Courtesy of Adam Hussman/MLC SID

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

MLC 41, Greenville 39

NEW ULM — Brady Turriff earned a career-high 346 passing yards and four touchdowns in a 41-39 home victory for the Martin Luther College football team against Greenville University on Saturday. The 2025 version between the two schools was another barn burner, as recent history has proven.

The Knights looked like they might run away with the contest in the first quarter after scoring a touchdown on all three of their drives to kick things off. The MLC offense, conducted by Turriff, was able to get whatever they wanted in the passing game, and the sophomore gunslinger connected with upperclassman target Jude Pederson for a 77-yard touchdown to make it 21-6 through one quarter.

The second quarter saw the Panthers regroup on offense as they orchestrated a pair of touchdown drives, spearheaded by their rushing attack, which featured a variety of different running backs for Greenville.

MLC entered the break up 21-19 and kept that two-point advantage for the first five minutes until Greenville used a balanced attack on its opening drive of the second half to take a 26-21 lead, capping off a 10-play, 84-yard drive.

Despite the shift in momentum leaning towards the Panthers’ sidelines, MLC didn’t back down and punched right back with an 11-play, 62-yard touchdown drive themselves as Arthur Robinson ran it in from two yards out to regain the lead 27-26.

MLC didn’t have to wait long to get right back into the end zone and capitalized on a Greenville interception that was thrown right by the Panthers’ 10-yard line. Nathan Schmidt made the heads-up play up front defensively, reeling in the pick as he got help from fellow defensive lineman Daniel Biermann on the pressure. As a result, the Knights scored on the ensuing play with another Robinson touchdown run from the six-yard line to put the Knights up 34-26.

From there, the scoring wouldn’t stop for either squad as the Panthers struck back with a quick, 3-play, 89-yard touchdown drive, which came off a 44-yard touchdown scamper by Terrel Graves around the 13th minute of the fourth quarter. While Greenville made another push at the Knights’ lead, Turriff tossed up a 25-yard touchdown to freshman Noah Huebner, who made an acrobatic catch in the end zone on a critical fourth down and six with 9:22 remaining. With the touchdown, MLC made it a two-score game, and even though the Panthers made it 41-39 with another touchdown, the Knights chewed up enough time off the clock as the MLC defense forced an incomplete pass with three seconds remaining to seal the win.

Turriff’s previous career high was also against the Panthers last year as a freshman, passing for 337 yards and four touchdowns as well in a 42-35 loss at Greenville. This time around, Turriff made the plays necessary down the stretch and spread the wealth to his receivers, as four different receivers caught five or more passes (Pederson, Thomas Koelpin, Benjamin Vasold, and Noah Huebner). Pederson led the Knights with 109 receiving yards, one touchdown, while Koelpin went for 78 yards and a score. Huebner gained 75 yards through the air with a pair of touchdown grabs.

Thomas Balge led the Knights’ defense again and was near the ball frequently, finishing with a team-high 16 tackles. Micah Koschnitzke (7 tackles) and Trevor Hueske (6 tackles) stepped up as well for MLC, while Jeremiah Stanton had five stops. Four different MLC defenders recorded four tackles, including Jesus (Chuy) Medina, who finished with a sack and a blocked extra point.

MLC improves to 3-3, 1-2, and will travel down to Missouri for another UMAC game at Westminster on Saturday, October 25, at 12 p.m.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

MLC 3, North Central 0

MINNEAPOLIS — Katie Schoeneck scored a pair of goals and the Martin Luther College women’s soccer team completed a season sweep of the North Central Rams on Saturday with a 3-0 win on the road in downtown Minneapolis.

MLC out shot North Central pretty decisively, 25-9, and especially in shots on target, with a 19-2 advantage in that area over the Rams. The North Central defense presented some challenges, but the Knights were able to capitalize on a few of their opportunities and the first occasion came in the 11th minute of the first period when Rachel Schoeneck hit her sixth goal of the season on an assist from Naomi Foley.

The Knights made it 2-0 after Katie Schoeneck converted on a penalty kick in the 66th minute. Schoeneck then put the game out of reach with her second of the day and team-high seventh goal of the season (tied with Anna Kramer) in the 83rd minute. Priscilla Boehm recorded the assist on MLC’s final goal of the contest.

The MLC defense held strong throughout and didn’t allow for much activity near the MLC goal. With the win, MLC snaps its losing skid and moves to 7-7-1, 4-5 UMAC and will now host Crown College for a 1 p.m. game on Tuesday, October 21.

MEN’S SOCCER

North Central 8, MLC 0

MINNEAPOLIS — The MLC men’s soccer team dropped its Upper Midwest Athletic Conference contest at North Central University on Saturday afternoon by a final score of 8-0.

Five different Rams’ players found the back of the net, with two players recording multi-goal games, including Ulrich Mvogo, who went for the hat trick, and Steven Griffith.

North Central got off 31 total shots and 16 on net, but the Knights managed to record nine shot attempts and seven on target despite the offensive struggles. Joshua Krenke had a team-high three shots on net, while Abraham Schlomer, Owen Heiman, Noah Neumann, and Noah Walta each finished with one apiece.

The Rams also held a 9-2 edge in corner kicks.

MLC will take the field three more times this season, starting with a home game versus Crown College on Tuesday, October 21, at 3:30 p.m., following the women’s contest.

COLLEGE

CROSS-COUNTRY

MLC competes at Haunted Hustle

NORTHFIELD — The MLC men’s and women’s cross country teams ran in the St. Olaf Haunted Hustle on Saturday, with the men running in the 8K, while the women competed in the 6K event.

The MLC men took third out of five schools in the race, and the women earned fifth out of seven schools in the 6K competition. Leading the way for the men’s side was Eliott Heiderich, who took 18th overall out of 55 runners, with a mark of 28:38.70. Levi Panitzke was the next Knight to cross the finish line in the 8K, clocking in at 29:58.90 for 24th overall. Elijah Hutchinson was up next for MLC, finishing 27th (30:48.00). Daniel Ertman (31st, 31:15.20) and Micah Vanderhoof (32nd, 31:24.70) rounded out the top five MLC individual finishers.

The women were paced by Jemimah Habben, who placed ninth overall out of 63 participants in the 6K. Habben had a time of 24:46.90, while Aubrey Bode finished 30th overall (27:10.80). Nicole Trapp took 34th with a mark of 27:28.20, and Elise Schwartz took 37th (28:05.50). Emma Kvidt was the fifth fastest Knight with a time of 28:33:40 for 38th overall.

MLC cross-country will now gear up for the UMAC Championship, which will occur on Saturday, Nov. 1 in Winthrop.