard line to give the Knights the 21-14 win. The touchdown came with five seconds remaining on the clock and just about ended things in favor of MLC on a breezy homecoming game.

Last year's contest featured more of an offensive affair, while Saturday's version saw both defenses performing well. Despite an early 87-yard touchdown from Minnesota Morris that happened on a bust in coverage, the Knights' defense held the Cougars in check and made things difficult for their offense. MLC forced five Minnesota Morris turnovers, including three fumbles and two interceptions, and even made punting hard for the Cougars by blocking a punt.

With the Cougars in poor field position for most of the game, MLC capitalized by taking a 14-7 lead right before halftime. Brady Turriff found Jude Pederson over the middle of the Cougars' secondary and the pair connected on a 38-yard touchdown. The score happened after the Knights fumbled inside the previous possession's five-yard line.

The third quarter looked like it was moving towards a 14-7 MLC lead heading into the fourth quarter, but Minnesota Morris' J.T. Cook had other plans, as he intercepted the ball from the 31-yard line and took it the house to tie it up 14-14.

From there, both teams were forced to punt and MLC was stopped short of the end zone at the one-yard line. However, MLC's defense buckled down again and came up with two big plays to stop the Cougars' drive late. Jesus Medina and Daniel Biermann sacked Hayden Charboneau to make it third and long before Joey Ehlke gave the Knights great field position when he picked off Charboneau and took it to the Minnesota Morris 38 with just under two minutes left.

The Knights would then chew the clock with multiple Roecker runs before the senior gave MLC the 21-14 advantage on his touchdown run.

Roecker had a career day in rushing yards (143), touchdowns (2), and rushing attempts (33) to lead the MLC offense. Meanwhile, the defense had multiple players with big stat lines, including Andrew Esmay who recorded six tackles, 2.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and recoveries. Tom Balge led MLC with 12 tackles, while linebacker Ethan Melso recorded 10 tackles. David Baumann made seven tackles, one interception, and a sack, as Medina finished with seven tackles, 1.5 sacks, and a fumble recovery.

With the win, MLC opened conference play with the victory and improved to 3-1, 1-0 overall. The Knights will look to add another one to the win column next Saturday, October 12, when they face Crown on the road at 1 p.m.