MINNEAPOLIS -- Marcus Brumm (SR, Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville South HS) threw for 356 yards and three touchdowns, and Adam Carl (SO, Eagan, Minn.) caught 10 passes for 103 yards and two scores, as the Augsburg College football team rallied for a 31-23 victory over Macalester College in a nonconference football game on Saturday afternoon at Edor Nelson Field.
Saturday's game was a contest of momentum, as Augsburg (5-3 overall) scored the first 10 points of the game. Macalester (3-5 overall) then scored 20 unanswered points, but Augsburg rallied with 21 of the final 24 points in the contest. Augsburg outgained Macalester by a 446-333 margin in the game.
Running back Tyler Maxwell (FY, Prior Lake, Minn.), entering Saturday's game as the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's leader in rushing yardage per-game, all-purpose yardage per-game and scoring per-game, claimed his fifth 100-yard rushing effort in his seventh collegiate game, rushing 25 times for 109 yards and a touchdown, a one-yard run late in the first quarter.
Maxwell now has 849 rushing yards on 169 carries and 14 touchdowns (13 rushing, one receiving) in his seven-game collegiate career, edging closer to Augsburg's single-season rushing records, set in 2004 by Marcus LeVesseur. Maxwell already has set Augsburg's single-season rushing touchdown record with 13; LeVesseur's 256 carries and 1,024 rushing yards are the school's single-season records.
Completing 25-of-36 passes for 356 yards, Brumm moved into second place in three of the four Augsburg career passing record categories. In 25 career starts as an Auggie, Brumm now has 6,625 career passing yards on 572-of-1,037 passing -- surpassing Derrin Lamker (1993-97), who threw for 6,624 yards on 550-of-1,022 passing. Brumm now has 43 career passing touchdowns, with Lamker second all-time with 46. Jordan Berg (2006-08) holds each of Augsburg's career passing records -- 796-for-1,350 passing for 8,777 yards and 72 touchdowns.
Carl claimed career highs in both catches and receiving yardage with his first 100-yard receiving game of his career. He caught a five-yard touchdown pass just before halftime and put the Auggies in front for good with a seven-yard touchdown reception late in the third quarter.
For Macalester, T. Joe Loiselle (SR, Chippewa Falls, Wis.) rushed 30 times for 114 yards and a touchdown, and quarterback Clark Bledsoe (JR, Jacksonville, Fla./Episcopal HS) completed 14-of-25 passing for 142 yards and two touchdowns.
After stopping the Scots on downs at the Augsburg 11-yard line on the opening drive of the game, the Auggies drove for their first points of the game, a 29-yard field goal by Wesley Waytashek (JR, Little Falls, Minn.) to compete a 12-play, 78-yard drive. On the next drive, Felix Coleman (FY, Alexandria, Minn./Jefferson HS) claimed his team-high third interception of the season, returning the ball to the Macalester 2-yard line. Two plays later, Maxwell rushed one yard for a touchdown to give the Auggies a 10-0 lead.
But Macalester scored three straight touchdowns to take a 20-10 lead late in the first half. Bledsoe threw two touchdown passes -- a three-yarder to Sam Marshall (JR, Sun Prairie, Wis.) and an eight-yarder to John Johnson (SO, McKenzie, Tenn.) -- and Loiselle rushed for a one-yard score with 37 seconds left in the second quarter.
However, a kickoff returned to the Augsburg 41-yard line gave the Auggies a chance to score in the final seconds of the half. Augsburg marched 59 yards in five plays, taking just 33 seconds to score on Brumm's five-yard touchdown pass to Carl with four seconds left, cutting the advantage to 20-17 at halftime.
In the third quarter, Macalester received a 34-yard field goal by Auburn Jimenez (SO, East Los Angeles, Calif./St. John Bosco HS) to take a 23-17 lead. But the momentum shifted back to the Auggies, as Augsburg completed a nine-play, 80-yard drive in 3:49, capped off by Carl's second touchdown reception of the game, a seven-yarder from Brumm with 2:34 left in the third quarter.
The game-clinching drive featured a key fourth-down rush by Maxwell at the Augsburg 42-yard line, and four plays later, Brumm threw a swing pass to Waylon Hartwick (JR, Minneapolis, Minn./South HS), who turned it into a 38-yard touchdown to give the Auggies a 31-23 lead.
Augsburg's defense then stopped Macalester on downs twice on its final drives, at the Macalester 37-yard line and the Augsburg 23-yard line, to clinch the victory.
Hakeem Bourne-McFarlane (SO, Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy HS) caught four passes for 86 yards for the Auggies, while Maxwell caught five passes for 62 yards, Tyler Swanson (JR, Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North HS) caught three passes for 39 yards and Waytashek caught two passes for 28 yards.
Defensively, Augsburg linebacker Bryce Vee (JR, Coon Rapids, Minn./Blaine HS) led all players with 15 tackles (four solo), his fifth double-digit tackle performance of the season and eighth of his career. Edmond Smith (SR, Minneapolis, Minn./North HS), Tyler Jensen (SR, Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn HS) and Adam Sonntag (JR, Green Lake, Wis.) had nine tackles each.
For Macalester, Jole Miller (FY, Missouri Valley, Iowa) had nine tackles (four solo) and an interception, and Joe Dykema (SO, Roseville, Minn.) and Reid Callahan (SO, Atlanta, Ga./St. Pius X HS) had eight tackles each.
Both teams return to action next Saturday (11/5) at 1 p.m., as Augsburg travels to face Gustavus and Macalester hosts Trinity Bible (N.D.).