ST. PETER, MINN.—The No. 13 Bethel University football team have now won their last 17 games against Gustavus Adolphus following a 41-7 victory in front of 1572 spectators at Hollingsworth Field in St. Peter, Minnesota on Saturday afternoon.
The Royals open MIAC play with a 2-0, 1-0 MIAC record, while the Gusties fall to 0-2, 0-1 MIAC.
Bethel 41, Gustavus 7
Neither team found the end zone throughout the opening 15:00. The Royals defense forced their second three-and-out of the quarter with 2:01 on the clock, when Devin Williams returned a punt 34 yards to the Gustavus 18 yard line. This set up Zach Bengston's 31 yard field goal with 1:22 remaining in the first quarter, which gave Bethel a 3-0 lead.
Williams followed that with an interception on the first play of the second quarter. This opened the flood gates for a Royals squad that scored touchdowns on their next three drives. Taye Manns' three-yard plunge, and a pair of touchdown connections from quarterback Cooper Drews to Roman Janes and Alex Weiss from five and 21 yards out, respectively, pushed Bethel's lead to 24-0 at halftime.
It took just two plays on Bethel's first offensive series of the third frame as quarterback Cooper Drews connected with Albert Rundell for passes of 37 and 41 yards. The latter resulted in a touchdown that widened the margin to 31-0 with 12:06 on the clock.
The Gusties capitalized on a takeaway on Bethel's 12 yard line at the 8:55 mark, which set up Dylan Blount's one-yard touchdown reception that narrowed their deficit to 31-7 with 8:14 remaining in the third frame.
Bethel responded with a 12-play, 4:21 drive that ended with Cooper Drews' 24-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Terry that made the score 38-7 with 3:48 left in the third.
Another 12-play drive was in the cards for Bethel early in the fourth quarter, as Bengston closed the scoring with a 23-yard field goal that pushed the score to 41-7.
Devin Williams finished with six tackles and an interception for the Royals defense, while Jake Borman notched a team-leading eight tackles. They anchored a Bethel defense that held Gustavus to just 17 yards rushing, and 141 yards of total offense on the day. Bethel finished with 528 yards of offense that included 298 passing and 230 rushing.
Cooper Drews finished 23-of-37 passing for 291 yards and four touchdowns. David Geebli led Bethel with 107 yards rushing on 13 carries, while Rundell paced the receiving corps with nine catches for 137 yards and one touchdown.Â
Gusties quarterback Dylan Blount was 17-of-25 passing for 103 yards. Blount completed passes to 12 different receivers.
The Royals will travel to Hamline on Saturday, September 27. Game time is set for 1 p.m.
