Dominick Ingram, Staff Writer 

The Auggie football team closed its 2019 season on a high note, beating MIAC rival Hamline University with a 12-9 victory on Saturday afternoon. With the win at Klas Field, the Auggies were able to recapture “The Hammer”, a traveling trophy shared between the Auggies and Pipers since 2005.

The Pipers were able to establish a 7-0 lead early in the game, but the Auggies later turned it around late in the second quarter. Augsburg regained momentum when they set up their first touchdown on a wild defensive play. Shaquille Young stripped the ball from the Hamline quarterback and handed it to Eric Reichwaldt who ran it 59 yards to the Hamline 21-yard line. Quran Al-Hameed later rushed 11 yards for a touchdown to cut the Hamline lead to 7-6. The Auggies scored again in the third quarter, courtesy of another 11-yard run by Al-Hameed, his second touchdown of the game. Al-Hameed had one of the best games of his career, rushing 30 times for 190 yards and two touchdowns. Defensively the Auggies were lead by Derek Glynn yet again, who led the Auggies with 11 tackles (five solo). He ended the season with a MIAC-leading 116 tackles (45 solo). 

Following the win and reclaiming the traveling trophy that he created in 2005, the university announced on Monday that Head Coach Frank Haege had submitted his resignation. Haege had lead the Auggie program for the past 15 seasons accumulating a 57-93 record, the second most wins in program history. Augsburg Athletic Director Jeff Swenson states, “We want to thank Frank for his leadership of our football team over the last 15 years. He embraced Augsburg’s culture and its mission”. Swenson announced that there will be a nationwide search that will begin immediately to replace Haege.