The Fighting Scots fell to St. John’s 49–15 on Saturday in Collegeville, Minnesota, in the second round of the NCAA Division III football playoffs.
Monmouth made the seven-hour trip north as ten inches of snow hit the area, marking only the third 2nd round playoff appearance in program history. The team stopped at the Mall of America en route, where they happened to see a JoJo Siwa pop-up performance before continuing on to Collegeville for practice and game preparations.
Brayden Deem runs to the sideline in round two of the NCAA Division III playoffs. Photo by Nayeli Perez.
Snowfall resumed at kickoff, which began at noon on Nov. 28 and was broadcast live on ESPN+. The Scots began with the ball as the temperature sat at 20 degrees Fahrenheit, with a wind chill of 7 degrees. The Johnnies opened the scoring at 11:34 of the first quarter when Corey Bohmert broke free for a 27-yard touchdown run, putting St. John’s up 7–0.
Quarterback Brayden Deem found a groove, launching a deep ball to Chase Newman down the sideline to put the Scots in position to score.
“I didn’t expect us to go out throwing like we did in those conditions,” wide receiver Lucas Kessinger said.
Monmouth answered with a 25-yard field goal from Aiden Sensabaugh, capping a 12-play, 74-yard drive to make it 7–3
with 6:36 left in the quarter. St. John’s extended its lead to 14–3 late in the first when quarterback Trey Feeney found Dylan Wheeler for a 7-yard touchdown pass at the 1:40 mark.
Early in the second quarter, Feeney connected again for a short score, this time a 7-yard touchdown pass to Joey Gendreau to push the lead to 21–3. Monmouth responded midway through the quarter as Deem hit Julian Samuels for a 36-yard touchdown. Samuels flipped into the end zone and did a snow angel, drawing a penalty for the celebration—but the play capped an 83-yard drive and narrowed the deficit to 21–9.
“I had no idea that was going to go down,” Samuels said, reflecting on the play. “It was not a clean catch whatsoever. The lucky feeling brought the celly out.”
St. John’s took full control in the third. Wheeler caught his second touchdown of the day, a 6-yard pass from Feeney at 11:06, and added a third on a 9-yard reception with 4:50 left in the quarter. The Johnnies struck again before the end of the quarter as Feeney connected with Bohmert for an 8-yard touchdown and a 42–9 lead.
Julian Samuels hits the ground in round two of the NCAA Division Three III playoffs. Photo by Nayeli Perez.
The Johnnies opened the fourth quarter with a 42-yard touchdown pass from Feeney to Wheeler, Wheeler’s fourth receiving score of the afternoon, stretching the margin to 49–9 with 11:27 to play.
Monmouth added a final touchdown late, as Deem found Jeremiah Williams for a 34-yard score with 1:52 remaining.
The loss closed out a 9–2 overall season for Monmouth.