Four different players scored for St. Thomas in the first half as the visiting Tommies lead Concordia-Moorhead 28-14.
On the first drive of the game, Concordia-Moorhead connected on a 76-yard touchdown play when quarterback Michael Dunham hit senior Chris Gilson on a slant across the middle. Gilson, who only had four catches for 42 yards prior to today’s game, burned the Tommie secondary just 1:26 into the contest.
The Tommies answered back on their first drive when senior running back Colin Tobin continued his impressive touchdown streak, scoring on a three-yard run to tie the game at 7-7. In the last three games, Tobin has scored nine touchdowns.
Senior Fritz Waldvogel, last week’s MIAC special teams player of the week, gave the Tommies a 14-7 lead in the first quarter when the 5-foot-9-inch wide receiver caught a Dakota Tracy pass over two Cobber defenders in the end zone.
Later in the first quarter, junior cornerback Chinni Oji intercepted a Dunham pass intended for Bronson Shepherd for his team-high second pick of the season.
Oji’s interception led to a Tracy touchdown after the quarterback scrambled into the end zone for a five-yard score. The Tommies led 21-7 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter began with a long Cobber drive that went all the way to the Tommie red zone. Senior linebacker Willy Baregi picked up his first sack of the season to set-up a third and long for the Cobbers, and sophomore Winter Cullen made an interception from his knees to halt the Cobber’s momentum.
Nearing the end of the second quarter, Tracy faked the screen pass to Waldvogel and went deep to sophomore wide receiver Dan Noehring for a 56-yard touchdown to give the Tommies a 28-7 advantage.
With less than two minutes left in the first half, the Cobbers drove 75-yards for a touchdown, converting on fourth down once to keep the drive alive. Dunham found junior fullback Brett Baune for the 17-yard score, his first touchdown reception of the season. The Cobbers’ late touchdown cut the Tommies’ lead to 28-14 heading into halftime.
The Tommies outgained the Cobbers 269 yards to 241 yards in total offense in the first half and held the Cobbers to just 22 yards rushing.
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Ryan Shaver can be reached at shav7005@stthomas.edu.