ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Tyler Maxwell (FY, Prior Lake, Minn.) made his college football debut a special one, tying a school record with four rushing touchdowns, enabling Augsburg College to keep "The Hammer" traveling trophy with Hamline University in a 28-20 victory in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football action on Saturday afternoon at Klas Field.
Maxwell rushed 22 times for 173 yards, scoring all four Augsburg (2-0 overall, 1-0 MIAC) touchdowns -- a 32-yarder in the first quarter, a two-yarder in the second quarter, a 41-yarder in the third quater and a 25-yarder in the fourth quarter.
His four touchdowns tied a single-game school record for both rushing touchdowns, tying a four-TD effort by Marcus LeVesseur in 2004 game against Carleton. The four-touchdown effort also ties the school record for both overall single-game touchdowns (tying five others) and points in a game (24, tying five others).
The 173-yard rushing effort is the most rushing yards in a single game for an Augsburg running back since Nov. 12, 2004, when LeVesseur rushed for 181 yards on a school-record 41 carries in a 45-42 Auggie win over St. Olaf in overtime at the Metrodome.
The win enables Augsburg to keep "The Hammer," the traveling trophy between Augsburg and Hamline, for the second straight year. Since it was established in 2005, Augsburg has won six of the seven battles for the trophy. Augsburg has won eight of the last nine and 14 of the last 16 all-time meetings against Hamline.
Trailing 14-7 at the end of the first quarter, Augsburg scored 21 unanswered points -- three Maxwell touchdowns, a Chris Osborn (JR, Eagan, Minn.) two-point conversion and a Wesley Waytashek (JR, Little Falls, Minn.) extra-point kick -- to take the lead for good.
Terry Schwartz scored two first-quarter touchdowns on passes from Hamline (0-2 overall, 0-1 MIAC) quarterback Connor Sathre, and Sathre rushed for a seven-yard touchdown with 1:50 remaining in the contest to account for the Pipers' final points.
Schwartz caught a 38-yard touchdown pass from Sathre on the Pipers' opening drive, but Augsburg marched right back, as Maxwell capped a five-play, 59-yard drive with his first touchdown, a 32-yard scamper on the Auggies' opening possession. Schwartz caught an 18-yard pass from Sathre on Hamline's next drive to give Hamline a 14-7 lead with 3:07 left in the first quarter.
Augsburg cut the lead to 14-13 on a Maxwell two-yard touchdown with 1:47 left in the second quarter, and a 41-yard rushing touchdown by Maxwell gave the Auggies the lead for good with 3:27 left in the third quarter. He capped the scoring for the Auggies with a 25-yard rushing touchdown with 5:13 left in the game.
Augsburg produced 311 yards of total offense, while the Auggie defense limited Hamline to 276 yards of total offense. Three of the four scoring drives for the Auggies began in Hamline territory -- the average starting position for the 12 Augsburg drives in the game was the Hamline 48-yard line.
Auggie defenders sacked Hamline quarterback Sathre six times -- Edmond Smith (SR, Minneapolis, Minn./North HS) getting 1.5 sacks, Tyler Jensen (SR, Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn HS), Tyler Phillips (SR, Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial HS), Aaron Perry (JR, Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial HS) and Andrew Swanson (JR, Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North HS) each collecting a sack, and Tony Rickoff (SR, Winona, Minn.) contributing a half-sack.
Bryce Vee (JR, Coon Rapids, Minn./Blaine HS) led the Auggies with 14 tackles (four solo), while Smith had 11 tackles (four solo) and Jensen had 10 tackles (three solo). Josh Bain led the Pipers with 16 tackles (seven solo).
Hakeem Bourne-McFarlane (SO, Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy HS) contributed 158 all-purpose yards for the Auggies, catching six passes for 78 yards, while also returning two punts for 32 yards and two kickoffs for 42 yards.
Quarterback Marcus Brumm (SR, Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville South HS) edged closer to becoming the fifth Augsburg quarterback to throw for 5,000 career yards, as he completed 11-of-20 passes for 123 yards. In just 19 career starts, Brumm now has 439 completions in 820 attempts for 4,969 yards and 32 touchdowns.
For Hamline, Sathre rushed for 71 yards on 24 carries, while also throwing for 93 yards on 5-of-14 passing. Schwartz caught three passes for 64 yards, and Tim Queck rushed 12 times for 35 yards and caught three passes for 46 yards.
Both teams return to MIAC play with road games next Saturday (10/24) at 1 p.m., as Augsburg plays at St. John's and Hamline plays at Carleton.