By Jim Bastian

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM — The Martin Luther College Knights scored four touchdowns in the third quarter to turn a slim 7-0 halftime lead into a 34-0 win over Finlandia University Saturday afternoon at the Martin Luther College Bowl in an Upper Midwest Athletic Conference game.

Rees Roecker and Eli Slanger each scored two touchdowns for the Knights.

Roecker (28 carries for 170 yards) scored on a pair of 1-yard runs while Slanger(12 carries for 71 yards) found paydirt on runs of 1 and 14 yards. Zach Arndt totaled 109 yards rushing on 21 carries and a 1-yard scoring run.

“I am just so happy for the guys,” Knights coach Paul Huebner said as he won his first game as the Knights coach, and MLC earned its first win of the year. “It has been a tough stretch. Starting 0-6 is not the way that anyone wanted to start the season, but I feel so happy for all of the hard work that they have put in.”

The Knights, who play at Minnesota-Morris next Saturday, got on the board on their second offensive possession of the game when sophomore Rees Roecker capped a 14-play, 68-yard scoring drive with a 1-yard run for what would be the only score of the first 30 minutes of the game, despite the fact that MLC ran 42 offensive plays to 21 for the Lions and had 222 yards total offense compared to 51 for Finlandia.

But in the third quarter, the Knights put the hammer down,

A Roecker 1-yard run at the 13:15 mark made it 14-0.

Four minutes later, Zach Arndt hit pay dirt from a yard out on a score that was set up by a 36-yard completion from quarterback Max Nordie to wide receiver Mason Cox.

Freshman Eli Slanger followed that with touchdown runs of 1 and 14 yards that came less than four minutes apart for a 34-0 cushion.

“Our offense exploded,” Huebner said about that fourth-quarter barrage. “Our veer option offense started clicking, and our defense did a great job of getting off of the field. Everything was rolling in the right direction.”

“We did not let (Finlandia) back into the game. We kept our foot on the gas.”

For the game, the Knights totaled 497 yards of total offense compared to just 80 yards total offense for the Lions.

“We have battled adversity this season and made sacrifices,”he said. “Our coaches did a great job of getting the team ready this week.”