The No. 3 ranked St. Thomas football team will hit the road Saturday to take on No. 8 ranked St. John’s for the 87th time in the team’s history
The Tommies (3-0 MIAC, 5-0 overall) have won four straight games against their conference archrival and can take the lead in the MIAC with a win over the Johnnies (3-0 MIAC, 5-0 overall).
The Tommie defense will hope to slow down Johnnie quarterback Jackson Erdmann, who will be making his third start against the Tommies. Erdmann has thrown 14 touchdowns and just over 1200 yards through the first five games.
In his previous two starts against St. Thomas, Erdmann has thrown for 367 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions. Erdmann’s favorite target is wide receiver Will Gillach; the two have combined for four touchdowns and 380 yards this season.
“They’re a well-rounded unit,” linebacker Mark Dowdle said this week on an episode of TommieMedia’s Keep the Ball Rolling. “They’re a good football team, but I think we have good things on our end that are just going to be tough for them to stop.”
One of those good things is running back Josh Parks. The Tommies have leaned on Parks, who leads the MIAC in nearly every rushing category, all season long. His ability to generate yardage is critical in breaking through a Johnnie defense that is allowing an average of just over 5 points per game. Parks looked unstoppable last week against the Auggies, rushing for 194 yards and two touchdowns on just 13 carries in the first half.
Quarterback Jacques Perra will look to build upon his league-best 73.8 percent completion rate, the highest of his career. Perra has thrown for 736 yards and seven touchdowns on the season.
The two sides will meet just days after the passing of legendary Johnnie coach John Gagliardi, who died Oct. 7 at the age of 91.
“You can’t put into words how he influenced the MIAC … and the landscape of Division III football,” coach Glenn Caruso said. “He is a standard in all of college football.”
Gagliardi is the winningest college football coach of all-time, with 489 career wins. He led St. John’s to four national titles, most recently in 2003. Gagliardi was the first coach to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame while he was still coaching in 2006.
If the Tommies can find a win on Saturday, it would mean that this senior class would go undefeated against the Johnnies, barring any postseason matchup, during their careers at St. Thomas.
“It would definitely be something to hang the hat on,” Dowdle said. “We talk about beating our rivals a lot, and it’s definitely fun to beat St. John’s. And it’s definitely fun to beat St. John’s on their own field.”
Brady Halbmaier can be reached at halb2084@stthomas.edu.