University of St. Thomas Athletics
Saint John's
Football loses 48-28 at No. 6-rated St. John's
11/2/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
In an impressive offensive performance, host St. John's broke to a 27-0 first-half lead and went on to post a 48-28 win over St. Thomas in MIAC football action Saturday in Collegeville.
The Johnnies (8-1 overall, 7-0 MIAC) clinched a share of the MIAC title and secured the MIAC's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III playoffs. St. Thomas (5-4, 5-2) finishes its season Friday in the Metrodome vs. Concordia and needs a victory to tie for second place in the MIAC.
It was the Johnnies' seventh win in a row over St. Thomas in Collegeville and their ninth win in the last 10 meetings in the series.
St. John's gained 709 yards of offense, including 445 through the air. They had scoring drives of 85, 65, 44, 91, 96, 68 and 65 yards. Blake Ellliott had three TD catches. The Johnnies never punted -- the lone time they set up in punt formation resulted in a 30-yard loss on a bad snap and set up a Tommie TD.
The Tommies gained 420 yards, including 129 rushing yards by Jake Barkley on 24 carries. Barkley became the Tommies' career rushing leader with 3,827 yards, and needs 107 yards next Friday to break a 25-year-old conference record.
On the day, the Tommies had three first-down possessions inside the Johnnie 20 that resulted in no points. QB Nick Ambrasas was sacked four times and threw two interceptions. Ambrasas completed 25-of-42 for 314 yards and one TD. Andrew Hilliard had an 88-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and made six catches for 73 yards. Hilliard needs 106 receiving yards next Friday to break the St. Thomas career yardsage record.
