Scoreboard

West Region championship

St. John's 21, Central 18
PELLA, Iowa — Central’s second-half magic finally ran out.

St. John’s (Minn.) rallied from a 10-7 halftime deficit to score a 21-18 NCAA Div. III football playoff win Saturday.  That gives the Johnnies (12-1) the West Region title and a berth in the semifinals next Saturday at Hardin-Simmons in Abilene, Texas. The Johnnies are the second consecutive seven-seed to win the West regional since the playoff field was expanded before last season.

Central (12-1) broke on top on Tim O’Neil’s 27-yard field goal in the first quarter.  A blocked punt by Central’s Andy Ratzlaff gave the Dutch the ball on the St. John’s 28 with 5:56 left in the half, and on the next play, Scott Koerselman’s 28-yard pass to the end zone was tipped by Central’s Joe Kain as well as St. John’s Andy Hover, and was snagged for a touchdown by Central’s Chris McCullough.

But the Johnnies struck back as quarterback Tom Linnemann fired a 47-yard scoring pass to Blake Elliot with 3:34 left in the half and it was 10-7 Dutch at intermission.

Even with that long play, Central limited St. John’s to 110 yards total offense in the first half.  The Dutch came up with seven quarterback sacks in the first half, but the Johnnies’ pass protection stiffened in the second half.  Linnemann, despite suffered an ankle injury in the first quarter, was not sacked in the second half.

Central was limited to just 20 yards’ offense in the third quarter as St. John’s took the lead on a 7-yard Nate Kirschner reception from Linnemann.  A Chris Moore 7-yard TD run with 9:47 left in the game pushed the lead to 21-10 following an 11-play, 72-yard drive.

Central, which had outscored opponents in the second half this year, 234-24, finally got the offense moving late in the game.  The Dutch moved 50 yards in seven plays with tailback Aaron Aeschliman scoring from the 3.  A Joe Kain reception of a Koerselman pass for a two-point conversion pulled Central within 21-18.  But St. John’s picked up a first down on its next possession and was able to run out the clock.

Central was without the services of two of its top players.  Leading rusher Joey Liekweg did not dress because of a shoulder injury.  All-American linebacker Jeff Sanger was also sidelined with a shoulder injury.  He appeared briefly in the fourth quarter but left the game after one series.

St. John’s outgained the Dutch, 313 yards to 249.  The Johnnies completed 18 of 30 passes for 223 yards.  Central rushed for 153 yards and Koerselman completed 10 of 21 passes for 96 yards.  Neither team had a turnover.

Linebacker Austin Bonnema had a game-high 15 tackles for Central.  Defensive tackle Ryan Anderson had nine tackles, with four tackles for loss, including three sacks.  St. John’s linebacker Beau LaBore had 12 tackles.