Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Martin Luther College quarterback Brady Turriff (18) drops back and looks to throw during a DIII nonconference football game against Lawrence University on Saturday at the MLC Bowl in New Ulm.

NEW ULM — Taking a 28-0 lead into halftime at the MLC Bowl on Saturday afternoon, the Martin Luther College Knights powered past the Lawrence University Vikings 35-7 in a DIII nonconference football game.

After falling in openers the previous three seasons, the Knights ended that opening-week slump in a big way Saturday. The last time the Knights won an opener came April 3, 2021, at Ripon in a shortened 2020 season that started in 2021 due to COVID restrictions.

While Lawrence finished last season 0-10, the Knights went 2-8, and both teams had some new faces and question marks coming into the 2024 campaign.

“Going into today, just the nervousness, personally, even for the guys, knowing that it was an opportunity, a game that we could win, but again not knowing what we really had to put on the field,” Knights head coach Paul Huebner said. “We had a scrimmage with St. Olaf and it went OK, but it’s not live football, not full blocking, tackling where we’ve got to know what’s going on. So to see the guys respond to the live game today was really awesome.

“And Lawrence, their program is growing, [head] coach [Tony Aker] is doing a great job with recruiting and getting more kids in there because he took over at a tough time. And we know each other a little bit from back when I was in Wisconsin coaching high school, he was recruiting for a different school. We thought we had a good chance to win if we executed, and you don’t know that until the whistle blows and we start the game.”

One new face on the field for MLC was freshman quarterback Brady Turriff. The Knights did run the ball well and had 28 carries for 120 yards, led by Rees Roecker’s 18 runs for 92 yards and a TD, but Turriff got his chance to shine also. He completed 13 of 22 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns without an interception.

After the Knights took six plays to go 71 yards and finish with a 2-yard TD by Roecker on their first drive, Turriff connected with Jude Pederson on the Knights’ next two scores in the second quarter for a 21-0 lead. Turriff’s first TD pass went for 6 yards, while his second went 39 yards.

“To come in here and start, first game to win, especially at the Bowl was a big opportunity for me,” Turriff said. “And it shows that we have a lot of trust in our offense this year and we’ve got a lot of playmakers we can get the ball to. We’re excited.”

Pederson finished with four receptions for 105 yards, while Thomas Koelpin added five catches for 52 yards for the Knights.

MLC’s commanding win wasn’t all due to offense either. Its defense made more than one big play, including a strip sack by Andrew Esmay that was scooped up and taken 40 yards into the end zone by Thomas Balge for a 28-0 MLC lead minutes before the half.

Esmay finished with 2 1/2 sacks, while Balge had 11 total tackles and an interception.

“I’ve got three guys coming back who were All-Conference on defense,” Huebner said. “I’ve got [Joey] Ehlke, Balge and [Jeremiah] Stanton, they’re all phenomenal football players, we know we can count on those three all the time. And defensive line stepped up. David Baumann played really well at inside back, a senior leader. Aiden Zirbel, freshman kid playing safety for us, he’s a phenomenal football player, too.

“All-around awesome effort defensively, almost pitching a shutout and then getting a couple, scoop and score, block on the punt, those are both defensive things, too. Coach [Tony] Ortmann, coach [Benjamin] Olson, [Lawrence] Olson, [Mitch] Mullenbach, do a phenomenal job getting those guys ready.”

After holding the Vikings out of the end zone until the fourth quarter when Vikings quarterback Aidan Williams connected with Alex Lippert for a 15-yard, catch-and-run TD with 12:59 left to play.

Williams finished completing 17 of 35 passes for a touchdown and an interception. Jack Delzer led the ground game for Lawrence with 14 carries for 94 yards.

As the Vikings looked to punt with less than three minutes to play, Koelpin blocked a Ben Blumenthal punt that was recovered by Daniel Reinke and taken 36 yards for a Knights touchdown and 35-7 lead.

FAR FROM HOME

Turriff, a Sun Valley High School grad out of Monroe, North Carolina, made the move more than 1,200 miles to begin his schooling and college football career at MLC.

The quarterback has enjoyed New Ulm and MLC so far and is fitting right in.

“I love it,” Turriff said of being in New Ulm. “I love the small-town atmosphere and Bowl ball is different here in New Ulm. It’s a crazy atmosphere right now, so we’re super pumped and it was fun today.”

NEXT UP

The Knights travel to St. Paul next for a 6 p.m. Saturday game at Macalester College. The Knights hosted Macalester last season in Week 2 and fell 56-27, struggling to stop an aerial attack from 6-foot-5 quarterback Michael Nadeau, who completed 29 of 40 passes for 542 yards and a single-game school record eight TD passes.

Nadeau graduated this past spring, however, giving the Knights a new quarterback to pay attention to Saturday.and both teams had some some new faces and question marks coming into the 2024 campaign.

“Going into today, just the nervousness, personally, even for the guys, knowing that it was an opportunity, a game that we could win, but again not knowing what we really had to put on the field,” Knights head coach Paul Huebner said. “We had a scrimmage with St. Olaf and it went OK, but it’s not live football, not full blocking, tackling where we’ve got to know what’s going on. So to see the guys respond to the live game today was really awesome.

“And Lawrence, their program is growing, [head] coach [Tony Aker] is doing a great job with recruiting and getting more kids in there because he took over at a tough time. And we know each other a little bit from back when I was in Wisconsin coaching high school, he was recruiting for a different school. We thought we had a good chance to win if we executed, and you don’t know that until the whistle blows and we start the game.”

One new face on the field for MLC was freshman quarterback Brady Turriff. The Knights did run the ball well and had 28 carries for 120 yards, led by Rees Roecker’s 18 runs for 92 yards and a TD, but Turriff got his chance to shine also. He completed 13 of 22 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns without an interception.

After the Knights took six plays to go 71 yards and finish with a 2-yard TD by Roecker on their first drive, Turriff connected with Jude Pederson on the Knights’ next two scores in the second quarter for a 21-0 lead. Turriff’s first TD pass went for 6 yards, while his second went 39 yards.

“To come in here and start, first game to win, especially at the Bowl was a big opportunity for me,” Turriff said. “And it shows that we have a lot of trust in our offense this year and we’ve got a lot of playmakers we can get the ball to. We’re excited.”

Pederson finished with four receptions for 105 yards, while Thomas Koelpin added five catches for 52 yards for the Knights.

MLC’s commanding win wasn’t all due to offense either. Its defense made more than one big play, including a strip sack by Andrew Esmay that was scooped up and taken 40 yards into the end zone by Thomas Balge for a 28-0 MLC lead minutes before the half.

Esmay finished with 2 1/2 sacks, while Balge had 11 total tackles and an interception.

“I’ve got three guys coming back who were All-Conference on defense,” Huebner said. “I’ve got [Joey] Ehlke, Balge and [Jeremiah] Stanton, they’re all phenomenal football players, we know we can count on those three all the time. And defensive line stepped up. David Baumann played really well at inside back, a senior leader. Aiden Zirbel, freshman kid playing safety for us, he’s a phenomenal football player, too.

“All-around awesome effort defensively, almost pitching a shutout and then getting a couple, scoop and score, block on the punt, those are both defensive things, too. Coach [Tony] Ortmann, coach [Benjamin] Olson, [Lawrence] Olson, [Mitch] Mullenbach, do a phenomenal job getting those guys ready.”

After holding the Vikings out of the end zone until the fourth quarter when Vikings quarterback Aidan Williams connected with Alex Lippert for a 15-yard, catch-and-run TD with 12:59 left to play.

Williams finished completing 17 of 35 passes for a touchdown and an interception. Jack Delzer led the ground game for Lawrence with 14 carries for 94 yards.

As the Vikings looked to punt with less than three minutes to play, Koelpin blocked a Ben Blumenthal punt that was recovered by Daniel Reinke and taken 36 yards for a Knights touchdown and 35-7 lead.

FAR FROM HOME

Turriff, a Sun Valley High School grad out of Monroe, North Carolina, made the move more than 1,200 miles to begin his schooling and college football career at MLC.

The quarterback has enjoyed New Ulm and MLC so far and is fitting right in.

“I love it,” Turriff said of being in New Ulm. “I love the small-town atmosphere and Bowl ball is different here in New Ulm. It’s a crazy atmosphere right now, so we’re super pumped and it was fun today.”

NEXT UP

The Knights travel to St. Paul next for a 6 p.m. Saturday game at Macalester College. The Knights hosted Macalester last season in Week 2 and fell 56-27, struggling to stop an aerial attack from 6-foot-5 quarterback Michael Nadeau, who completed 29 of 40 passes for 542 yards and a single-game school record eight TD passes.

Nadeau graduated this past spring, however, giving the Knights a new quarterback to pay attention to Saturday.