Anna Nelson

Using a dominating performance from the lines, some great catches from the receivers, and a tough ball control offense, the UW-Eau Claire football team got off to an impressive start to its season, shocking 10th-ranked St. John’s University 25-10 in Collegeville, Minn. Saturday.

The Blugolds set the tone of the game in the first five minutes. After punting on their first possession, the Blugolds defense got the ball back for their offense when senior Jay Hoyord intercepted a pass at the St. John’s 42 yard line.

It took Eau Claire one play to take advantage of the mistake, as senior Jeremy Bergeron took advantage of the interception by making an off-balance catch for a 42-yard touchdown, giving Eau Claire a 6-0 lead.

After forcing St. John’s to punt, senior quarterback Brian Rasmussen led the Blugolds down the field again. A 35-yard pass to Bergeron on fourth down brought the Blugolds to the 1 yard line. Freshman Dave Garrison capped the 80-yard drive with a 1 yard touchdown plunge, which put Eau Claire ahead 12-0 and sent the Clemens Stadium crowd into a state of shock.

The quick start was key to the rest of the game for the Blugolds.

“I can’t explain how huge that was,” coach Todd Hoffner said about the Blugolds. “St. John’s is a demoralizing team – they get on you and stick on you and never let you down.”

Rasmussen was also pleased with the quick start, and with his improvement from last year’s game, a 49-14 St. John’s victory.

“That was stressed big time,” he said. “Last year, I started out with three interceptions, and everybody was down. This year, the offensive line was huge. They got us the lead.”

The second quarter was played in steady rain, and neither team found the end zone. St. John’s was able to convert a field goal with just over one minute left in the half to cut Eau Claire’s halftime lead to 12-3.

With the wind at their back in the third quarter, Eau Claire was able to dominate the time of possession. A key figure in that clock control was Garrison, the redshirt freshman who was filling in for injured senior Darrell Souhrada.

“It was a great opportunity,” Garrison said of subbing for Souhrada. “He’s one of the elite backs in the nation, and it’s hard to fill his shoes. I had to step up.”

Hoffner was also pleased with Garrison’s performance.

“Dave did a tremendous job,” he said. “Aside from one questionable fumble, he was mistake-free.”

Garrison carried the ball six times on Eau Claire’s first possession of the second half, and capped off the 60-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run. He finished the game with 82 yards and two touchdowns on 34 carries.

“I haven’t had that many (carries) in a long while,” Garrison said. “Probably ever.”

After another St. John’s punt, Eau Claire dominated a march down the field. Garrison carried the ball seven times on the drive, with Rasmussen completing five of six passes. On the first play of the fourth quarter, the Blugolds capped off the 14- play, 85-yard drive with a 21- yard scoring strike from Rasmussen to junior Chad Crutchley, which game Eau Claire a 25-3 lead.

“I didn’t think I was open,” Crutchley said. “He put it up there where I could go get it.”

Rasmussen was amazed by all of his receivers’ heroics.

“That’s just huge,” he said. “It was the same thing every time. I could see the look in their eyes that said `give me the ball.’ You gotta throw it up to them.”

Rasmussen and Garrison were quick to point out the dominance of the Blugold’s offensive line, a group that completely dominated the game.

Rasmussen gave the line credit for him having time to find his receivers, and Garrison was thankful for the holes that the line gave him in the game.

“Hands down, the offensive line was huge,” Garrison said. “They controlled the game and kept the tempo.”

St. John’s was never able to mount a serious comeback after Crutchley’s catch. The Johnnies were able to add a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, but the Blugolds were able to control the clock enough to put the game away.

“It was a huge boost winning here,” Garrison said. “We had no respect coming in here, but we knew about the team we had coming back.”

Souhrada was pleased with Garrison’s performance.

“I thought he played really well,” he said. “The defense was awesome, the offensive line was awesome – everyone did an awesome job. It feels great.”

Hoffner thinks the team will gain a tremendous amount of confidence from the game.

“We have the confidence and belief that if you stick to the game plan, great things will happen,” he said. “The players played well. We were playing well from beginning to end.”

Hoffner did stress that the team shouldn’t get too caught up on the result of the game.

“We haven’t done anything yet,” he said. “We should enjoy today, but there are still plenty of things to improve on.”

Rasmussen finished 20 for 33 passing for 305 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions, a performance that earned him the conference player of the week award. Bergeron caught four of those passes for 102 yards, with Crutchley catching three passes for 76 yards.

The defense held St. John’s to -2 yards rushing and 225 total yards of offense.

The loss was only the sixth for St. John’s at Clemens Stadium in the last 10 years, and was their first regular season home loss since Oct. 11, 1997.