Running back Jordan Roberts chalked up three touchdowns to vault the St. Thomas football team to a 51-7 victory against Wisconsin-La Crosse Saturday afternoon at O’Shaughnessy Stadium.
The No.12-ranked Tommies rattled off points in their first three drives with Roberts punching in the Tommies’ first touchdown from 12 yards out. Quarterback John Gould hurled a 38-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Ryan Bradley and kicker Paul Graupner booted a 40-yard field goal to top off the first three St. Thomas series.
“The offensive line prepared all week and they blocked really well today,” Roberts said. “Our coaches put together a great game plan and we executed.”
The Tommies led 16-0 at the end of the first quarter, but the Tommie offense made its fair share of mistakes.
In the beginning of the second quarter, St. Thomas was about to increase its lead, but Roberts fumbled on the Eagles’ 1-yard line, snapping St. Thomas’ streak of consecutive scoring possessions to start the game.
The Tommie offense gave away the ball again on a trick play attempt late in the first half. Running back Jack Kaiser rolled out after a handoff and threw it back across the field to Gould. The quarterback mishandled the pass and the ball was intercepted by Eagles linebacker Nicholas Peters. Coach Glenn Caruso said the offense at the end of the first half was very uncharacteristic.
“About as ugly as it was in terms of giving away opportunities, and that’s not usually us,” Caruso said.
St. Thomas bounced back with a 3-yard rushing touchdown from Roberts with 3:58 left in the second quarter to cap off St. Thomas’ first-half scoring. The Tommie defense held La Crosse scoreless and only allowed the Eagles 54 yards of total offense in the first half. Defensive end Anthony King-Foreman said the defense executed the Caruso’s game plan.
“We came in over-prepared this week and we got to defend our home field,” King-Foreman said. “We came together and we did what we needed to do.”
Roberts recorded his third touchdown, a 10-yard score, to put the Tommies up 30-0 with 5:05 left in the third quarter. Roberts finished the game with a trio of rushing touchdowns and 92 yards on the ground.
Roberts transferred to St. Thomas this fall after playing for the University of South Dakota during the previous two seasons. Roberts was a stalwart player for the Coyotes and Caruso said the running back is finding his voice in the Tommies’ offense.
“He’s been awesome and he’s just starting to find his rhythm again,” Caruso said. “To be in a big game situation and to be the guy that everyone wants climb on his shoulders, it really doesn’t bother him.”
Roberts thanked God for all the success he’s had as a Tommie.
“He’s really blessed me and the team very well and (I) give all my effort to Him,” Roberts said. “… whatever He wants to do with that He does and it’s been successful so far.”
La Crosse finally caught a break when a kickoff return and Tommie penalty gave the Eagles possession at the 30-yard line. On the first play of drive, running back Tyler Jenkins’ rushing touchdown ended the Eagles scoring drought, but they still trailed 30-7 with 4:49 left in the third.
Running back Jack Kaiser answered back with a 2-yard rushing touchdown, set up by a 47-yard fourth down conversion pass from Gould to Roberts. This score put St. Thomas up 37-7 with 46 seconds left in the third quarter.
On his first play of the day, backup quarterback Alex Fenske rifled a 78-yard touchdown pass to tight end Wolfgang Dvorak.
A 10-yard score from running back Troy Adams put the Tommies up 51-7 and capped off the victory.
St. Thomas heads into the bye week building off two successful victories against WIAC teams, but faces No. 8-ranked St. John’s in Collegeville after the break. King-Foreman said the team needs to focus on themselves to be successful.
“We’re just going to keep doing what we have to do to win and get better this week,” King-Foreman said.
Caruso said the rhythm of the offense needs to improve.
“We were running the ball effectively, but then we’d have a 7-yard run, 8-yard run then a 1-yard run, so just the consistency in our run game and the pass game was probably where the most glaring issues were,” Caruso said. “Not in the protection or the route-running specifically, but just in making the proper reads.”
Jesse Krull can be reached at krul7386@stthomas.edu.