ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – For the second straight week, sophomore quarterback Cooper Drews threw a single-game record six touchdowns in Bethel's 56-7 win over Carleton Saturday afternoon at Royal Stadium. Drew's single-season passing TD number now moves to 30 making him the program's new single-season leader.
 
Drews threw for a career-high 422 yards while going 38-of-44 for an 86.4 completion percentage. His main target Micah Niewald had 14 catches for 108 yards and one touchdown while Joey Kidder had 11 catches for a season-high 183 yards with three touchdown grabs. His now 15 TDs for the year ties Joel Olson (2001) for the single-season record.
 
For the fifth straight week, Bethel (7-1, 5-1 MIAC) amassed over 500-yards of offense putting up 549 on 80 offensive plays. They held Carleton (3-5, 2-4 MIAC) to 179 yards of offense with 138 passing yards and 41 rushing yards.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
1st Half
•  Bethel went up 14-0 after the first quarter thanks to a pair of touchdown grabs from Joey Kidder. Kidder's first TD was a 50-yard snag, catching it at the 10 over the shoulder. His 22-yard snag with 3:11 came with a defender on him in the end zone.
• The first of two interceptions for the Royals came on Carleton's first drive in the second quarter with Hunter Pratt returning it nine yards to the Knights' 15-yard line.
• The Royals turned it into points four plays later as Drews found Joe Kujawa from the one-yard line.
• BU's offense was back on the field one play later as a big hit from Carter Jonson forced a fumble that was recovered by Caden DeWall.
• One play later BU was back in the endzone as Drews found a wide-open Niewald down the seam.
• Aaron Ellingson built the lead to 35-0 rushing it in from four yards.
 
2nd Half
• Kidder got his third touchdown grab with 6:00 left in the third. Kidder cruised passed a Carleton safety on the far sideline as Drews dropped a dime with Kidder grabbing it as he crossed the goal line.
• Carleton denied BU of a shutout scoring as time expired in the third quarter. Nathan Streiff caught a five-yard pass from Jack Curtis capping out a 14-play, 79-yard drive that chewed up 5:55 of clock.
• Drew's sixth touchdown pass came with 12:36 in the fourth finding Will Eliason for a 25-yard TD grab.
• No better way to finish off a record day for Drews than finding the goal line himself. Drews ran it in from one-yard out. The 10-play, 38-yard drive started thanks to an interception from Noah Richards after Nate Farm executed the tip drill near the line of scrimmage.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Offense
• Cooper Drews – 38-of-44, 422 yards, 6 TDs, 1 rushing TD
• Micah Niewald – 14 catches, 108 yards, 1 TD
• Joey Kidder – 11 catches, 183 yards, 3 TDs
• Aaron Ellingson, 13 carries, 73 yards, 1 TD
 
Defense
• Nate Farm – 10 tackles, 8 solo, 1 breakup
• Jacob Holmen – 5 tackles, 1.0 sack, 2.0 tackle for loss
 
GAME NOTES
• Bethel won the toss and deferred their choice to the second half. Carleton received.
• For the eighth time this season Bethel held its opponent under its season rushing average as Carleton entered averaging 79.7 YPG
• Micah Niewald now sits second all-time with 3,066 receiving yards surpassing Jeremy Belisle's 3,001 yards.
• Bethel now has 15 interceptions on the year, two of which have been returned for a touchdown.
• With two sacks, BU's season total moves to 30, which is the most in a season since 2019, when the Royals had 33 in 10 games.
• Cooper Drews became the third Bethel quarterback with six touchdown passes in a game. The last QB to do so was Matt Lundeen in 1997 versus Carleton.
 
UP NEXT
The Royals travel to Concordia on Saturday, Nov. 9 for a 1 p.m. kickoff in Moorhead. Winner of the matchup will represent the Skyline Division in the MIAC Championship game the following week.


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