The St. Thomas football team made a goal line stand in the final seconds for a 17-10 Homecoming victory against the Butler Bulldogs in front of a crowd of 4,855 Saturday at O’Shaughnessy Stadium.
“The way that we were able to physically make a wall and move it backwards when they have some really good, talented players as well, I thought was awesome,” head coach Glenn Caruso said.
St. Thomas (4-2, 3-0 PFL) opened the scoring with a 35-yard field goal from sophomore kicker Stephen Shagen, then followed it up with a touchdown to start the second quarter on a 2-yard run by junior running back Hope Adebayo.
Adebayo added another touchdown in the third quarter on a 27-yard run to put the Tommies up 17-3 after a Butler field goal at the end of the first half.
Adebayo finished with 88 yards and two touchdowns on top of junior running back Shawn Shipman’s 103 yards. Sophomore running back Gabriel Abel added another 49 yards as the Tommies’ running game gained 229 yards, carrying the team to victory.
“Those guys are brothers to me,” Adebayo said of his fellow running backs. “We pick each other up, and today was a day where we all ate, and I’m grateful for that.”
Caruso praised the three running backs after the game, but also complimented the offensive line for the help they gave to bolster the running game.
“No one mentions Jason Laliberte, Langston Robinson, Alec Rasmussen, Brock Stanek, Matthew Rink and Dane Demuth and all those guys up front, right? They were great,” Caruso said of the unit.
The Bulldogs’ (4-2, 2-1 PFL) graduate running back Jyran Mitchell would answer back with an 11-yard touchdown run of his own in the fourth quarter to make it 17-10.
Mitchell, who came into the game with over 600 rushing yards to start the season, was held to just 49 yards on 13 carries against a strong St. Thomas defense.
The Bulldogs made a final drive to the Tommies’ 2-yard line, but fell short after sophomore linebacker Ryan Sever tipped senior quarterback Bret Bushka’s pass on fourth down to end the game. This came after another close game last Saturday against Dayton, where the Tommies’ defense stopped another potentially game-winning drive by the Flyers close to the goal line to ice the game.
“If we can win by two scores, that would be fine, and if it’s not meant to be, it’s not meant to be,” Caruso said of the victory.
Laliberte left the field in the first quarter with an injury. For the Bulldogs, junior wide receiver Luka Popovic left the field with an injury.
The Tommies will play against Drake next week on Saturday, Oct. 14 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.
Kevin Lynch can be reached at lync1832@stthomas.edu.
Miles Schiffer can be reached at schi9629@stthomas.edu.