Photo courtesy of MLC Athletics Martin Luther College quarterback Ethan Aguilar makes a throw during Saturday’s home game with Rockford in New Ulm.

NEW ULM — Trailing 13-0 in the first quarter after a pair of passing touchdowns from Rockford quarterback Delayno Mack, Martin Luther College needed to switch gears in a hurry if it wanted to avoid a disappointing finish.

The Knights did just that, taking the lead late in the second quarter and increasing that lead with a trio of fourth-quarter touchdowns to win 34-20 in nonconference college football action on Saturday afternoon at MLC.

After Mack’s first touchdown pass went 11 yards to Adam Ambrogio and his second went 19 yards to Kalan Miller, the Knights were able to answer with 37 seconds left in the first quarter after Joshua Kren took a run to the left side of the field for an 18-yard touchdown. The extra point from Micah Otto was good and the Knights trailed 13-7 after one quarter of play.

With less than two minutes to go in the half, the Knights got arguably their biggest defensive play of the day when Ian Paulsen picked off Mack and took the ball 26 yards to the Rockford 21. That big interception helped lead to an Ethan Aguilar 8-yard touchdown pass to Otto for a 14-13 MLC lead at the half.

The defense played a key role in the win for the Knights as they scored 34 unanswered points after trailing 13-0 in the first quarter, only allowing one touchdown late in the fourth quarter on a 72-yard touchdown pass to Miller.

“We’re pretty dinged up on the offensive line and our young guys played great for being freshmen,” MLC head coach Mark Stein said. “But the defense, we needed them to carry us last week and this week until we can get healthy, and they did that. It was a little bit of a shaky start, but we got it done eventually.”

For the MLC defense, Dan Gensmer piled up 3 1/2 sacks, while Tristan Pankow and Paulsen each had an interception and seven total tackles apiece.

While no points were scored in the third quarter, Aguilar completed a 20-yard touchdown pass to Josh Wordell with 13:06 left in the game to lead to a 21-13 Knights lead. Minutes later, after MLC’s Ben Riegsecker forced a Rockford fumble that David Hirsch recovered at the Rockford 13, Aguilar rushed for a 4-yard touchdown to help put the Knights up 28-13.

The Knights added their final touchdown of the day on a 62-yard passing touchdown downfield to Mike Radue for a 34-13 lead with 6:18 left to play.

Aguilar completed 8 of 16 passes for 202 yards and three touchdowns, while Austin Denoyer led the ground game with 120 yards rushing on 25 carries. Kren finished with 51 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.

Wordell led the Knights in the receiving game with three catches for 66 yards and a score, while Radue had two catches for 91 yards and a touchdown.

“Ethan did a great job at quarterback adjusting, that wasn’t super easy for him because it’s his first home start,” Stein said. “We had some great play by our receivers, replacing Josh Arndt is not easy, and we had some guys step up and make some plays. Our defense is going to carry us all year. They have to get points, they have to get turnovers, they have to get stops. If they do that, we can feed off of that until we get in rhythm and get our guys, who are going to be just fine, healthy and back.”

Mack finished 14 of 31 through the air for Rockford for 230 yards and three touchdowns, while Lavar Johnson Jr. rushed for 61 yards on 15 carries.

The Knights (1-1) return to action at noon on Sept. 28 and will host Greenville.