Martin Luther routs Trinity

By BOB VARMETTE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- The two-headed monster lives.

The Martin Luther Knights proved again that you can win with two quarterbacks. And win big.

Junior quarterback Ben Kuerth tossed three touchdown passes and freshman Seth Fitzsimmons threw for another as MLC blanked Trinity (N.D.) 55-0 Saturday afternoon at "The Bowl" in UMAC football in the Knights' home finale.

"It shouldn't make any difference," MLC coach Dennis Gorsline said. "That's the way we practice it. One will run two plays and then the other will run two plays. I'm going to have to look at the film because the game was kind of a blur, but I'm probably going to keep doing the same thing."

The same thing will have Kuerth and Fitzsimmons, who got his first college start Saturday, rotating every second series. It worked nearly to perfection against Trinity (1-5, 1-3 UMAC), much as it did two weeks ago against Crown.

Kuerth connected twice on touchdown passes in the second quarter -- a 30-yarder to senior Matt Schiebel that put the Knights up 28-0 and a 7-yarder to Mike Feuerstahler that gave MLC (2-4, 2-2) a 35-0 halftime margin. Fitzsimmons found Schiebel earlier in the quarter on a 2-yard pass.

Bill Heiges added a 33-yard jaunt midway through the third quarter. Heiges, who was switched back to offense from defensive end when Eli Cloute's nagging hamstring injury forced him to sit out the game, finished with 77 yards on 11 carries.

Kuerth then found Micah Martin on a 3-yard touchdown pass for a 49-0 MLC lead with 4:57 in the third quarter. The Knights added their final touchdown on a 21-yard run by sophomore Paul Schupmann, who led the Knights with 97 yards on just four carries.

Schupmann got 60 of those yards on the Knights' first play from scrimmage -- a double reverse for a touchdown.

"We scored on that first play, that was too easy," Kuerth said. "After that, we didn't execute very well and that got us mad. After that, we came out and executed really well."

Kuerth finished 12 of 18 for 174 yards with one interception. Fitzsimmons was 6 of 12 for 64 yards with a touchdown.

"On film, (Trinity) looked good," Kuerth said. "They were about what we expected. ... Our protection was just great. Those are the days when it's just easy."

Maybe it was a little too easy at the start. After Schupmann's dash to the end zone, MLC went into a malaise on offense.

MLC's next two series were three and outs gaining a grand total of four yards.

It was the defense that struck next. Matt Frey intercepted a Derrick DeBoef pass, breaking six tackles on his way to a 60-yard touchdown and a 14-0 Knights lead.

"It was all just downfield blocking," Frey said. "I caught the ball and saw a bunch of black shirts in front of me. Breaking the tackles, that was minor. It was the blocking."

At that point, the Knights' offense was struggling, but the offense got back on track in the second quarter and finished with 438 yards of total offense against Trinity.

"We talked all week long about matching Martin Luther's intensity level," Trinity coach Jesse Godding said. "That first play -- that reverse -- we're down 7-0. Then the second touchdown, that deflated the team and it was hard for us to get any energy going."

MLC's energy perhaps was sapped by the ease of its first score. But by the second quarter, despite the smaller-than-normal crowd due to MLC's mid-term break, the Knights found they had energy to burn.

"That happens sometimes when your score so easily," Gorsline said. "Teams can get into a funk when they score too easily. I think maybe that's what happened. We thought, 'These guys are going to be easy and we're going to blow them away,' and then we had to really battle."

Trinity's offensive funk lasted the entire game. The Lions never drove deeper than the MLC 34 and punted 10 times, lost the ball five times on turnovers and turned the ball over on downs another time.

"Defensively, they're much better than a 1-4 team, I think I said that before the game," Godding said. "We had some doubts if we can do this, get ourselves out of holes, and those doubts took over. ... We never really mounted anything of a drive."

The Lions totaled only 184 yards of offense and suffered through a miserable day passing. Trinity quarterbacks were 10 of 31 for only 72 yards and in addition to being intercepted twice, the Lions had starter DeBoef knocked out of the game late in the first half. Freshman Keith Colburn finished the game, going 3 of 13 for just five yards.

The Knights never allowed Trinity to capitalize on the height of wide receivers Matt Waring (6-foot-5) and Dustin Morgan (6-foot-3). Morgan had four catches for 14 yards and Waring made only one reception for 23 yards.

Mike Christian had only three catches for just 31 yards to lead Trinity before leaving the game early in the fourth quarter with a possible broken tibia and fibula in his left leg.

"We were playing excellent," Frey said. "The defensive line was excellent, the linebackers were great. That made it easy for us."

MLC will travel to Watertown, Wis., to play Maranatha Saturday.