Russow rushes past record

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- The secret weapon for the Martin Luther College football didn't play a single down from scrimmage or even suit up for that matter.

In fact, she sat on the sidelines.

The secret weapon wasn't a player, but a player's mom who did nothing more than tie her son's shoes before he rushed for 159 yards and surpassed the 2,000 yard career rushing mark, becoming the first player to do so at MLC.

Joel Russow's mom passed the magic from her fingers to her son's feet, and he rushed for a season high 159 yards a week after breaking the school's career rushing mark against Westminster.

The Knights celebrated homecoming with a 21-6 trouncing of Northwestern College in a game that saw MLC control both sides of the ball.

"Before the game, my mom asked 'can I tie your shoes,?' and that's just some little thing I had her do," Russow said. "I'll go tell her, maybe that's what did it today."

Russow was surprised to learn about his accomplishment after the game, and said it was news to him that he became the school's all-time rusher a week earlier since no one had told him he was about to eclipse the mark. Russow remained humble and was quick to compliment his teammates.

"I guess it does surprise me a little bit, because if you look at me, I'm not the biggest person, and if you watch me out there, I'm not really the fastest," Russow said. "I'm not really the strongest person out there, so hats off to the guys around me. They work well with my style. The linemen, they do an incredible job. The receivers are great blockers and everything. It's not me. It's their milestone as well."

Russow admitted that he was a bit sore, and he jokingly pleaded for his offensive line to block better for him to lessen the blows.

"I told them I was hurting a little bit -- my shoulders were a little sore," Russow said. "I asked them if they'd block harder, and I don't know if they did. They blocked real well the whole game. The holes just seemed that much better today."

While Russow did his job controlling the ground game, it was tight end Nate Hochmuth who preyed on the Eagles' smaller defenders. Hochmuth had six catches for 108 yards and two touchdowns.

MLC quarterback Daniel Lange completed 14-of-26 passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns. Hochmuth said that Lange made perfect throws on both touchdown passes.

"The first one was a basic fade route and a spin move outside," Hochmuth said. "He was a really short guy, so I figured we could throw it up and get to him. [Lange] Made a nice throw in-between the two defenders. He threw it up for grabs."

Saturday's game also marked a rarity for the defense. They played from the second quarter on with a lead. In MLC's two previous wins, the Knights used come-from-behind drives late in the game to seal the win.

A.J. Kruse, who led the Knights with 14 tackles, said it was a little bit easier to play with a lead but said it really didn't make his team relax anymore.

"Kind of but we don't want to," A.J. Kruse said. "We got ahead for the first time today, but I think for the most part, the defense held on really well. They didn't get the deep ball on us, and we thought they would since they were behind, so the D-backs did a great job with that not letting anything go deep."

"They said to us 'why don't you get a score early for us, so we don't have to come from behind,'" Russow said. "I'll have to say that they played real well."

With a small lead in place, the Knights looked to score again on their first drive of the second half. Russow again had the majority of the carries on the drive, going for runs of eight yards and six yards along the way.

Lange capped the drive when he scrambled to his right and again hooked up with Hochmuth, this time on a 22-yard strike that consisted of 10 plays and 61 yards. The Knights successfully ran the 2-point conversion in when holder Thomas Voss took the snap, ran to his left, and found the end zone, giving the Knights a 14-0 lead.

"We threw it right at them, and the running plays we were able to go right at them," Hochmuth said. "Lange's really good at scrambling -- running around pressure."

The Eagles didn't get on the board until the fourth quarter, putting together a 10 play, 80 yard drive that consumed 7:27 off the clock. The Knights didn't allow any big plays offensively on the drive which took more time off the clock.

"We were willing to give them the little stuff," Kruse said. "Like I said before, we didn't want to give up the big stuff."

The Knights responded with a scoring drive of their own that put the game out of reach. Russow's rush for 22 yards brought the ball to the Eagle's 1-yard line, and David Dodge later scored. The PAT was kicked by Noah Bater.

Defensively, Jon Beilke had 12 tackles and Seth Herrmann had 10. The Knights recovered two fumbles.

"Defense, throughout the whole season, they're just playing real well," Russow said. "I can't even single someone out, because all of them are playing real well."

MLC (3-2, 3-0 in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference) plays at the University of Minnesota-Morris at 1 p.m. Saturday.