University of St. Thomas Athletics
Macalester
Football opens season with 35-10 victory
9/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
St. Thomas 35, Macalester 10
Sophomore Ben Wartman rushed for 84 yards and two short TDs in his first career start and Glenn Caruso won his St. Thomas football head coaching debut with Saturday's 35-10 victory over visiting Macalester at O'Shaughnessy Stadium.
Senior QB David Sauer threw two TD passes for the Tommies (1-0), who broke to a 21-0 lead midway through the second period. UST outgained the Scots in total offense, 353-245 yards, and benefitted from three Macalester turnovers.
The Scots (0-1), who had a 37:00-23:00 advantage in time of possession, put together a long drive to close the first half capped by Jeff Swick's 34-yard field goal for a 21-3 deficit.
Macalester started the second half with an 8:00 drive 
of 12 plays and 73 yards capped by Jacob McDonnell's two-yard TD run to climb within 21-10.
Moments later, the Scots recovered a fumbled snap near midfield and had a first down at UST's 41-yard-line. But St. Thomas junior transfer Brady Ervin's interception on the next play halted Mac's best chance to get closer.
Senior tight end Tom Knowles caught a 20-yard TD pass to extend the UST lead to 28-10. Michael Duncombe's five-yard touchdown run with 5:00 to play in the game closed out the Tommie scoring.
Jeffrey Hilliard had eight solo tackles and one pass break up and Tony Danna had nine tackles for UST. Wyatt Delgado had a forced fumble that was recovered by Jacob Lewis, and Kirk Baglien added an interception. Junior PK Eric Taylor was 5-for-5 in PAT kicks.
Wartman rushed 11 times for 84 yards and Sauer played just three quarters and completed 10-of-18 passes for 157 yards. Freshman Fritz Waldvogel broke a 48-yard catch and run to the Macalester one-yard line and finished with six catches for 98 yards.
For the Scots, McDonnell rushed 20 times for 71 yards and sophomore QB Trevor Miehe completed 15-of-22 passes for 132 yards. Matt Mitchell cacught four passes for 51 yards. Brian Foster had 11 tackles and a forced fumble and Graham Brown had a key interception in the end zone on a jump ball to deny UST a touchdown.
It was the first football meeting between the Summit Avenue neighbors since 2001 when Macalester left the MIAC to become an independent in football. Caruso was the Scots' head coach the last two years before leaving in January to become the Tommies' head coach, thus it was an emotional game for him to face many former players in his UST debut. Caruso's former defensive coordinator with the Scots, Tony Jennison, replaced him and made his Macalester head coaching debut.
UST, which ended a six-game home-field losing streak, had lost nine of its last 10 season openers.
The Tommies have a bye next Saturday and open MIAC play Sept. 20 at St. Olaf.
Above: David Sauer (3); Ben Wartman (8)
Click here to access box score:
http://www.tommiesports.com/ftbl/stats/9-6-FB.HTM
Click here to view UST vs. Macalester video highlights:
http://stream.stthomas.edu/view.htm?id=USTFBMAC09072008TD2
