BEMIDJI, Minn. - The No. 9-ranked Augustana football team made a statement on Saturday afternoon, cashing in a 42-14 road victory over Bemidji State at Chet Anderson Stadium.
Gunnar Hensley went 21 for 25 with 196 yards and three touchdowns in the air and added 20 yards and a touchdown on the ground to power the offense.
Ryan Kenny added his first career 100-yard rushing game with 121 yards and a pair of scores. Also finding the end zone twice was
Klayton Sattler, whose three catches earned him 47 yards.
27 different players recorded a tackle defensively, led by five each from
Cade Larson and
Ashton Toll.
Quinton Adams and
Gradee Sherman had two breakups apiece and
Logan Leonard had an interception.
It took two plays from scrimmage to put the Vikings on the board. On play one, the Beavers fumbled on a quarterback run as Adams and
Kael Ryan swarmed in to jar the ball loose and
Isaak Sipple jumped on it to set up the offense.
Gunnar Hensley took the first offensive snap 21 yards for a rushing touchdown and, just like that, the Vikings led 7-0 19 seconds into the ballgame.
The defense forced a three-and-out on the next drive and the offense gifted them three plays later to double the lead. Kenny started with a 35-yard rush and Hensley found Haynes for four yards. Kenny bulldozed his way to the end zone from 31 yards out with 12:47 to go in the first quarter to cap the drive.
10 plays and three punts later, the Vikings started a drive that moved right down the field for another score. Hensley found Haynes for 10 yards, Kenny for nine and Scholten for seven to start before a penalty on BSU set up AU at the BSU30. After the Beaver defense forced a 3rd and three, Hensley found
Neal May for 14 yards and then Haynes on a crosser that left him a lane to the end zone, putting AU ahead 21-0 10 minutes into the quarter.
Each team punted before the Beaver offense showed life into the second quarter. BSU ran 16 plays to set themselves up inside the AU30 and chew 8:43 of clock but the Vikings collapsed the pocket and
Ashton Toll got home on a 4th and 12 to turn the Beavers over on downs.
Six plays and 3:00 of game clock is all it took for the Vikings to march 55 yards and get back into the end zone. Kenny got 11 yards on the ground, Hensley found
Sam Scholten for 14 and Kenny had nine more yards rushing to get the Vikings to the BSU21. 16 more Kenny yards were followed by a two-yard completion before a wildcat run from Kenny went three yards for a touchdown to make it 28-0 AU with 5:09 left in the half.
The defense collected an interception on the next drive as
Logan Leonard jumped a comeback and dove in front of the receiver for a pick. Another six-play, 55-yard drive followed for the Vikings, capped by a touchdown pass from Hensley to Sattler to give AU a 35-0 lead into the half.
Augustana dominated the half on the scoreboard and the stat sheet, outgaining the Beavers 273-143 on 11 less plays. Hensley had 151 passing yards and three total touchdowns while Kenny added 105 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. The Vikings had just four plays on third down, converting two of them, while holding the Beavers to 2 of 9 on third down.
BSU put together another long drive after the Vikings punted to open the second half. A 13-play, 91-yard touchdown drive that included a Viking penalty on a third-down sack led the Beavers into the end zone to cut their deficit to 35-7.
The Vikings came right back after a long kick return from May with a long drive of its own, going 11 plays for 55 yards and another touchdown. It came in the form of a three-yard jump ball from Hensley to Sattler to give the Vikings the lead at 42-7. BSU scored another touchdown with 5:07 to go to round out the scoring and bring the game to its final score.
The Vikings return home on September 27 for a Viking Days matchup against Winona State. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m.
