University of St. Thomas Athletics
Bethel
Football loses 55-31 to Bethel in season finale
11/10/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sat. Nov. 10, 2001
MIAC Football -- Bethel 55, St. Thomas 31
Bethel capitalizes on turnovers to claim share of MIAC championship
Bethel scored two TDs in each quarter, kept alive hopes for an NCAA Division III playoff berth and claimed a share of the MIAC championship with Saturday's 55-31 victory over host St. Thomas before 3,500 fans at O'Shaughnessy Stadium.
Bethel (9-1 overall, 8-1 MIAC), the 2000 MIAC outright champion, shares the 2001 conference title at 8-1 with St. John's. The 8-2 Johnnies claimed the MIAC's automatic playoff berth thanks to their 34-0 head-to-head win over Bethel Oct. 27. The Royals will await Sunday's NCAA selections as they hope to receive one of three Pool C at-large berths into the 28-team Division III playoff field.
The Tommies (7-3, 7-2) had a five-game winning streak halted and were denied in their bid to claim their first conference football title since 1990. St. Thomas' standout RB Jake Barkley, who came in third in the nation in rushing at 153 ypg, was held to his lowest output in two seasons as he netted 69 rushing yards on 23 carries, although he did have a 10-yard scoring run in the third period. Bethel limited the Tommies to 73 net rushing yards
Bethel junior RB Mike Johnson of Pine City rushed 32 times for 174 yards and four TDs on short runs (6,4,1,1 yards), and in the process broke the Bethel single-season rushing record with 1,344 yards.
The Royals recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff, picked off four second-half passes, capitalized on another misplayed UST kick return for a recovery at the UST 29-yard-line, and scored on a 41-yard punt return by Jordan Holm. Defensively, Nate Klindt had two interceptions, four pass break-ups and six tackles. Sam Lacy had nine tackles and an interception.
Trailing 27-14, the Tommies had 1st-and-goal on the Bethel 7 with 1:07 left in the first half but had to settle for Brian Lynch's 24-yard field goal for a 27-17 halftime deficit. Bethel scored two TDs in a 2:30 stretch of the third quarter to take a commanding 41-17 lead.
Bethel QB Scott Kirchoff completed 15-of-23 passes for 214 yards and one touchdown with just one interception. Joel Olson caught six passes for 127 yards.
Tommie QB Nick Ambrasas had a streak of 132 consecutive passes without an interception end as he was picked off four times in the second half. He completed 9-of-32 passes for 275 yards and three TDs. He connected with Andrew Hilliard
on a 76-yard scoring pass in the first quarter, then hit tight end Jon Learn on a 71-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter. Hilliard finished with 102 yards on three catches and closed his season with 52 catches for 978 yards and 13 TDs. Defensively, soph John Kaiser was in on 13 tackles and junior Sean O'Leary and senior Brian Sykes each had two sacks. O'Leary finished at the MIAC sack leader with 14.5 sacksin nine games.
St. Thomas senior Andy Kaiser, who started all 40 games in his career, played both right guard and defensive tackle for the fifth consecutive game. Kaiser had seven tackles and a tipped pass and played on more than 135 of the 155 snaps in the game.
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