ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. – Jonathan Singleton tied a career-high with six touchdown passes as the Carleton College football team rolled to a 51-0 road victory over Crown College. This game represents largest margin of victory for the Knights since their 52-0 win over Macalester in 2006.
Prior to this season, Carleton (2-0) had not scored 50 points in a game since 2013. This year, the Knights achieved the feat in both of their first two games as Carleton defeated Minnesota-Morris 50-13 in the season opener.
Despite the lopsided final score, Carleton did not get on the board until past the midway point of the first quarter. Crown (0-2) opened the game by recovering an onside kick and then marched down to the Carleton 5-yard line. The Carleton defense dug in, however, with Travis Brown forcing a 10-yard loss and three straight incompletions giving the visitors the ball.
The Knights' offense quickly made up for lost time, however, marching 85 yards in nine plays, capped by a 22-yard touchdown pass from Singleton to Ntense Obono to open the scoring.
Carleton followed with some special teams trickery of its own, recovering a short kickoff to once again set up the offense in Crown territory. Five plays later, Singleton found Joseph Park in the back corner of the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown, Carleton's second score in less than two minutes.
When the Carleton offense slowed down with a pair of three-and-outs at the start of the second quarter, the Knight defense picked up the slack with consecutive fourth down stops, including one at their own one-yard line, to keep the Storm off the board.
Halfway through the second quarter, the Carleton offense found its rhythm again. A 41-yard catch and run by Bert Bean set up Singleton's 8-yard touchdown pass to Ty Judge.
This score was followed later in the period by a Brown interception deep in Crown territory, and four plays later the Knights found the end zone again, this time Singleton connected with Aiden Chang (for a 9-yard touchdown to put the Knights up, 27-0, heading into halftime.
Carleton began the second half with a special teams turnover. James Bradle jarred the ball loose on the kickoff return, and Doug Pham recovered the fumble. Two plays later Chang ran it in from 20 yards out.
After yet another fourth down stop by the Knight defense, Garrett Siff caught a 19-yard touchdown to bring Carleton's lead to 41-0 midway through the third quarter.
Carleton added a 15-yard touchdown connection between Singleton and Park with five minutes still to go in the third quarter.
Singleton totaled up 269 yards through the air in only three quarters of action. His six touchdown passes tied the school record (see chart at bottom of release) and equaled his total from the Oct. 19, 2019 game against Augsburg. Singleton has already thrown for 634 yards and 8 touchdowns this season, with only a single interception to his name. He now has 27 career touchdown passes, tied for 10th in Carleton history, a feat more impressive given that he's only played 10 collegiate games (see chart below). Singleton is now 12th in team history with 2,790 career passing yards.
The Carleton defense recorded their first shutout since the opening game of the 2019 season on the strength of Brown and Bradle, who combined for 18 tackles and forced two turnovers. Overall, Crown only managed 10 first downs overall and only three after the first quarter against the stout Carleton defense. The Storm were limited to 1-for-7 on fourth down conversions.
The Knights gained 350 total yards of offense compared to the Storm's 116. Crown quarterback Jared Gilmore, who entered the afternoon leading NCAA Division III with 462.0 passing yards per game, finished 28-for-56 for only 168 yards and the interception.
Up Next for the Knights:
Carleton hosts Hamline University next Saturday, Sept. 25 at 1:00 p.m. It will be the first game held at Laird Stadium since Nov. 16, 2019.
Most TD Passes (Game) at Carleton
TD -- Player -- Opponent -- Date
6 -- John Nielson -- vs. Gustavus -- 10/20/90
6 -- Christian Zaytoun -- vs. Hamline -- 10/6/18
6 -- Jonathan Singleton -- vs. Augsburg -- 10/19/19
6 -- Jonathan Singleton -- at Crown -- 9/18/21
5 -- John Nielson -- at Lawrence -- 9/9/89
5 -- Ted Kluender -- at Bethel -- 11/8/91
5 -- Ryan Beckers -- at St. Olaf -- 10/16/93
5 -- Darren Caspers -- vs. Macalester -- 9/19/06
5 -- Shane Henfling -- at Macalester -- 9/15/07
5 -- Shane Henfling -- at Cornell -- 9/13/08
5 -- Christian Zaytoun -- at Macalester -- 9/1/18
5 -- Christian Zaytoun -- vs. Lawrence -- 9/8/18
Most TD Passes (Career) at Carleton
TD -- Player -- Years
51 -- Shane Henfling -- 2005-08
50 -- Ted Kluender -- 1989,91-93
44 -- John Nielson -- 1987-90
40 -- Christian Zaytoun -- 2015-18
38 -- C.G. Shoap -- 1994-97
32 -- Tim Nielson -- 1985-88
30 -- Bill Ford -- 1978-79,81
28 -- Darren Caspers -- 2003-06
28 -- Vaughn Schmid -- 2008-11
27 -- Jon Groteboer -- 1998-01
27 -- Jonathan Singleton -- 2019-pres
Most Passing Yards (Career) at Carleton
Yards -- Player (Comp-Att-INT) -- Years
5429 -- C.G. Shoap (391-833) -- 1994-97
5297 -- Darren Caspers (468-905) -- 2003-06
5058 -- Ted Kluender (331-705) -- 1989-93
4983 -- Shane Henfling (416-664) -- 2005-08
4749 -- Jon Groteboer (401-870) -- 1998-2001
4742 -- Todd Nickodym (336-672) -- 1983-86
4611 -- John Nielson (303-612) -- 1987-90
4450 -- Christian Zaytoun (475-856) -- 2015-18