University of St. Thomas Athletics
Augsburg
Football ties 2 records in 49-6 win over Augsburg
10/26/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Senior QB Nick Ambrasas threw five touchdown passes in just over two quarters and St. Thomas tied two school records in posting a 49-6 victory over visiting Augsburg Saturday in MIAC football in O'Shaughnessy Stadium.
St. Thomas (5-3 overall, 5-1 MIAC) beat the Auggies for the 30th time in the last 32 meetings and 16th time in a row at O'Shaughnessy Stadium. Augsburg's last football win on the Tommies' field was in 1970.
The Tommies' six touchdown passes tied a school single-game team record. The Tommies also tied a school single-game record with 634 yards of offense, including 428 yards gained in the first half while building a 32-0 halftime lead.
Ambrasas completed 20-of-24 passes for 379 yards, five TDs and no interceptions. He led the Tommies on touchdown scores on six of their first seven possessions, including scoring drives of 68, 98, 78, 78, 68 and 81 yards. Ambrasas now has 52 career TD passes in three seasons at St. Thomas and has thrown a touchdown pass in 23 consecutive games.
UST backup QB Jesse Baker replaced Ambrasas in the third quarter and threw a screen pass that turned into an 86-yard TD reception by freshman Jimmy Mullen and built a 49-0 lead.
Augsburg (2-6 overall, 1-5 MIAC) gained 231 yards of offense but surrendured five sacks and had three second-half turnovers. The Toms held the Auggies to just 2-of-14 in third-down conversions.
The Tommies moved into a tie for second place in the MIAC race with Concordia at 5-1, one game behind St. John's (6-0) . The Tommies play at St. John's next Saturday, then finish Nov. 8 in the Metrodome vs. the Cobbers. Two victories will give St. Thomas the MIAC's automatic berth into the Division III playoffs.
Senior wide receiver Ryan Galindo caught three TD passes (10, 20, 21 yards) as the Tommies built a 39-0 lead just five minutes into the third quarter. Senior WR Andrew Hilliard caught four passes for 107 yards, all in the first half, and with at least two games to go needs 179 yards to become UST's career receiving leader. Junior Luke Miller had a 74-yard scoring reception among his five catches for 101 yards.
Leading the Tommie defense were Dane Sievwright, with two sacks among his nine tackles; Sean O'Leary with two sacks; John Kaiser with 13 tackles; Dustin Peltier with a sack, an interception and seven tackles; Joe Fritze, who had seven tackles a half sack and a break-up; and Matt McLaughlin with a fumble recovery.
The Tommies held out senior standout running back Jake Barkley, who's recovering from a groin injury. Junior RB Justin Kostner ran 10 times for 78 yards but appeared to suffer a season-ending knee injury on his 18-yard scoring run early in the second quarter.
Augsburg scored with 3:23 left in the game after St. Thomas fumbled a punt at the Auggie 9. On fourth-and-goal, Auggie backup QB Tony George threw a four-yard TD strike to senior Luke Wright, who made a leaping catch in the corner of the end zone.
