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Knights come up short of comeback against Eagles

By Travis Rosenau 4 min read

NEW ULM -- The Martin Luther College Knights had momentum on their side following a 42-yard catch by Noah Huebner in the closing two minutes of Saturday’s Upper Midwest Athletic Conference football game against the University of Northwestern Eagles.

But after that throw from Knights quarterback Brady Turriff, Eagles defensive back Jaquan Ellington put a stamp on the game with a sideline interception to help the Eagles spoil MLC’s Homecoming and earn a 22-16 win.

After Noah Huebner hauled in the 42-yard catch near the middle of the field to set MLC up on the UNW 35, Turriff took his next snap and threw a pass to the left sideline, intended for Micah Boggs. Ellington stepped in front of Boggs and jumped up to take it away, foiling MLC’s comeback bid and allowing UNW to kneel out the remaining clock.

“[Brady’s] trying to make a play, and, yeah, it’s unfortunate,” MLC head coach Paul Huebner said. “DB made a really great catch on the sideline, that was a difficult play to make. Games like this, plays gotta be made, and we had some that we just missed, and they had some they just missed. In this conference this year, last year, every game’s a game of inches, and it comes down to wire, like every week, and it’s just kind of who makes more big plays.”

It was Turriff’s only turnover of the game as he completed 14 of 24 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown. Ben Vasold was the top target for Turriff as he had 10 receptions for 117 yards, while Noah Huebner had three catches for 64 yards and Gabriel Nottling had a 28-yard TD catch. Arthur Robinson kept the Knights active on the ground with 25 carries for 132 yards and a score.

UNW quarterback Elijah Alexander completed 19 of 34 passes for 242 yards and an interception. Trey Ulmer had seven catches for 129 yards to finish as Alexander’s top target, while Alexander also got it done with his legs as he had 18 carries for 80 yards and three TDs.

Jonah Mittelstadt led the Knights defense with nine tackles, while Tyler Case and Ethan Melso each had eight tackles. Nathan Schmidt added 1.5 sacks for MLC, while Matthew Kieselhorst had a sack, Joseph Dahlberg had half a sack and Brock Ochoa had an interception.

Gideon Cruver had eight tackles to lead the UNW defense, while Isaiah Voss, Alex Petersen and Drake Lindberg each had a sack.

After putting on their first drive, the Knights got into the end zone after a 28-yard TD throw to Nottling. Nottling then provided the PAT kick for a 7-0 lead with 6:55 left in the first quarter.

Alexander had a 4-yard TD run late in the first quarter to help the Eagles tie it up at 7-7, which remained the score heading into halftime.

Robinson broke away for a 15-yard TD run to the right late in the third quarter to put the Knights up, but Nottling missed his next PAT try and the Knights led 13-7. Alexander scored again on a 1-yard TD run to put the Eagles in front 14-13 after Erich Hulshizer’s PAT kick early in the fourth quarter. With 6:06 left to play, Nottling made up for his previous PAT miss by making a 22-yard field goal to put MLC back in front 16-14.

The Eagles marched down the field, though, and got another short TD run of 1 yard from Alexander to go up 22-14 after a 2-point conversion throw to Braeden Little. The Knights used two timeouts during that Eagles drive but were able to pocket one when Alexander scored with 1:39 left.

“We knew coming out he’s a big mobile guy and we tried to contain him as best we could,” coach Huebner said. “He got out of the pocket a handful of times and made some plays with his legs early in. But a good test for our guys.”

UNW moved to 1-4 overall and 1-0 in UMAC play with the win, while MLC dropped to 0-4 overall and 0-1 in the UMAC.

The Knights travel to Greenville University for another UMAC game at noon Saturday.

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