Quarterback John Gould’s 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end Charlie Dowdle with three seconds on the clock led the St. Thomas football team to a 21-14 halftime lead over Gustavus Saturday at a snow-covered O’Shaughnessy Stadium.

Running back Brenton Braddock led the Tommies on the ground with 87 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the first half. Braddock took the majority of the carries and tied the score 14-14 with a 5-yard touchdown run 3:12 left before the half after running back Jack Kaiser left the game following the Tommies’ second offensive play with an apparent lower body injury.

The Gusties opened the scoring with a 65-yard drive capped off with a 1-yard touchdown run by running back Luke Martinez with 2:38 left in the first quarter. Martinez contributed the lion’s share of the offense on the 7-play drive, carrying the ball five times.

St. Thomas tied the score at 7-7 with just under 10 minutes remaining before halftime on Braddock’s 5-yard touchdown run. Braddock took the handoff from Gould, bounced outside the hash marks and tiptoed past a Gustavus defender on his way the end zone.

Gustavus regained the lead just over two minutes later.

After a 34-yard run from Martinez down to the St. Thomas 5, quarterback Mitch Hendricks ran the ball himself on the next play and found the end zone for the score.

Braddock and the Tommies answered right back on their next drive. The team drove 66 yards and evened the score on Braddock’s second score of the game.

With their passing attacks seemingly stymied by the driving snow, each team relied heavily on its ground game. Both teams combined for just 117 yards through the air. Gustavus racked up 143 yards while St. Thomas gained 142 on the ground in the first half.

Tom Pitzen can be reached at pitz2014@stthomas.edu.