University of St. Thomas Athletics
1-0
St. Norbert
0-1
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Univ. of St. Thomas | 13 | 7 | 3 | 17 | 40 |
| St. Norbert College | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
Football spoils stadium bash with 40-7 win in De Pere
9/4/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
By DOUG HENNES
DE PERE, Wis. - Fritz Waldvogel told TommieMedia.com earlier this week that it was time for the St. Thomas football team to forget the pre-season rankings "and all the hype . . . and get the job done" on the field.
The No. 5-ranked Tommies took their star receiver and returner's advice to heart on Saturday, opening their 2010 season with a convincing 40-7 win over St. Norbert in the inaugural game played in the Green Knights' Donald Schneider Stadium.
The Tommies showed some early-season rust with three turnovers and 58 yards in penalties, but easily made up for the miscues under a stout defense and the steady play of All-American halfback Ben Wartman and quarterback Dakota Tracy
Wartman rushed for 136 yards, including 81 in the first quarter, and ran for two touchdowns. Tracy also had two rushing scores, 81 yards on the ground and 79 through the air on 12 of 16 passing.
"We were off our rhythm at times, but we still got a 40-7 win on the road against a very good team," Coach Glenn Caruso said of St. Norbert, which finished 9-1 last year and is 100-18 since 1999. "We showed we have the ability to play well in spots, but the consistency wasn't there."
Fast start
St. Thomas jumped out to an early 20-0 lead and added 17 points in the fourth quarter to put away St. Norbert before a standing-room-only crowd of 3,350 on a sunny but windy day in De Pere, a Green Bay suburb.
Wartman tallied 72 yards and five first downs on the game's opening drive, which Tracy capped with a one-yard quarterback sneak to give the Tommies a 6-0 lead. They stopped St. Norbert on its first possession and Waldvogel returned a punt 40 yards to the St. Norbert 30, with a 15-yard facemask penalty added on. Three plays later, Wartman scored from the one-yard line and Tim Albright kicked the extra point for a 13-0 lead.
The Tommies threatened again early in the second quarter, driving to the St. Norbert 32 before a Wartman pass intended for Waldvogel in the end zone was intercepted on fourth down. Three plays later, defensive back Brady Ervin picked off the first of two passes - the 11th and 12th interceptions of his 24-game St. Thomas career - and ran it back 29 yards for a touchdown and a 20-0 lead.
"Their quarterback (Rob Berger) rolled out and just seemed to throw it to me," said Ervin, a senior from Eden Prairie. "Tony Danna (junior linebacker from Lake Elmo) took out their quarterback for me and I had to outrun a couple of linemen to get to the end zone."
Caruso wasn't surprised that Ervin, who also plays for the Tommie basketball team, recorded two interceptions on Saturday.
"Brady has an innate sense, whether he's playing football or basketball, of figuring out where the ball is going to be," Caruso said, "and his spatial relationship to other players is tremendous."
About the time St. Thomas looked like it would blow open the game, St. Norbert bounced back with an interception of a Tracy toss. The Green Knights took over at the St. Thomas 33, and scored with 50 seconds left in the half on a Berger six-yard pass to Bryan Stoppenbach to cut the deficit to 20-7.
"We knew we would have to make a stand after halftime," Ervin said. "They had the momentum going into the locker room, and we had to kick off to start the second half."
Big second half
Ervin proved to be the stopper. On the third play of the third quarter, he picked off another Berger pass deep in 
St. Norbert territory. The Tommie drive stalled at the nine-yard line, but Albright kicked a 26-yard field goal to increase the lead to 23-7.
St. Norbert bounced back and put together its longest drive of the game, from its 20 to the St. Thomas 10, but a fourth-down pass fell incomplete.
"That was big stop," Caruso said. "The defense played tough all day - as well as I could have asked for the first game of the season."
St. Norbert later lost the ball on a fourth-down fumble at its own 33. Tracy, the junior quarterback from Geneva, Minn., ran in from eight yards out early in the fourth quarter to make the score 30-7. After the St. Thomas defense held St. Norbert's to three plays on the next series, Waldvogel took the punt and 
returned it 43 yards to the Green Knights' six-yard line. Wartman scored on the next play.
"I was almost there," said Waldvogel, a junior from St. Thomas Academy, of his near touchdown. He returned three kickoffs and three punts for touchdowns last year. "We scored right way, so it didn't make any difference. I just gave Ben another touchdown, that's all."
Wartman watch
The touchdown was Wartman's 39th of his career, and the Prior Lake senior boosted his career yardage total to 3,274. As fast as he started, with 81 yards on 11 rushes in the first quarter, St. Norbert was able to make adjustments and hold him to 55 yards on 15 rushes the rest of the game.
"I didn't break enough tackles after the first drive," he said. "The offensive line deserves the credit. They really opened some nice holes early."
"We're feeling good," Waldvogel said. "We were a little rusty for our first game, but it was great to get out there and go against somebody else. We were getting tired of playing each other."
Next up for the Tommies is their home opener Saturday against UW-River Falls, with a 1 p.m. kickoff on Palmer Field in O'Shaughnessy Stadium. River Falls lost 35-21 to No. 11-ranked Ohio Northern on Thursday.
PHOTOS: Above, Brady Ervin (21) en route to an interception return to the end zone; Fritz Waldvogel (4) finally run down; Below, Dakota Tracy (17) scored two TDs. (Joe Friederichs photos)
Click here to access box score:
http://www.snc.edu/athletics/teamfiles/football/2010/2010-01.pdf
Team Stats
UST-FB 6, SNC 0
UST-FB - Dakota Tracy 1 yd run (Tim Albright kickfailed), 12 plays, 92 yards, TOP 5:21
UST-FB 13, SNC 0
UST-FB - Ben Wartman 1 yd run (Tim Albright kick), 3 plays, 15 yards, TOP 1:08
UST-FB 20, SNC 0
UST-FB - Brady Ervin 29 yd interception (Tim Albright kick)
UST-FB 20, SNC 7
SNC - B. Stoppenbach 6 yd pass from Rob Berger (Roger Nault kick) 8 plays, 33 yards, TOP 2:11
UST-FB 23, SNC 7
UST-FB - Tim Albright 26 yd field goal 5 plays, 16 yards, TOP 1:55
UST-FB 30, SNC 7
UST-FB - Dakota Tracy 8 yd run (Tim Albright kick), 6 plays, 33 yards, TOP 2:10
UST-FB 37, SNC 7
UST-FB - Ben Wartman 6 yd run (Tim Albright kick), 1 plays, 6 yards, TOP 0:04
UST-FB 40, SNC 7
UST-FB - Luke Dewall 42 yd field goal 9 plays, 23 yards, TOP 4:56
