University of St. Thomas Athletics
Hamline
Football stays in MIAC lead with 35-6 win at Hamline
11/3/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
The St. Thomas football team ran its win streak to five and remained in a three-way tie for first place in the MIAC with Saturday's 35-6 victory at Hamline.
The Tommies improved to 7-2 overall and 7-1 in the MIAC with one game to play. Bethel won 31-0 vs. Augsburg and St. John's won 28-14 at Concordia-Moorhead in other Saturday games. The Johnnies will claim the conference's automatic NCAA playoff berth if they beat winless Carleton next Saturday at home.
The Tommies host Bethel at O'Shaughnessy Stadium next Saturday (1 p.m.), and the winner will tie the Johnnies for the championship and hope to receive an at-large berths into the NCAA playoffs.
QB Nick Ambrasas threw three TD passes, two to Andrew Hilliard (6, 28 yards) and one to Justin Hall (5 yards), as the Tommies took a 28-6 halftime lead. Junior RB Jake Barkley ran 19 times for 155 yards, including a 40-yard TD, as he surpassed 1,200 yards on the season and 3,000 yards on his career. Barkley now has 1,225 season yards in eight games and 3,066 yards on his career. Hilliard now has 12 TD passes this season in eight games. Ambrasas finished 13-of-23 for 165 yards and no pickoffs. He has thrown 110 consecutive passes without an interception.
On defense, the Tommies had seven sacks and held the Pipers to 223 yards of offense. Junior Sean O'Leary had 3.5 sacks, just missing the UST single-game record of four, among his eight tackles. O'Leary now leads the MIAC with 12.5 sacks in eight games. Freshman safety Matt Meunier had his eighth interception of the season and returned it 52 yards to the Hamline 2-yard-line to set up the Toms' fourth TD. Freshman Paul Sommerstad had a sack and a fumble recovery.
The Tommies had no turnovers to two for Hamline. The Toms are plus-16 in turnover margin in eight MIAC games. The Tommies have intercepted 22 passes on the season, three away from setting a school record for a 10-game season.
