A Division III College Football Game Had a Final Score of 98-0

If there was a safety word, someone should have screamed it.

A Division III football game concluded on Saturday with a score that seemed, a bit unusual. St. John’s defeated St. Scholastica by a final score of 98-0:

And in Collegeville today, @SJUJohnnies 98, @StScholastica 0. #d3fb pic.twitter.com/mA8DmOmd9t

— Star Tribune Sports (@StribSports) September 2, 2017

As you might imagine, the box score for this one was just a bit lopsided. St. John’s totaled 560 yards, while St. Scholastica amassed the whopping sum of 52 yards. However, in perhaps the most impressive stat, St. Scholastica ran the ball 41 times, gaining -7 yards. For their part, St. John’s ran for 337 yards.

According to SB Nation, “St. John’s threw 17 passes, two in the third quarter and none in the fourth. Fourteen players ran the ball. Five quarterbacks got in, including Chris Backes (Fr., St. Cloud Tech). Ten players caught a pass, including one for 14 yards by preseason All-American Evan Clark. Last year, Clark had three touchdowns in the Johnnies’ 49-7 season-opening win against St. Scholastica.

“Thirty-six Johnnies made a tackle. Three players kicked extra points. (The Johnnies were 15-for-15 on PATs). The Johnnies punted twice, one by Ben Alvord and one by Naufahu Anitoni. Anitoni’s went 68 yards.”

Amazingly, this game was not the highest point total in Division III history. That event took place in 2003, when Rockford beat Trinity Bible, by a final of 105-0. A record that St. John’s could have easily reached if they had wanted, considering they only threw the ball twice in the entire second half.

The game was 63-0 by halftime, and 84-0 by the start of the third quarter.

St. John’s Head Coach Gary Fasching told the officials that he wouldn’t mind if the officials used a running clock in the fourth quarter. However, to their credit, St. Scholastica declined that act of mercy.

Records broken in the game include, “…a new NCAA Division III record for a game played between two Division III opponents. The previous record was Concordia-Moorhead’s 97-6 victory over Macalester on Sept. 24, 1977. The NCAA Division III record for points in a game is 105 (105-0), set by Rockford (Ill.) against then-NAIA Trinity Bible (N.D.) on Sept. 6, 2003.”