Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
WAUKESHA, Wis. - Playing in front of their largest crowd of the season Saturday afternoon, the Carroll University football team sent the Pioneer faithful home happy with an emphatic 49-14 Homecoming victory over Millikin University. The Pios finished the game with 314 yards rushing on 39 carries (8.1 yards per carry), while also scoring five touchdowns on the ground. That was part of Carroll's 453 yards of total offense on the day.
Carroll's running game was on point from the opening kickoff, as Marcus Johnson broke a scoreless tie for the Pios just two and a half minutes into the contest with a 16-yard run, capping a three-play, 30-yard drive. Johnson continued his strong game in the second period, scoring a second TD from two yards out in the opening minute of the quarter. Then it was Tight End Reed Breckheimer's time to shine, as he scored two touchdowns in a four-minute span, the first of which came on a 14-yard pass from Caden Pendleton. His second TD would come via the ground, scoring on a 26-yard run to put Carroll up by four touchdowns. Millikin (0-4, 0-3 CCIW) finally got on the board with two minutes remaining in the half on a 28-yard TD pass from Aidan Lombardo to Chord Miller, but the Big Blue left enough time on the clock for Carroll to cross the goal line once more, doing so on a 25-yard run by Mikey Coleman with 38 seconds remaining in the half.
From there, the Pioneers (2-2, 1-2 CCIW) would coast to victory, scoring two touchdowns after halftime, the first of which came on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter. Johnson put his stamp on the game on that play, scampering 72 yards to paydirt for his third touchdown of the afternoon. Later in the quarter, Abe Stockwell recovered a fumble and rumbled 83 yards for the TD to give the Pios a 49-7 advantage.
Johnson finished with a career-high 139 yards rushing, on 13 carries (10.7 ypc) in addition to his three scores, while Coleman gained 53 yards on six totes (8.8 ypc). Of te eight eight Pioneers to carry the ball more than once, five of them averaged more than 7.7 yards per carry. Pendleton added 134 yards passing, while his top receiver was Breckheimer, who caught five passes for 55 yards, while adding two carries for 31 additional yards.
Defensively, Carroll yielded just 63 rushing yards, moving their season average to less than 100 rushing yards per game. The Carroll defense played like their hair was on fire all afternoon, recording four sacks, including two by Clayton Huber, while also recovering two fumbles (Stockwell and Will Campbell) and intercepting one pass (Mychale Gary).
Millikin quarterback Aidan Lombardo passed for 172 yards and a touchdown, while Matthew Salazar led the Big Blue with 82 yards on five carries (16.4 ypc).
Now that Carroll has their first conference victory under their belt, they will try to use that momentum to go on a mid-season run to keep pace with the top tier teams in the CCIW. The Pioneers' next test will be on the road next weekend when they'll travel to Chicago to take on North Park University. That game will kickoff on Saturday at 1 p.m. from Holmgren Athletic Complex.