WAVERLY, Iowa-- The fifth-ranked Wartburg football team set the school record in wins with its 12th of the season in the 21-10 victory over No. 13 St. John's (10-2) Saturday.



"This was a tremendous battle," said head coach Rick Willis. "Our guys were able to keep their composure (after a scoreless first half) and continued to execute our game plan."

The game was scoreless through halftime. SJU's top running back, Sam Sura, was sidelined with an injury in the first quarter. Junior safety James Garlock (Johnston) commented, "we expected them to run the ball and we wanted to test our abilities against this style of play."

Junior Brandon Domeyer (Manchester) surpassed the 1,000 yard rushing mark for the season on his second carry of the game to become the first running back to achieve this since Dan Hammes in 2006.

"Achieving this was a goal of mine this season and all the credit goes to the offensive line for their work not only today but all season," he said.

Junior Logan Schrader (Killdeer, Ill.) threw a four-yard touchdown pass to senior Taylor Jacobsmeier (Wapello) on the Knights' second drive of the third quarter.

The Johnnies answered on their ensuing drive to knot the score at seven all.

In the fourth quarter, St. John's got the ball on its own 36-yard line and drove to Wartburg's four-yard line on fourth-and-one until a penalty pushed it back to the nine-yard line. The Johnnies settled for a field goal to take the lead at 10-7 with 14:02 remaining.

The Knights knew they had to respond and did so on their next drive as they returned the kickoff to their own 39-yard line. Domeyer took it in from one-yard out to pull ahead 14-10.

The Orange and Black defense forced St. John's to fumble on Wartburg's 16-yard line. The Knights capitalized on this turnover as Schrader ran it himself for the 56-yard score to take the 21-10 lead.

The Johnnies got the ball back on their 35-yard line with 4:30 to play. After a complete pass, they had two incomplete passes as and consecutive sacks to turn the ball over on downs.

SJU went three and out to which Wartburg went into the victory formation.

Schrader led the team on the ground with 119 yards and also threw for 87. Domeyer closely followed with 109 rushing yards.

With the win, the Knights advance to the Elite Eight against No. 1 UW-Whitewater. The game is expected to be on the road but official word will be made Sunday.

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