New Ulm, MN - Brady Turriff earned a career-high 346 passing yards and four touchdowns in a 41-39 home victory for the MLC football team against Greenville University on Saturday. The 2025 version between the two schools was another barn burner, as recent history has proven.

The Knights looked like they might run away with the contest in the first quarter after scoring a touchdown on all three of their drives to kick things off. The MLC offense, conducted by Turriff, was able to get whatever they wanted in the passing game, and the sophomore gunslinger connected with upperclassman target Jude Pederson for a 77-yard touchdown to make it 21-6 through one quarter.

The second quarter saw the Panthers regroup on offense as they orchestrated a pair of touchdown drives, spearheaded by their rushing attack, which featured a variety of different running backs for Greenville.

MLC entered the break up 21-19 and kept that two-point advantage for the first five minutes until Greenville used a balanced attack on its opening drive of the second half to take a 26-21 lead, capping off a 10-play, 84-yard drive.

Despite the shift in momentum leaning towards the Panthers' sidelines, MLC didn't back down and punched right back with an 11-play, 62-yard touchdown drive themselves as Arthur Robinson ran it in from two yards out to regain the lead 27-26.

MLC didn't have to wait long to get right back into the end zone and capitalized on a Greenville interception that was thrown right by the Panthers' 10-yard line. Nathan Schmidt made the heads-up play up front defensively, reeling in the pick as he got help from fellow defensive lineman Daniel Biermann on the pressure. As a result, the Knights scored on the ensuing play with another Robinson touchdown run from the six-yard line to put the Knights up 34-26.

From there, the scoring wouldn't stop for either squad as the Panthers struck back with a quick, 3-play, 89-yard touchdown drive, which came off a 44-yard touchdown scamper by Terrel Graves around the 13th minute of the fourth quarter. While Greenville made another push at the Knights' lead, Turriff tossed up a 25-yard touchdown to freshman Noah Huebner, who made an acrobatic catch in the end zone on a critical fourth down and six with 9:22 remaining. With the touchdown, MLC made it a two-score game, and even though the Panthers made it 41-39 with another touchdown, the Knights chewed up enough time off the clock as the MLC defense forced an incomplete pass with three seconds remaining to seal the win.

Turriff's previous career high was also against the Panthers last year as a freshman, passing for 337 yards and four touchdowns as well in a 42-35 loss at Greenville. This time around, Turriff made the plays necessary down the stretch and spread the wealth to his receivers, as four different receivers caught five or more passes (Pederson, Thomas Koelpin, Benjamin Vasold, and Noah Huebner). Pederson led the Knights with 109 receiving yards, one touchdown, while Koelpin went for 78 yards and a score. Huebner gained 75 yards through the air with a pair of touchdown grabs. 

Thomas Balge led the Knights' defense again and was near the ball frequently, finishing with a team-high 16 tackles. Micah Koschnitzke (7 tackles) and Trevor Hueske (6 tackles) stepped up as well for MLC, while Jeremiah Stanton had five stops. Four different MLC defenders recorded four tackles, including Jesus (Chuy) Medina, who finished with a sack and a blocked extra point.

MLC improves to 3-3, 1-2, and will travel down to Missouri for another UMAC game at Westminster on Saturday, October 25, at 12 p.m.