ARDEN HILLS, MINN.—For the second time this season, the No. 15 Bethel University football team broke the school record for points scored in a game following their 82-7 rout at St. Olaf in Northfield, Minnesota on Saturday. Their 82 points breaks the previous school record achieved in a 77-0 victory over Hamline on September 26.
The Royals improve to 4-2, 4-1 MIAC, while the Oles fall to 1-5, 1-4 MIAC.
Bethel 82, St. Olaf 7
Fifth-year running back David Geebli notched a career-high 172 yards rushing and two touchdowns on just 13 carries for a whopping 13.2 yards per carry. Geebli engineered a Bethel ground game that accumulated 486 yards over 50 attempts for 9.7 yards per touch. Eight-of-12 Bethel touchdowns on the day occurred on the ground, two apiece came from Geebli and quarterback Cooper Drews. This included scores from 39 and 15 yards out from Geebli, as well as a 27 and one-yard touchdown run from Drews.Â
Taye Manns, Miles Gish, Cole Gerrell, and Lavontae Cox each contributed a rushing touchdown for a Bethel offense that notched 743 total yards.Â
That also consisted of 257 yards passing from the Royals. Cooper Drews completed 24-of-31 passes for 226 yards and three touchdowns, as well as 54 yards rushing and two touchdowns on seven carries. Two of those touchdown tosses went to Teagan Viebrock from 19 and 10 yards out. Also catching a touchdown pass was Cullen Drews, who scored from three yards away.
Viebrock paced Bethel with nine catches for 113 yards and two touchdowns.Â
Five Royals registered at least 50 yards rushing. Quarterback Cole Gerrell had 63 yards rushing and one touchdown on seven carries, and completed 4-of-8 passes for 31 yards. Miles Gish and Taye Manns each had 60 yards rushing for Bethel.
The Royals defense held St. Olaf to 202 yards of offense that included 127 rushing and 75 passing. St. Olaf completed just 9-of-25 passes. Their shutout bid went away with 3:29 left in the third quarter courtesy of Landon Dillon's 57-yard touchdown run that narrowed Bethel's lead to 69-7.
Jake Borman returned an interception for a touchdown from 25 yards, and accumulated three tackles for Bethel's defense. Max Durgin returned an interception 31 yards and had three tackles, one pass breakup, and one blocked kick. Reigning MIAC Defensive Player of the Week Daniel Buntin paced the Royals with seven tackles. Jackson Braun had four tackles that included a sack for a nine-yard loss, while Taylor Glynn had three tackles that consisted of 1.5 sacks that accumulated in a loss of 13 yards.
The Royals will travel to Macalester on Saturday, October 24. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
