DULUTH, Minn. (
csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica football team will be at Public Schools Stadium again on Saturday when it hosts Crown College in an Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) game.
Where:
Public Schools Stadium – Duluth, Minn.
When:
Saturday at 1 p.m.
Live Video/Stats: http://www.csssaints.com/ssn
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St. Scholastica Saints
Stats
Record: 2-1, 2-0 UMAC
Upper Midwest Athletic Conference: Standings | Stats
Last Action: Kyle Stepka (New Prague, Minn./New Prague HS) threw five touchdown passes and ran for another as the Saints defeated Eureka College (Ill.) 47-6 in their home opener last Saturday at PSS … Stepka found wide receiver
Hunter Thompson (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo HS) and tight end
James Fuerniss (Lonsdale, Minn./New Prague HS) for a pair scores each … All five of his TD passes were at least 23 yards, including a pair 50 yards or more … He finished with over 300 yards passing for just the second time in his career … Thompson had his third 100-yard receiving game of his career, recorded 149 yards on four receptions … The CSS offense averaged 13.4 yards per play … Sophomore
Jonathan Senger (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo HS) led the defense with 11 tackles.
20 is the Magic Number: The Saints are 52-0 since 2010 when they score at least 20 points … The Saints are 2-18 all-time when they fail to reach 20 points with both wins coming against the University of Northwestern.
UMAC Streaks: The Saints will enter this weekend having won 32 straight UMAC games; a streak dating back to October 20, 2012 when they fell to Northwestern 14-13 at Ordean Stadium … That conference win streak is second-longest in NCAA Division III, behind Mount Union's (Ohio) 97.
Protect this House: The Saints are 17-5 all-time at Public Schools Stadium … The last conference loss at PSS came to Greenville College (Ill.) on October 9, 2010 … Since then, CSS has won 13 straight UMAC games at PSS … The Saints are currently on a 17-game home winning streak overall, the fifth-longest in NCAA Division III.
Bend, but Don't Break: St. Scholastica has allowed an average of 401.0 yards of offense in its first two conference wins … That is the most in back-to-back conference games since the 2014 season when they allowed an average of 511.5 per game against Westminster College (Mo.) and the University of Northwestern.
Don't Forget Special Teams: The Saints are tied for the NCAA Division III lead with four blocked kicks this season … CSS has blocked three extra points and one punt in the first three games …
August Marleau (Deer River, Minn./Deer River HS) has blocked two of those extra points, which is tied for the national lead … Punter
Jason Senger (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo HS (Gustavus Adolphus)) ranks 11
th in the country, averaging 43.3 yards per attempt.
Stepka Goes Over 2,000: Stepka became the fourth quarterback in program history to over 2,000 yards passing last weekend … He is averaging nearly four yards more per completion that each of the other three quarterbacks ahead of him … He currently ranks sixth in the nation, averaging 17.4 yards per completion.
Welcome Back Coach Bremer: Crown offensive coordinator Matt Bremer coached the Saints for the past six seasons from 2010-15 … He spent his first four seasons coaching the receivers at CSS and the last two years as the defensive backs coach … Bremer is an alum of Crown, playing quarterback for the Storm from 2004-07.
UMAC Preseason Poll
1. St. Scholastica...................................... 81 points (9 First Place Votes)
2. Northwestern.......................................... 72 points (1 First Place Vote)
3. Greenville................................................ 57 points
4. Westminster............................................ 56 points
T-5. Eureka.................................................. 43 points
T-5. MacMurray........................................... 43 points
7. Crown....................................................... 42 points
8. Minnesota Morris................................... 30 points
9. Martin Luther........................................... 14 points
10. Iowa Wesleyan..................................... 12 points
Upcoming Opponent
Crown Storm
Record: 1-2, 1-1 UMAC
The Storm are coming off their first victory of the season last week, shutting out Martin Luther College 32-0 in New Ulm, Minnesota … Quarterback Taylor Watkins found wide out Thomas Andrews for a pair of TD passes … Josh Edlund also found the end zone twice on the ground … Watkins is averaging 157.7 yards passing per game … Andrews has 16 receptions for 208 yards this season … Edlund and fellow senior running back Matt Michaud are each averaging over five yards per carry on the year, which ranks in the top five in the conference for running backs that have carried the ball at least 25 times … However, the Storm don't possess the ball very long, at the bottom of the conference in time of possession around 25:30 per game … Crown will enter Saturday's game with the second-best scoring defense in the league, allowing 16.7 points per game … The Storm has allowed only 16 points in the second half this season … Elliot Wiens leads the team with 29 tackles thru three games … Jalen Phoenix (6.5) and Tyler Byrd (6.0) rank second and third, respectively, in tackles for a loss in the league … Crown is an experienced team as it will have seven seniors starting on offense and four more on defense.
Series History: CSS leads 7-1
Last Meeting: The Saints defeated the Storm 45-0 last season in St. Bonifacius … Three different quarterbacks threw touchdowns in the victory … CSS has scored at least 40 points in six of the last seven meetings.
Looking Ahead: The Saints will be at Martin Luther College in New Ulm on Saturday, October 1.
