Heading into halftime, the No. 7-ranked St. Thomas football team held its smallest first-half lead all season, but a late surge powered the Tommies to a 45-14 win over MIAC foe Bethel Saturday afternoon at O’Shaughnessy stadium.
The Royals’ (4-3 overall, 3-2 MIAC) first touchdown was set up by a 45-yard run from running back Bridgeport Tusler to the Tommies’ 8-yard line. Quarterback Trey Anderson finished off the drive with a rushing score on the next play. This was the first time all season St. Thomas (7-0 overall, 5-0 MIAC) trailed, and coach Glenn Caruso described the Royals’ first drive as “scary.”
“(Bethel is a) very talented and very well-coached team, and if you’re not covering every facet, that’s exactly what can happen,” Caruso said. “But it did not make us feel comfortable at all.”
The Tommies felt more at ease when running back Jack Kaiser chalked up a 5-yard scoring run, knotting the game at seven with 7:14 left in the first quarter. Kaiser’s backfield partner, running back Jordan Roberts, gave St. Thomas a 14-7 lead with a 10-yard rushing touchdown. The scoring streak continued when Kaiser rumbled for a 2-yard touchdown with 14:29 left in the second quarter.
Bethel ended its scoring drought when Anderson went untouched on a 29-yard quarterback draw. The Royals had an opportunity to close in on the Tommies’ lead, but a key fourth-down stop by defensive back Bennett Celichowski and linebacker Tim McClanahan. Caruso called this “the play of the game.”
This marked the first time since the game against St. John’s earlier this year that St. Thomas didn’t lead by more than seven points entering halftime. Linebacker Steve Harrell said the offense picked up some of the defense’s slack in the first half.
“We were just kind of seeing how they were going to play,” Harrell said. “We just made adjustments, we started off slow, but the offense really pick us up, that was big.”
Following the mid-game break, St. Thomas dominated on both sides of the ball. The Tommies started their second-half scoring with a 38-yard field goal from kicker Paul Graupner at the 11:09 mark of the third quarter. Quarterback John Gould chalked up his first passing touchdown of the contest with a 14-yard strike to tight end Charlie Dowdle with 4:10 left in the third quarter. Wide receiver Ryan Bradley said the key component of the offense was execution.
“We practiced really hard this week, made sure we had every single aspect down: run, pass, whatever we needed to do and made it happen,” Bradley said.
The fourth quarter marked two firsts for the Bethel offense. Anderson completed the Royals’ first pass to tight end Drew Neuville for a 1-yard pick up. The Royals average nearly 160 passing yards per game, but this would be Bethel’s only passing completion of the contest. Harrell said it was “disrespectful” for Bethel not to test St. Thomas through the air.
“We want them to throw the ball, and when they continue to try and just run it, we wouldn’t let that happen,” Harrell said.
Bethel committed its first turnover of the game on the next play after running back Marshall Klitzke collided with a wall of Tommie defenders. Defensive lineman Ryan Winter caused Klitzke to cough up the ball, and McClanahan recovered it at Bethel’s 35-yard line, but he lateraled to defensive back Mozus Ikuenobe who returned it to the Royals’ 30-yard line.
St. Thomas made the most of this turnover with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Gould to Bradley. Gould finished the day with 186 passing yards and two touchdowns. Roberts ran for 194 yards and two scores, while Kaiser had 43 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Bradley said Bethel’s defense is well-rounded.
“They have strong guys all around. They came to play, so we did the best we could to execute and finished it off,” Bradley said.
On the other side of the ball, the Tommies conceded just 153 yards of total offense to Bethel, which averages slightly more than 385 yards per game. The Royals’ running game totaled 152 yards with Tusler contributing 127 of them. Klitzke, who was ranked fourth in MIAC rushing with 107 yards per game, dropped down to fifth after tallying only seven yards on three attempts Saturday. Caruso said the defense was successful at adjusting to Bethel’s offense.
“Any coach can make an adjustment, but when the kids absorb those adjustments and play like they did in the second half, it makes you feel really good,” Caruso said. “Probably the most adjustable game we’ve had to have in the last two years.”
Next week St. Thomas heads north to battle Concordia-Moorhead (7-1 overall, 5-1 MIAC), which is second in the MIAC and just defeated Hamline 30-20 on Saturday.
Jesse Krull can be reached at krul7386@stthomas.edu.