NEW ULM, Minn. - MLC football shut out Macalester in the second half on Saturday morning at home, but the damage was already done from costly first half mistakes as the Knights lost 34-21.
The Knights won the toss, elected to receive and scored on their opening possession, a 13-play, 69-yard scoring drive.
That was nearly the only bright spot of the entire first half as the offense would then struggle to sustain and close out drives.
MLC turned the ball over twice, both coming in the first half. The first came with 3:06 left in the first quarter when Brady Turriff lost a fumble, giving Macalester the ball at the MLC 11. The Scots would score three plays later on a run from David Frechette.
The second turnover came in the red zone when Turriff was intercepted by Addison Stirling in the end zone. Macalester scored on the next play, an 80-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jack Scully to Kelly Storms.
The second quarter also included a pair of drops that would have sustained MLC drives as well as pass interference and offside penalties that kept Macalester drives alive. While MLC struggled, Macalester scored touchdowns on all five first-half possessions.
The mistakes culminated in a 34-7 halftime deficit.
As poorly as the Knights played in the first half, they played equally well in the second. The defense forced two three-and-outs and intercepted Scully twice. Trevor Hueske and Will Stuebs each had one interception.
MLC capitalized on the first turnover with Arthur Robinson's second touchdown of the day early in the third quarter. Robinson finished with 57 yards on the day.
The Knights came within 13 points early in the fourth when Turriff found Trenton Heyn in the corner of the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown. Turriff finished with 316 yards.
Macalester was able to turn MLC over on downs on the final possession of the game. The Knights drove 67 yards down to the Macalester 6, where the drive stalled, clinching the nonconference win for the Scots.
