MOORHEAD, Minnesota — St. Thomas quarterback Alex Fenske completed a 21-yard touchdown pass to receiver Nick Waldvogel with two seconds left, sending the fourth-ranked Tommies to a 23-20 nail-biting victory over the Concordia College Cobbers Saturday afternoon at Christiansen Stadium.
MIAC STANDINGS
| St. Thomas | 4-0 | 6-0 |
| St. John’s | 3-1 | 5-1 |
| Concordia | 2-1 | 3-2 |
| Hamline | 2-1 | 4-1 |
| Bethel | 2-2 | 2-4 |
| Gustavus | 1-2 | 3-2 |
| Augsburg | 1-3 | 1-5 |
| Carleton | 1-3 | 1-5 |
| St. Olaf | 0-3 | 1-4 |
SATURDAY’S SCORES
- St. Thomas 23, Concordia 20
- St. John’s 49, Augsburg 0
- Bethel 56, Carleton 8
- Hamline 34, St. Olaf 16
GAMES OCT. 15
- Hamline at Concordia
- Carleton at St. John’s
- Gustavus at Bethel
- Augsburg at St. Olaf
- St. Thomas, bye
Concordia stunned the Tommies with an 89-yard hook-and-ladder play with 29 seconds left on fourth down and 23 when Michael Herzog passed to Nick Anderson, who pitched to Jason Montonye, who ran it in down the sidelines for the touchdown.
“We tell the kids all the time, you know we are going to have to deal with failure in life. That’s life. But we don’t predict it, so while there’s time on the clock you stay positive in your work,” coach Glenn Caruso said.
But the Cobbers were penalized on the point-after attempt and had to kick off from their own 20. Fenske hit Waldvogel for 20 yards and drew a pass interference penalty for another 15. After an incompletion, Fenske found Waldvogel in the front of the end zone with two seconds left for the winning points as a stunned homecoming crowd sat silently.
“We like to pound the football. That’s a St. Thomas thing,” Fenske said.
Fenske passed for 373 yards and two touchdowns, while Waldvogel caught 11 of those for 154 yards.
Caruso said Fenske was stalwart during the game and was satisfied with his performance.
“I thought he took what the defense gave him and he didn’t force it, and he has really grown into where he’s mitigating the failure tremendously well. There is zero question that he has the ability to make the big plays…” Caruso said.
Yet it nearly wasn’t enough.
Fullback Chad Johnson put the Cobbers’ on the board first with a 28-yard touchdown run with 56 seconds left in the first quarter, the first of two long touchdown runs.
“I don’t think we came out as strong as we wanted to and that was made obvious by the scoreboard, but we came out strong in the second half with the one score right away, but moving forward we just got to come out of the gates a lot better than that,” Fenske said.
The Tommies scored their first points of the game in the second quarter on Bryan Steinsapir’s 33-yard field goal, and St. Thomas trailed at half, 7-3, for the first time all season.
A 56-yard pass from Fense to Joe Reed for a score and a short touchdown run by Tucker Trettel seemed to put the Tommies comfortably ahead at 16-7. But Johnson scored from 36 yards out to set up the late-game fireworks.
Waldvogel said Concordia is a tough, well-respected team; but he is proud that the Tommies did not wilt under the pressure.
“There are so many lessons that we can take from today, but I’m just happy the way we finished,” Waldvogel said. “That’s what makes great teams. If we can take that and build with it, then I think we could be pretty darn good down the stretch.”
The Tommies (6-0, 4-0) have their bye week next week before playing Hamline Oct. 22 at home.
Carolyn Meyer can be reached at cameyer@stthomas.edu.