St. Norbert 30, Lawrence 0
APPLETON, Wis. - St. Norbert College remained unbeaten in the Midwest Conference with a sound 30-0 win over Lawrence University at The Banta Bowl.
The Green Knights (3-1, 3-0 MWC) topped the Vikings (1-3, 1-2) for the 14th consecutive time with the win. St. Norbert has won 103 of its last 111 Midwest Conference games.
St. Norbert ground Lawrence down early, putting together two lengthy time-consuming drives to take a 10-0 lead. After Justin Johnson intercepted Lawrence quarterback Luke Barthelmess at the Green Knights' 10-yard line, St. Norbert marched 86 yards in 15 plays to take 7 minutes 50 seconds off the clock. The Green Knights converted a fourth-and-5 and a fourth-and-9 on the series to keep possession. Austin Williams' 1-yard plunge with 3:56 left in the first quarter put St. Norbert ahead 7-0.
Lawrence moved to the St. Norbert 17 on its next series but lost possession on downs. The Green Knights would take 8:11 off the clock on the series, going 57 yards on 16 plays. St. Norbert would get down to the Lawrence 1, but a long quarterback sack truncated the drive and Sam Mason's 35-yard field goal with 7:33 left in the quarter was good.
St. Norbert held Lawrence again but took over from its own 2-yard line after a downed punt. Williams broke free four plays later on an 82-yard scamper and a 17-0 lead with 4:27 to go before halftime. The Green Knights then recovered an onside kick and needed just six plays to go 56 yards for a touchdown, with Mike Fabrizio hitting Joe Green on a 12-yard touchdown with 2:38 left in the half and a 24-0 lead.
Neither team would score in the third quarter, and the Green Knights would get the game's final points when they burned 6:01 off the clock in the fourth quarter. Craig Fagan's 2-yard touchdown run with 3:55 to go was the last play on an 11-play, 69-yard drive.
St. Norbert ran 86 plays against the Vikings and ground out 26 first downs to hold possession for a staggering 41 minutes 28 seconds, and converted 11 of 19 third-down chances. The Green Knights totaled 533 yards of total offense with 262 coming on the ground. Williams finished with 133 yards on 15 carries, while Fagan added 94 yards on 17 attempts. Fabrizio completed 22 of 37 passes for 260 yards and one touchdown. Joe Green caught eight passes for 0 yards, while Logan Krueger had seven receptions for 132 yards.
Lawrence had 239 yards of offense and 13 first downs. The Vikings had only 33 yards rushing. Barthelmess completed 15 of 31 passes for 206 yards and one interception.
