St. Thomas senior quarterback Cade Sexauer’s three-touchdown performance propelled the St. Thomas football team to a 38-24 conference win over Marist Saturday at Tenney Stadium in Poughkeepsie, New York.

The game marked the first time the St. Thomas football team (3-1, 1-0 Pioneer Football League) has played in New York. In the teams’ last matchup, the Tommies defeated the Red Fox (1-3, 1-1 PFL) 27-7 at O’Shaughnessy Stadium.

“Blessed to be able to just bring the pride that we have in St. Thomas football to the east coast and let them see what it’s like because they don’t get to see it every day live,” coach Glenn Caruso said in an interview with ESPN Radio.

In each of their four games this season, the Tommies have scored on their first drive of the game. This time it was Sexauer’s connection with first-year tight end Matthew Rink on a 5-yard TD pass that gave the Tommies the early lead.

The catch was Rink’s first collegiate reception and his first collegiate touchdown of his career.

After a quick stop by the St. Thomas defense, a strong defensive pursuit by Marist ended in a fumble by Sexauer, giving the Red Fox the ball at the St. Thomas 28-yard line. Despite the short field for Marist, however, the St. Thomas defense kept the red jerseys out of the end zone, only giving up a 38-yard field goal.

“Turnovers (are) still plaguing us a little bit too much, but overall,” Caruso said, “I think (it was) the most consistent the offense has been.”

And the Tommies’ offense was consistent as Caruso’s squad scored at least one touchdown in each quarter, covering 460 total yards and picking up 23 first downs.

In the second quarter, the Tommies scored two more touchdowns – the first coming on a 38-yard pass from Sexauer to senior wide receiver Wesley Juszczak. The TD was Juszczak’s first of the season.

Caruso was satisfied with his team’s offensive output, despite some dropped passes that he considered touchdowns, had they been caught.

“We didn’t perform perfectly today in the wide receiver core, but I will say I think we performed pretty tough,” Caruso said.

Sexauer hit nine different St. Thomas players with passes, five of whom ended with double digits yards receiving. Sexauer ended the game with 218 yards in the air.

The Tommies also dominated on the running game as sophomore running back Shawn Shipman ran in a 2-yard score with a little more than a minute left before halftime.

St. Thomas finished with 242 rush yards compared to Marist’s 55.

Although the Tommies led by three scores going into the third, the Red Fox would not go down without a fight as Marist sophomore quarterback Brock Bagozzi struck quickly in the second half on a 6-yard TD pass to junior tight end Max Mazella. There were no Tommie defenders near Mazella on the reception.

Sexauer responded quickly on the Tommies’ next drive, rushing for a 3-yard score of his own. Sophomore running back Hope Adebayo set up the score two plays prior with a 55-yard sprint down the middle of the field.

Adebayo, who missed the last two games due to injury, also had a score of his own late in the fourth quarter as he ran into the end zone through traffic for a 2-yard score.

In his first game back, Adebayo split time with sophomore running back Shawn Shipman, who had a team second-best 55 yards rushing. Adebayo impressively led the Tommies in rushing, racking up 132 yards.

“I thought those two played well off each other,” Caruso said. “Hope’s still not 100%, you saw that out there today, but he was enough to give us a little spark here and there.”

Again, Bagozzi did his best to pull the game back in the Red Fox’s direction as he completed a perfectly thrown 65-yard pass to senior wide receiver Brandon Lombana. Bagozzi finished the game with 269 yards and three touchdowns.

However, Bagozzi threw two interceptions in the game, which thwarted any chance the Red Fox had to make a comeback.

The first interception came right before the end of the third quarter as graduate student linebacker Trent Meyer returned Bagozzi’s pass attempt for 45 yards to Marist’s 8-yard line.

“Trent’s (interception) was a big, I think, momentum killer for them,” Caruso said.

Before Meyer’s interception, the Red Fox had picked up their offensive pace and were moving the ball steadily down the field toward St. Thomas’ territory.

The Tommies only managed a field goal from Meyer’s interception, but it was good enough to extend the Tommies’ lead to 14 before Adebayo’s TD put the Tommies out of reach.

Bagozzi threw an 18-yard TD to junior wide receiver Will Downes with 1:27 left. Downes fought through multiple St. Thomas defenders for the score.

Caruso’s offense had done enough in the game to stifle any chance of a last-minute comeback by the Red Fox, moving the St. Thomas offense to an average of 31 points per game.

The Tommies take on Davidson at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 8 at O’Shaughnessy Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota. The last time the Tommies played Davidson, St. Thomas fell 42-15 on the road.

TommieMedia did not send the writer of this article to the game.

Cam Kauffman can be reached at kauf8536@stthomas.edu.