The Buena Vista football team will open its 2016 season on Saturday afternoon by hosting eighth-ranked St. John's University on Hall of Fame Day.

BVU is looking to bounce back from a tough 42-33 setback on the road last Saturday at NAIA Mayville St. (N.D).  The Beavers overcame a 28-10 halftime deficit to get with two points midway through the fourth quarter, but couldn't quite get over the hump.

The Beavers will have their work cut out for them when they take the field again on Saturday  by facing a St. John's program that went 10-2 a year ago and has more wins than any other team in DIII history (611).  The Johnnies began their campaign with a convincing 49-7 triumph over St. Scholastica.

BVU will have to tighten up its play defensively in order to contain a potent and athletic St. John's offense which outgained St. Scholastica, 519-97.  Last week against the Comets, the Beavers surrendered 417 yards, including 200 on the ground.

Zach Brandt set a career-high with 10 tackles to help lead the way with Nick Amundson adding eight stops and one interception.

The Beavers did put together a balanced attack of its own, offensively, with Cody Mowery rushing for 138 yards and quarterback Trevor Trunck throwing for over 200 more.  Trunck was responsible for all four BVU touchdowns - two running and two passing - including a career-long 60-yard scamper early in the first quarter than tied things up at 7-7.

Senior wide-out Jalen Henningsen hauled in a pair of touchdowns and continues to close in on the program's all-time receiving yards mark.  He enters the week with 2,091 yards for his career and needs just over 100 on Saturday to climb into second.

The Johnnies, however, allowed just 11 net yards rushing a week ago and registered 15 tackles for a loss.  Leonard Gutierrez also intercepted three passes while making his first career start.

Saturday marks only the third all-time meeting between the two programs.  St. John's was victorious last year in Collegeville, Minn., 52-7.  The only other time the two sides met was nearly 40 years earlier during the DIII semifinals when the Johnnies were victorious, 61-0.

At halftime of Saturday's contest, four new individuals will be enshrined into the Buena Vista Athletic Hall of Fame: Michelle (Brazda) Johnson '98, Shana (Manning) Michael '99, Andy Krueger '00 and Eric Wiebers '05.