University of St. Thomas Athletics
5-0
Saint John's
3-2
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | OT | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Univ. of St. Thomas | 0 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 27 |
| Saint John's Univ. | 7 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 6 | 26 |
Football stands tall after overtime win at St. John's
10/2/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
By DOUG HENNES
COLLEGEVILLE -- "The streak is over."
A student's T-shirt told the story Saturday as St. Thomas survived overtime drama in Clemens Stadium for the second straight year to defeat St. John's 27-26 and break a 12-game losing streak to the archrival Johnnies.
The largest football crowd in MIAC history -- 16,421 fans -- saw St. Thomas take a 27-20 lead three plays into overtime and St. John's then score on a fourth-down touchdown pass only to miss the extra point and fall one point short.
Thousands of St. Thomas fans poured onto the field seconds after Jimmie Mattson's attempt at a tying kick brushed the outside of the left upright and sailed wide.
Moments later, Coach Glenn Caruso hopped on the back of junior offensive lineman Curtis James and tried to hush the crowd.
"We have one more thing to say!" Caruso yelled, and he led the Tommie faithful in a rousing rendition of the team song: "On the corner of Cretin and Summit . . ."
The win, the fourth-rated Tommies' first in Collegeville since 1986, pushed their record to 5-0 (3-0 MIAC) and dropped No. 19 St. John's to 3-2 (2-1 MIAC). One reporter asked Caruso what the win meant to him personally.
"It means we're 5-0," he replied. "It means we beat a rival. It means we have five games left. If we don't take care of business next week, this game won't mean as much. This was one step in a journey."
The journey was bumpy, and it wasn't always pretty. The Tommies turned the ball over four times, including three in the first half, but fought back from deficits of 7-0 and 20-14 to even the game with 3:27 left only to have kicker Tim Albright's go-ahead extra point try hit the goalpost.
Big pick
St. John's marched quickly down the field, narrowly picking up a first down on a 4th-and-3 run to the St. Thomas 27 with less than a minute to go. On the next play, cornerback Ryan Deitz intercepted Johnnie quarterback Joe Boyle at the 22 on a pass near the Johnnie sideline.
"We knew they liked hitch plays," said Deitz, a junior from Andover, as he stood at midfield and clutched the Holy Grail trophy that goes to the winner of the game. "We thought they'd run on first down, so I manned up on him. I just dove for the ball and came up with it."
The Johnnies won the toss to start overtime and, as they did last year when they beat the Tommies 20-17, chose to play defense. All-American running back Ben Wartman took over, taking three straight handoffs from quarterback Dakota Tracy and running 5, 10 and 10 yards for the touchdown. With Albright's extra-point kick, the Tommie led 27-20.
It was a vindicating drive and day for Wartmann, the senior from Prior Lake who sat out the last two wins over St. Olaf and Concordia-Moorhead. After only 32 yards rushing and one lost fumble in the first half on Saturday, he dominated the rest of the game and finished with 154 yards.
"We messed up in the first half, but we knew we had to get back what we do best," Wartman said. "The offensive line took control and we just wore them (the Johnnies) down."
Albright's successful PAT in overtime was vindication, too, and it proved to be the difference. He said his earlier misses - on a first-quarter field goal and the fourth-quarter extra point - came on good snaps, but he rushed the kicks.
"I had a mindset: Just get mad, kick the ball and do what I know how to do," said Albright, a sophomore from Urbandale, Iowa.
St. John's bounced back with a five-play drive to narrow the St. Thomas lead to 27-26, capped by Boyle's six-yard touchdown pass on 4th and 2. Mattson had split the goalposts on two earlier PATs and field goals of 26 and 36 yards, but his final kick hit the goalpost and the game was over.
Dual threat Tracy
Quarterback Dakota Tracy played the entire game for St. Thomas except for one first-half series and missed, by one yard, 100-yard games on both the ground and in the air. He ran for 99 yards on 16 carries and picked up 114 yards on 8 for 13 passing.
His one throwing touchdown, a 39-yard bomb to wide receiver Ricky Margarit in the end zone, tied the game at 7-7 after St. John's took the lead on its opening drive.
"Dakota just threw it up where only I could catch it in the corner," said Margarit, the junior from Richfield Holy Angels, who has four touchdown catches on the year. "I was sure I had a little room left and just concentrated on catching the ball."
After a field goal gave St. John's a 10-7 halftime lead, the Tommies went ahead for the first time 14-10 on a four-yard Wartman run that capped a 13-play, 72-yard drive.
St. John's regained the lead with 10 minutes left in the game before another long St. Thomas drive - 13 plays and 68 yards - knotted the score at 20. The Tommies mostly kept the ball on the ground during the drive, with Wartman picking up 29 yards and Tracy 26 yards.
The game was as close statistically as on the scoreboard. St. John's had slight edges in yards (356-352), first downs (24-19) and time of possession (30:05-29:05). Three Tommie defenders reached double figures in tackles -- Tony Danna had 12 and Deitz and Tommy Becker each had 10.
Saturday's turnout smashed the MIAC attendance record of 13,107, set when Bethel played at St. John's in 2003. Last year's St. Thomas-St. John's overtime matchup attracted 12,903.
St. Thomas returns home on Saturday to play Augsburg, which lost 38-28 Saturday at Carleton to drop to 1-2 in the MIAC.
Click here to access game stats:
http://www.gojohnnies.com/custompages/Statistics/Football/2010/100210.htm
Fans were tucked everywhere in an MIAC record crowd of 16,421. (Thomas Whisenand photo)
Dakota Tracy improved to 9-0 as a starter. (Thomas Whisenand photo)
Ricky Margarit (12) grans a first-half TD catch. (Thomas Whisenand photo)
Tommie students had some highs and lows but were smiling at the finish. (Thomas Whisenand photo)\
Tommie players and fans celebrate. (Thomas Whisenand photo)
The Tommie defense bent but made enough plays to keep UST afloat. (Thomas Whisenand photo)
Team Stats
UST-FB 0, SJU 7
SJU - Harry Awe 2 yd run (Jimmie Mattson kick), 11 plays, 76 yards, TOP 5:30
UST-FB 7, SJU 7
UST-FB - Ricky Margarit 39 yd pass from Dakota Tracy (Tim Albright kick) 3 plays, 53 yards, TOP 1:08
UST-FB 7, SJU 10
SJU - Jimmie Mattson 26 yd field goal 4 plays, 7 yards, TOP 1:43
UST-FB 14, SJU 10
UST-FB - Ben Wartman 4 yd run (Tim Albright kick), 13 plays, 72 yards, TOP 6:05
UST-FB 14, SJU 17
SJU - Joe Boyle 12 yd run (Jimmie Mattson kick), 7 plays, 63 yards, TOP 2:28
UST-FB 14, SJU 20
SJU - Jimmie Mattson 32 yd field goal 8 plays, 32 yards, TOP 3:49
UST-FB 20, SJU 20
UST-FB - Ben Wartman 1 yd run (Tim Albright kickfailed), 13 plays, 68 yards, TOP 6:40
UST-FB 27, SJU 20
UST-FB - Ben Wartman 10 yd run (Tim Albright kick), plays, yards, TOP
UST-FB 27, SJU 26
SJU - Stephen Johnson 6 yd pass from Joe Boyle (Jimmie Mattson kickfailed) plays, yards, TOP
