University of St. Thomas Athletics
Saint John's
Football loses 48-14 to St. John's
11/12/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
St. John's Alex Kofoed threw two TD passes and ran for another to lead No. 2-ranked Johnnies to a 48-14 victory over host St. Thomas in MIAC football play Saturday in St. Paul.
The Johnnies (10-0 overall, 8-0 MIAC), who broke to a 34-0 second-quarter lead, capped an unbeaten regular season with their eighth consecutive victory over the Tommies. The 48 points were the most scored by St. John's in 35 all-time trips to O'Shaughnessy Stadium.
The Johnnies are in the NCAA Division III playoff field for the 10th time in 13 seasons and will learn their postseason assignment when the 32-team field is announced Sunday.
St. Thomas (4-5, 4-4) had a three-game winning streak halted. The Tommies were hurt by four first-half turnovers, three of which preceded short St. John's scoring drives.
Kofoed completed 13-of-21 passes, including a 28-yard scoring pass to Kyle Gearman and a 20-yard TD strike to Brandon Royce-Diop. But Kofoed but lost a fumbled snap and was intercepted three times.
The Johnnies rushed for 255 yards. Craig Luberts rushed 12 times for 93 yards, including a 33-yard touchdown. Mike Lofboom ran nine times for 72 yards and Corey Weber ran 18 times for 65 yards, including TDs of 14 and 2 yards.
The Johnnies ran 77 plays to UST's 57 and had the ball for nearly 37:00. They outgained St. Thomas 457-276 yards. St. John's defense, which has eight senior starters, allowed just eight first downs and limited UST to 1-of-12 on third-down conversions and 1-of-4 on fourth-down conversions.
Freshman Jake Casey had TD runs of 6 and 68 yards for the Tommies and finished with 85 yards on seven carries. Freshman QB David Sauer was intercepted three times and sacked three times and finished 16-of-32 for 165 yards.
Senior Joel Korte caught nine passes for 99 yards and closed his career with 103 receptions. P.J. Theisen caught seven passes for 71 yards -- ending a streak with five consecutive games with 100 or more receiving yards -- and finished his junior season with 998 receiving yards.
Tommie senior linebacker Andrew Ubbelohde had a school-record 21 tackles (10 solo, 11 assisted) and also broke a UST season tackles record with 133 in nine games. Ubbelohde closed his career with 318 tackles, second-most in Tommie history, including 307 in 24 starts since 2003.
Tommie senior Tom Fritze had an interception, a sack and nine tackles in his final game. Nick Johnson and Nick Shannon also had interceptions.
