ROCKFORD, Ill. - St. Norbert College scored touchdowns on six-straight first-half possessions and went on to rout Rockford University 52-14 in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference game at Sam Greeley Field.
The Green Knights (5-3, 4-2 NACC) opened the game with two-straight three-and-out series but then exploded four six consecutive touchdowns and a field goal to take a 45-14 halftime lead.
St. Norbert got on the board when it capitalized on a short punt and scored on a
Richie Gilles 25-yard touchdown run with 8:30 left in the first quarter. Rockford answered with a quick four-play drive, scoring on a Jaelen Ray 4-yard run just 1:03 later. But St. Norbert would score quickly on its last two first-quarter possessions. Gilles found
Parker Lawrence on a 37-yard touchdown pass at 6:28 and
John Trinh followed with a 16-yard scoring scamper with 2:10 left for a 21-7 lead.
Delton Zuleger then scored on a 9-yard run on the fourth play of the second quarter for a 28-7 advantage. Trinh scored again a possession later on a 16-yard run at 6:39. Zuleger then added another touchdown on a 10-yard run at 3:21. After a Rockford touchdown,
Diego Prezeslakowski converted a 34-yard field goal with 58 seconds left before halftime for a 45-14 lead.
Gilles found
Austin Miller on a 21-yard touchdown pass with 2:41 left in the third quarter for the second half's only scoring.
St. Norbert outgained Rockford 495-339 in total offense. Gilles completed 8 of 16 passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns. Lawrence caught six passes for 166 yards and one touchdown. Trinh had 88 rushing yards, with Gilles adding 69, Zuleger 67 and
Patrick Oden 59.
Ray completed 29 of 45 passes for 340 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions to lead Rockford.
St. Norbert held Rockford to minus-1 yard rushing, its first game holding an opponent to negative yardage on the ground since Lawrence University had minus-27 yards on Oct. 20, 2018.
Joe Jung had 10 tackles, while
Kyle Santos and
Sam Barnett had eight stops apiece.
Drew Jurack and
Alex Campbell each had interceptions.
