<rleton College football team has defeated a nationally ranked Bethel University squad twice in the last seven seasons, but the No. 5 Royals proved to be too much for the Knights this time. After Carleton tied the game at 14-14 in the second quarter, Bethel (3-0, 1-0 MIAC) seized control of the scoreboard en route to a 58-14 victory. Conor Lynch ‘14 led the way for the Knights (2-1, 1-1 MIAC), passing for one touchdown and rushing for another.
Bethel got on the board early, as Marshall Klitzke plunged into the end zone for a two-yard score just under four minutes into the contest. Later in the quarter, the Knights responded, engineering an 11-play, 60-yard drive to knot the score at 7-7. With the ball at the Royals’ one-yard line, Lynch rolled out on a bootleg and dove into the end zone for his first score of the day.
After a Bethel touchdown, the Carleton offense didn’t take long to respond, driving 71 yards in just over two minutes. Lynch completed a swing pass to Chris Madden ‘17, who then scampered 50 yards to put the Knights on the brink of the red zone. Later in the drive, Lynch connected with Anthony Kemper ‘14 for an eight-yard score to tie the game at 14-14.
The momentum immediately swung to the Royals’ favor, as they scored two touchdowns in a span of less than 30 seconds to take a 28-14 lead. Bethel tacked one another score less than 90 seconds later, and the teams entered intermission with the spread 35-14 in favor of the visitors.
The Knights were unable to reach the end zone in the second half, and the Bethel attack proved to be too much to handle. The Royals registered a safety early in the third quarter and scored three more touchdowns over the duration of the contest to remain unbeaten on the season.
Mason Schnarr ‘17 tallied double-digit tackles for the second consecutive game, picking up 13 total and one for a loss. Alex Polk ‘15 contributed eight tackles and forced a fumble.