Staff photo by Travis Rosenau MLC’s Micah Otto jumps to haul in a short pass from Ethan Aguilar on Saturday at Martin Luther College as a sideline official looks on before confirming the catch.

NEW ULM — Behind a stout defense and a trio of first-half touchdowns by Joshuah Kren, Martin Luther College built an early lead on Saturday afternoon en route to a dominant 43-14 win over Greenville University in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference football action at MLC.

After the Knights (2-1, 1-0) got a 14-yard touchdown run by Austin DeNoyer on MLC’s first drive of the game to lead 7-0 after a Micah Otto extra-point kick, the Knights’ momentum wasn’t quick to waver. On their second drive of the game, it only took them one play to find the end zone again.

With an 80-yard touchdown pass from Ethan Aguilar to Kren, the Knights took a two-touchdown lead over Greenville (2-2, 1-1) with 6:54 left in the first quarter.

Kren wasn’t even close to being done with his first-half heroics, though.

Despite the Knights fumbling on their own 22-yard line and giving the Panthers excellent field position late in the second half, the Knights’ defense stood their ground and forced a 31-yard field-goal attempt that ended up missing wide right.

Then on the first MLC play after the missed field goal, Kren added his third touchdown of the game on an 81-yard run down the right sideline for a 27-7 Knights lead after the extra-point kick by Otto.

“It was a lot of fun, and it would never have happened if our o-line didn’t play a good game today, hats off to them,” Kren said of his three touchdowns. “We came in really prepared, we knew they were going to come at us because of last year (68-23 MLC win in Greenville), but it was a lot of fun.”

Kren ended the game with 215 total yards on offense, 135 yards on the ground and 80 yards on the touchdown reception. Also for the Knights’ offense, Aguilar threw for 162 yards on 5-of-11 passing and rushed for 70 yards and a touchdown.

DeNoyer also had 17 carries for 94 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

On the Knights’ fourth drive of the game, Aguilar found Mike Radue for a 50-yard catch and run up the middle of the field, setting the Knights up in great field position near the end of the first quarter. DeNoyer then carried the ball 21 yards into the red zone on the first play of the second quarter before Kren ended the drive moments later with his second score of the day on a 10-yard touchdown run.

The Panthers blocked Otto’s extra-point kick and the Knights led 20-0.

Greenville was able to get some offense working in the second quarter, getting back-to-back big runs of 17 and 36 yards by Paul Garrett to set the Panthers up at the MLC 2-yard line. After an offsides penalty gave the Panthers an extra yard, Christian Moss punched in a 1-yard touchdown run to have the Panthers down 20-7 after the extra point.

Garrett ended with 152 yards rushing on 22 carries.

While Greenville started the second half out looking sharp on a six-play drive that ended with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Harris to Kyler Henson, the Knights struck back right away with a 63-yard touchdown run by Aguilar on one play to lead 34-14 after the extra-point kick by Otto.

DeNoyer then added a 28-yard touchdown run with 2:19 left in the third quarter before Otto had another extra-point attempt blocked. Otto didn’t let the blocked kicks bother him later on, though, as he booted a 41-yard field goal with 5:02 left to play to lead to the final score.

Leading the Knights’ defense, Joe Herrewig and Aiden Holien each added an interception off of George Harris in the second quarter. Also for the Knights’ defense, Ben Washburn and Ben Riegsecker each had an interception in the second half, while Nate Holz added 1 1/2 sacks. Tristan Pankow led all MLC defenders in total tackles with 11.

After starting the 2019 season with a tough 50-19 defeat at the hands of Gustavus Adolphus College, the Knights have rebounded for impressive back-to-back wins.

“First game was kind of a struggle for us, but we knew that that was motivation to really get after it and kind of bounce back from that,” Kren said. “So hard work has definitely paid off for us so far.”

The Knights are in Duluth Saturday for a 3 p.m. matchup with St. Scholastica before returning to MLC for a homecoming game against Iowa Wesleyan at noon on Oct. 12.