It was a collective effort for the No. 6-ranked St. Thomas football team Saturday as nine different players put up points in the 65-6 homecoming domination over Carleton College, a game played without all-conference quarterback Matt O’Connell Saturday at O’Shaughnessy Stadium.

Coach Glenn Caruso said O’Connell just wasn’t healthy enough to play.

“He’s been sick now for three weeks,” Caruso said. “And with him just getting wore down and wore down, we just wanted to get ahead of it instead of continuing down that path.”

O’Connell’s absence didn’t slow down the Tommie offense though. St. Thomas (3-1 overall, 1-1 MIAC) piled up a season-high 697 total yards of offense, while only allowing 153 total yards defensively. Caruso said the defense sparked the rest of the team.

“I think what you didn’t see is probably the most potent, and that’s the fact that (the defense) played with an effort, energy and ferocity that we haven’t seen,” Caruso said. “That certainly electrified the special teams and offense.”

After a 66-yard run by quarterback John Gould, who started in place of O’Connell, running back Brenton Braddock finished the drive with a 6-yard touchdown run. Wide receiver Dan Ferrazzo raced into the end zone to complete a fake PAT on a two-point conversion to give the Tommies an 8-0 lead. Gould said he was nervous but also excited to start in his first game.

“It was a designed run, so I was just looking for the open gap,” Gould said about his 66-yard run. “I was just trying to make a play on third and long.”

Running backs Nick Waldvogel, Braddock, fullback Dominic Truoccolo and quarterback Alex Fenske added rushing touchdowns in the first half. Kicker Paul Graupner also drilled a 44-yard field goal that looked good right off his foot. Caruso said he was happy with how his team ran the ball.

“The run game not only gave us big plays, but it gave us consistency moving the chains,” Caruso said. “And that’s something that we haven’t really seen, even in the first couple games of the year when our offense was moving the ball well.”

The second half was a similar story for the Tommies. Running back Jack Kaiser rushed for a 3-yard and a 4-yard touchdown to put St. Thomas ahead 51-0 midway through the third quarter. Kaiser said ball security was big for the Tommies.

“You got to give all the credit to the O-line and QB,” Kaiser said. “It starts with our O-line; they get the push and then we kind of just do the easy work.”

Waldvogel and running back Garrett Engelhardt each added a rushing touchdown early in the fourth quarter to put the Tommies up 65-0.

Running back John Baker’s 1-yard touchdown run with 5:28 left in the fourth quarter were Carleton’s lone points.

Ten different players had at least one rushing attempt, and 12 different players had at least one reception. The Tommies used three quarterbacks throughout the game. Caruso said it was “awesome” for that many players to get in the game.

“Both (Gould and Fenske) have a very bright future here, and we can play and win a lot of games with both of those guys,” Caruso said. “I’m just real happy to have them.”

St. Thomas’ defense only allowed eight first downs, while the offense moved the chains 34 times without having to punt.

St. Thomas will travel to St. Peter next week for a matchup against Gustavus Adolphus College at 1 p.m.

Kyle Jonas can be reached at jona7984@stthomas.edu.