In one of the more lopsided games on the MIAC schedule, the undefeated St. Thomas Tommies cruised past the winless Hamline Pipers 49-0 at O’Shaughnessy Stadium.

The Tommie starters blasted open a 42-point lead in the first half giving many backups such as freshman quarterback Matt O’Connell a chance to play almost a full half of MIAC football, something coach Glenn Caruso said is rare.

“Take a guy like Matt O’Connell,” Caruso said. “Even though he is doing great in practice right now, there is no replacement for game speed reps.That is what those guys need, and we got a ton of them today.”

Hamline quarterback Connor Sathre completed his first pass of the game, which went 11-yard to senior Terry Schwartz. That would be one of two first downs for Hamline Saturday, while the Tommies moved the chains 26 times.

The Tommie defense held the Pipers to 28 total yards en route to their second consecutive shutout and put pressure on the Hamline quarterbacks, who combined to complete three of 17 passes for 29 yards.

“We brought a lot of pressure all day,” junior linebacker Kyle Mulrooney said. “Our outside backers and D-line did a great job and made it tough on him. He had to get rid of the ball a little bit quicker than he wanted to.”

It was a different story for the Tommie offense, which gained 440 yards on the Hamline defense and didn’t punt until late in the second quarter when backups began shuffling in.

The Tommies got the ball to senior receiver Fritz Waldvogel early. Waldvogel had three catches for 29 yards on the first St. Thomas drive including a seven-yard touchdown. A successful conversion gave the Tommies an 8-0 lead early in the first quarter. The catch made Waldvogel the Tommie’s all time leader in career touchdown receptions.

“It’s good to see that this year we are really coming out throwing punches, ready to go,” Waldvogel said.

Waldvogel, who finished the game with six catches for 56 yards and two touchdowns, now holds every major career receiving record at St. Thomas and is climbing up the career MIAC lists.

Senior Colin Tobin had five carries on the next Tommie drive, and sophomore fullback Willie Schneider finished it with a one-yard touchdown giving the Tommies a 15-0 lead late in the first quarter.

The Piper offense stayed on the field for two minutes before the Tommies took back over. A 34-yard Dakota Tracy pass to Ricky Margarit put the Tommies inside the five, and freshman Ryan Toney scored on a sweep to end a three play, 40 second scoring drive. The Tommies led 21-0 at the end of the first quarter.

“Not only are (the defenders) holding them to nothing, they are setting us up in great field position,” Waldvogel said. “We’re getting the ball on the 50-yard line coming in, and that really helps us get our rhythem. It is really convenient.”

The struggles got worse for Sathre on the next drive. Mulrooney picked off a Sathre pass and outran the Hamline pursuit on his way to a 67-yard touchdown.

“We’ve never put a 40-yard dash clock on (Mulrooney) and I don’t think I want to, but he’s got competitive speed,” Caruso said. “If the guy who’s chasing him is a 4.8 he’ll find a way to be a 4.79.”

“It felt really good during it, and I was a little tired after the end because it was a little bit of a haul, but it’s definitely an exhilarating feeling,” Mulrooney said.

Tommie linebacker Tony Danna leveled Sathre as he tried to tackle Mulrooney. Sathre walked off the field, but freshman Zach Brautigam took over at quarterback.

The Tommies also handed the reigns to a freshman quarterback in the second quarter. Matt O’Connell completed his first two passes to senior receiver Ricky Margarit and on his third play, O’Connell ran for a 10-yard touchdown to give the Tommies a 35-0 lead early in the second quarter.

On their next drive the Tommies went with a halfback pass on fourth down. Tobin took a Dakota Tracy pitch, threw an incomplete pass and got smacked to the turf, drawing a roughing the passer penalty.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” a Hamline assistant coach yelled. “He’s a halfback.”

Tracy took advantage of the penalty with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Waldvogel and put the Tommies ahead 42-0. Tracy finished the game with 139 passing yards, two touchdowns and one interception. The Tommies turned the ball over five times Saturday.

Valuable reps for Tommie backups in second half

O’Connell started the second half at quarterback for the Tommies and managed to throw two interceptions on the first drive. The Tommies got the ball back after a Piper defender fumbled the first interception, but the Pipers picked off O’Connell again seven plays later.

“When the two’s and three’s got a chance to go in the game, I just got the overwhelming feeling that they were nervous,” Caruso said. “I think they pressed a little bit at times on the offensive side for sure, and a little bit on the defensive side.”

Sathre came back from an early injury to start the second half only to take another punishing third down sack from Willie Baregi.

Baregi said the pressure they were getting on the quarterback was awesome.

The Tommie defense has shut out its last two opponents and allowed only seven points to St. John’s the previous week.

“The fact that we can come in and get back to back shutouts, that’s enormous,” Caruso said. “If you think about how the defense has played in the last three weeks, that’s seven points in the last three weeks and those points came at the very end of the St. John’s game.”

With Tracy, Waldvogel, Tobin and other Tommie starters watching from the sidelines, the third quarter ran out with no score.

St. Thomas got back on the scoreboard one minute into the fourth quarter with a 15-yard Matt O’Connell touchdown pass to sophomore Kyle Whitley. The touchdown ended a 12-play, 69-yard drive.

The Tommies next drive ended when Ricky Margarit bobbled the hold on a Tim Albright field goal attempt. Although the drive yielded no points, the Tommies were able to run the clock down to less than four minutes. Margarit bobbled two holds, but had a big game at receiver with four catches for 114 yards.

The No. 3 Tommies take a 16-game MIAC win streak to Bethel next week, where they face the last MIAC team to hand them a loss.

“Now that Hamline is done we have the chance to look forward to Bethel,” Caruso said. “You say you take it one game at a time, and we do. But this is a game that everybody around here looks forward to, and we’re very excited to get Bethel going.”

Alex Keil can be reached at amkeil@stthomas.edu.