Seniors quarterback Dakota Tracy and wide receiver Fritz Waldvogel used their experience to lead the St. Thomas football team to a 45-10 victory over St. John Fisher. After three years of bowing out in the NCAA quarterfinals, the team will finally get to experience the semifinals.

The Tommie seniors will leave the comforts of Palmer Field for good as they head to Wisconsin-Whitewater to play the powerhouse Warhawks for a chance to go to the NCAA Division-III Championship.

“We just wanted to come out and play better in December,” Waldvogel said. “It has been great to get to the quarterfinals, but to get there now three times and not be able to get passed was frustrating.”

Waldvogel couldn’t have played much better in the first half Saturday. He had five catches for 105 yards and two touchdowns before the break. Tracy had three touchdown passes, and senior running back Colin Tobin had 159 yards on 25 carries.

Waldvogel’s game ended when he hit his head on the turf and blacked out after going up for a catch in the second quarter.

“I got a little banged up there, but I’ll be fine for next week,” Waldvogel said.

St. John Fisher came with the confidence of a team who had beaten undefeated opponents in the last two weeks putting together a 51-yard opening drive. They would gain only 82 yards throughout the rest of the game.

The Cardinals took a 3-0 lead with a field goal on its opening drive. Sophomore running back Cody Miller gashed the Tommies on two runs of more than 10 yards, but St. Thomas tightened up inside the 10-yard line. Miller finished the game with 15 carries for 84 yards.

“Their right tackle (Corey Balcerzak), especially in the first series, did a great job of moving the pile and moving people out of there,” Caruso said.

The Tommies got on the board on their second drive with Tracy’s 31-yard touchdown pass to Waldvogel to go up 7-0 with 4:11 left in the first quarter. Tracy said it is a connection they’ve made many times over the past four years.

“It was a two-break route, and Dakota threw the ball before the second break was made,” Caruso said. “That is a direct correlation with their timing.”

Junior defensive lineman Ayo Idowu sacked Cardinal sophomore quarterback Ryan Kramer on third and 15 forcing the Cardinals to send out their punt unit for the second drive in a row. Punter Ryan Sweet bobbled a low snap and never got the kickoff, so the Tommies took over 11 yards from the Cardinal end zone.

Two plays and 34 seconds was all it took for the Tommies to get there. Tobin powered through the middle for a five-yard touchdown run to put St. Thomas up 14-3.

Tobin didn’t have long to rest after his touchdown because Cardinal senior Ryan Francis took the ensuing kickoff and flew downfield for an 85-yard touchdown to make it 14-10.

“It was like a plane crash,” Caruso said. “In order for something like that to happen a lot of things have to go wrong. It started with our alignment being off, the kickoff didn’t pin him deep, and the glaring problem was that gap in the middle.”

With 10:41 left in the second quarter, Waldvogel caught a 41-yard touchdown pass that was almost identical to his last connection with Tracy. The score put St. Thomas up 21-10 after a seven-play, 88-yard drive.

“They were inviting us to throw something like that at them,” Tracy said. “So we did it twice.”

Waldvogel’s second touchdown catch of the game put St. Thomas up 21-10 with 10:41 left in the second quarter.

Tracy struck again with 4:23 remaining in the first half, throwing his third touchdown of the half, this time a five-yard pass to junior tight end Logan Marks to go up 28-10.

The Tommies didn’t relent as they put together a nine-play, 89-yard scoring drive before halftime. Tobin started the drive with a 33-yard run and ended it with a seven-yard touchdown run to make the score 35-10.

The Tommies turned a 14-10 nail-biter into a blowout with a 21-0 run in the second quarter.

Seniors sit in second half

With Waldvogel hurt and Tobin on the bench, the Tommie offense didn’t have the same rhythm in the second half. St. Thomas ran the route that Waldvogel scored twice on, but this time Tracy’s throw was just out of sophomore wide receiver Kyle Whitley’s reach.

On fourth and short, Caruso drew the ire of the St. John Fisher staff by calling a fake field goal, which came up short.

“Way to go for the fake when you’re up by 25,” a Cardinal coordinator yelled.

St. John Fisher’s mistakes continued when it took over on downs, as junior quarterback Ahmed Hassanien fumbled twice but was able to recover both. Hassanien and sophomore Ryan Kramer took turns as quarterback, but neither was able to get the offense moving.

“We did have two separate game plans depending on which quarterback was out there and how the game went,” Caruso said. “Not only are they diametrically opposed, but they are both very good.”

The Cardinals blocked a Garrett Maloney punt and took over with great field position, but their upswing was dislocated along with star wide receiver Ryan Francis’s knee. On the play after the injury, St. Thomas junior safety Tyler Erstad batted down a pass in the end zone to end the drive. Neither team scored in the third quarter.

The Cardinals threatened in the fourth, and on third and goal from the six, Hassanien threw a high fade to junior Tyler Stell. Tommie junior cornerback Jack Gavin is three inches shorter than Stell but rose above him and nabbed his fifth interception of the season.

Freshman Julio Vasquez got an interception as well, and the linebacker from Florida’s pick set up a 30-yard Tim Albright field goal to make the 38-10 with 6:50 to play.

With 25 seconds to play, freshman quarterback Matt O’Connell scored one more touchdown for St. Thomas to make the final score 45-10.

Whitewater “sets the standard”

After three straight games in O’Shaughnessy Stadium the Tommies will hit the road to play a Whitewater team that Caruso calls “the standard” in Division-III football.

“We are working hard to be in the position that Whitewater is in,” Caruso said. “This is such an enormous step for us because if we want to get there, we’ll have to go through them.”

The Warhawks have won the national championship three of the last four years and are undefeated and largely unchallenged this season.

Whitewater senior running back Levell Coppage has 1,919 yards and 27 touchdowns this season behind a big offensive line.

“They have a legitimate run game,” Caruso said. “Their offensive line is a lot like ours. Coach K (Wallie Kuchinski) and our defense are going to have their hands full this week.”

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