NORTHFIELD, MINN.—Central College's high-powered football offense hit high gear in week one Saturday, blasting out 591 yards in a 46-27 non-conference victory at St. Olaf College (Minn.).
           
Quarterback Blaine Hawkins (fifth-year, Ankeny) added to his school career-record passing numbers, completing 28 of 39 throws for 383 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. That's the second-most passing yards in school history, trailing only his own record of 421 yards set in 2019. The 28 completions matches his career best, also in 2019, and are the fourth-most by a Central quarterback.
           
"Blaine did a great job of running the offense," coach Jeff McMartin said. "St. Olaf makes it challenging by bringing a lot of pressure from a lot of different directions. But he did a good job of getting us where we needed to go."
           
Sophomore Logan Mont (sophomore, Aurora, Ill., West Aurora HS), who was Central's top receiver as a freshman in the two-game spring season, had a career-best 13 receptions for 164 yards and two scores on first-quarter passes of 11 and 56 yards. His total matches the third-most catches in school history, two shy of Sam Markham's standard of 15 set in 2016.
           
"Logan had a great day and made a lot of good plays," coach Jeff McMartin said. "He has really good vision and is able to make people miss. He knows the offense really well and picks things up quickly."
           
Meanwhile running back Jason Hopp (senior, Earlham), who sat out the spring season, returned with a flourish, rushing for 156 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries.
           
"Jason had a good game," McMartin said. "He had some big runs and made some nice cuts."
           
Central (1-0), rated No. 14 by D3football.com, needed just four plays on its opening drive to move 45 yards for a touchdown and was up 13-0 after the first quarter, stretching the advantage to 27-7 at halftime. The Dutch put the exclamation mark on the half with a 25-yard pass by Tanner Schminke (senior, Boone) to Billy Friis (senior, West Branch) on a fake field goal try with 37 seconds left as Friis stretched out for the diving grab.
           
"I'm glad the play worked but it worked because it was executed well," McMartin said. "Tanner made a nice throw and Billy made a great catch. Billy had a good spring and he's built on that."
           
Back-up running back Isaiah Walk (junior, Buffalo Center, North Iowa HS) had a 15-yard touchdown run in the third quarter before another Happ score early in the fourth period. Sophomore kicker Logan Sunvold (sophomore, Monroe, Southeast Polk HS) added a career-best 40-yard field goal after earlier hitting from 32 yards.
           
Central outgained St. Olaf 591 yards to 371 with a 408-309 yard advantage in passing. The Oles (0-1) completed 26 of 40 passes but were limited to 62 yards rushing on 30 attempts.
           
"I liked that we stopped their running game," McMartin said. "The guys flew around and worked really hard to make plays."
           
Free safety Brody Klein (sophomore, Rainier, Wash.)  and linebacker Josh Van Gysel (sophomore, Anthem, Ariz., Boulder Creek HS) were both credited with seven tackles for Central while linebackers Tate Hagen (sophomore, Britt, West Hancock HS) and Cade Humphries (fifth-year, Geneseo, Ill.) each had six, as did strong safety Cameron Bannister (junior, State Center, West Marshall HS). Linebacker Reid Taylor (senior, Polo, Ill.) recorded an interception.
           
Central plays its home opener next Saturday with a first-ever meeting against Kalamazoo College (Mich.). Game time is 1 p.m. at Ron and Joyce Schipper Stadium. The Hornets opened with a 24-17 victory at Oberlin College (Ohio) Saturday.