University of St. Thomas Athletics
Bethel
Football falls 30-13 to Bethel
10/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Junior running back Phil Porta rushed 28 times for 122 yards and Bethel intercepted three passes in Saturday's 30-13 win over St. Thomas in MIAC football play at O'Shaughnessy Stadium.
The Royals (3-3 overall, 2-2 MIAC) won the battle of field position early. They broke to a 21-0 lead midway through the second period, aided by Josh Holm TD runs of 1 and 2 yards and two short scoring drives.
But the Royals needed a clutch special-teams play and big defensive stop in the last 10:00 to hold off the Tommies (1-4, 1-3) and spoil UST's Homecoming.
St.. Thomas had pulled within 21-13 with 9:57 to go on Jake Casey's three-yard scoring run on 4th-and-goal. The extra-point was blocked by BU junior Brett Bolllweg, and junor Kirby Carr picked up the ball and took it to the end zone for a rare two-point defensive score. That gave the Royals a two-score cushion at 23-13.
The Tommies held Bethel on 4th-and-4, and one play later completed a 43-yard pass from senior Justin Lockrem to junior P.J. Theisen and to set up 1st-and goal at the Bethel 7-yard line with 7:00 to play. The Royals held on three plays and the Toms missed on a 24-yard field goal.
Bethel iced the game with an 80-yard scoring drive capped by sophomore QB Ben Wetzell's 10-yard bootleg run on 3rd-and-1 with 1:29 to go.
Bethel outgained the Toms 358-298 in total offense. Senior John Croyle caught four passes for 63 yards and senior Luke Hansen's lone catch was good for a 45-yard TD. Wetzell completed 9-of-23 pass attempts for 127 yards with one pickoff.
Lockrem, subbing for injured starter Ryan Jansen, completed just 3-of-8 passes with two picked off before he caught fire. On the day he completed 21-of-35 passes for 225 yards. Theisen had nine catches for 109 yards and senior Joel Korte caught six for 54 yards. Casey rushed 19 times for 66 yards.
On defense, UST senior Andrew Ubbelohde was in on 18 tackles and senior Tom Fritze was in on 12 stops. Junior Justin Nwadiashi had an interception and 25-yard return and Jay Greavu had three break-ups. For Bethel, Kirby Carr was in on 11 tackles and sophomore Brandon Carr had a pickoff and chipped in eight tackles.
Next Saturday, St. Thomas plays at Carleton and Bethel hosts Concordia.
