University of St. Thomas Athletics
7-0 , 5-0
Hamline
1-6 , 0-6
Football overcomes miscues, wins 51-9 on road
10/20/2012 12:00:00 AM | Football
By DOUG HENNES
Most football teams cannot afford to turn the ball over six times in a game and expect to win, much less win handily.
But St. Thomas did so again on Saturday, throwing five interceptions and losing a fumble, and still managing to cruise past Hamline 51-9 at Klas Field. Two weeks ago, the Tommies survived six turnovers in defeating Gustavus Adolphus 28-14 at home.
"You are always going to have some turnovers, but to have that many in the past month is unacceptable," Coach Glenn Caruso said. "We need to clean things up or we're going to have trouble down the road."
The No. 3 Tommies (7-0, 5-0 MIAC) won their 31st consecutive regular-season game - and 24th straight in the conference - in crushing the Pipers (1-6, 0-6). The win was No. 50 for Caruso (50-7, .877), in his fifth year as St. Thomas coach.
St. Thomas also overcame a minor injury to quarterback Matt O'Connell, who threw two touchdown passes to tight end Logan Marks and ran for 51 yards before leaving late in the first half with leg cramps. O'Connell was replaced by junior Ben Duncan and did not return in the second half.
"We could have put Matt back in if the game had been close," Caruso said. "We planned to give Ben some reps anyway, so we just kept him in the game."
Duncan struggled at times in throwing four interceptions and fumbling once, but he also figured in three touchdowns and ran for 69 yards. He scored on nine-yard run with 35 seconds left in the first half, threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Matt Allen in the third quarter and caught a 13-yard pass from wide receiver Kyle Whitley after a reverse.
"When is the last time in St. Thomas history a player ran for a touchdown, threw for a touchdown and caught a touchdown?" Caruso asked. "It might be a first."
Early UST Lead
Hamline became the first team this year to hold the Tommies scoreless on their opening drive, but on their second series O'Connell hit Marks with a 10-yard touchdown pass and a 7-0 lead after a Paul Graupner PAT kick.
Hamline kicked a field goal, but freshman Jack Gilliland returned the ensuing kickoff 69 yards to the Pipers' 23 after blowing through what he called "the biggest hole I've ever seen. "The blockers set it up beautifully. I thought I had a chance to go all the way."
Three plays later, O'Connell connected again with Marks in the end zone for a seven-yard touchdown and a 14-3 lead.
"Both of my touchdowns were great throws by Matt," Marks said. "Matt showed a lot of patience waiting for me to get open. The second touchdown was off a boot play, with the tight end dragging over the back in the end zone, and nobody was there but me."
Sloppy Second Quarter
Neither team turned the ball over in the first quarter, but there were seven turnovers in the second: four interceptions thrown by St. Thomas quarterbacks and one by Hamline, plus two Piper fumbles.
Defensive back Chinni Oji recovered a Hamline fumble near midfield, but Duncan was picked off on the next play. It was the first of four Hamline interceptions over eight plays in consecutive series -- Duncan threw three and O'Connell one -- and after the third pickoff the Pipers closed to within 14-9 on a 29-yard halfback pass.
O'Connell left the game with a leg cramp after the first play of the next series and Duncan threw his final interception on a tipped ball, but the defender fumbled and the Tommies recovered at their 38 with 1:21 remaining in the half.
Duncan drove them to the Hamline 9, aided by a personal foul penalty against the Pipers, before running the ball in for a 20-9 lead with 34 seconds to go. It was the third straight week the Tommies scored late in the second quarter to pad their halftime lead.
"Even with less than a minute and a half left, our guys went to work," Caruso said of the late drive. "That is so crucial to our success, and it's uncanny that we continue to pull it off."
Reverses Lead to TDs
A razzle-dazzle play early in the third quarter gave St. Thomas a 27-9 lead. On fourth and 5 from the Hamline 27, Brenton Braddock took Duncan's handoff and gave the ball to wide receiver Kyle Whitley, who flipped it back to Duncan. He found tight end Matt Allen open in the end zone, easily 10 yards behind Hamline defenders, for a touchdown.
After a 27-yard Graupner field goal, Braddock, Whitley and Duncan combined on another touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter. Braddock again took the handoff from Duncan and flipped the ball to the left-handed Whitley, who hit an open Duncan in the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown and a 37-9 lead.
"We have worked on that play in practice," Duncan said. "It's a fun play to run - and it's good when it works! It's the first touchdown I've ever scored."
Two late rushing touchdowns by freshmen backup running backs capped the scoring. Dominic Truccolo ran the ball in from the 8 for a 44-9 lead with 2:45 remaining, and after a three-and-out Hamline possession, St. Thomas took over on its 23. Jack Kaiser broke off a 77-yard touchdown run on the first play and finished as the leading rusher with 103 yards on just four carries.
The Kaiser run pushed St. Thomas, which came into the game leading the MIAC with 480 yards of offense, over the 500-yard mark for the third time this year. The Tommies finished with a remarkably balanced attack - their 552 yards were split between 284 on the ground and 268 through the air.
The defense wasn't quite as dominating as in last weekend's 37-0 shutout of No. 7 Bethel, giving up 210 yards, including 89 on the ground by Austin Duncan. But the Pipers struggled to move the ball consistently, converting only 3 of 19 third downs and punting eight times.
"They came out with a different offense than we practiced against," said linebacker Paul Carlson, who led St. Thomas with six tackles. "It caught us off guard at first, but we just had to get back to our roots and play tough defense."
The Tommies return to O'Shaughnessy Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 27, to face Augsburg. The Auggies (5-2, 3-2) lost 38-31 Saturday at home to Concordia, which St. Thomas will play on the road Nov. 3 before finishing the regular season Nov. 10 against St. Olaf at home.
Click here for box score:
Team Stats
UST-2012 7, HU 0
UST-2012 - Logan Marks 10 yd pass from Matt O'Connell (Paul Graupner kick) 8 plays, 65 yards, TOP 3:12
UST-2012 7, HU 3
HU - John Broback 27 yd field goal 13 plays, 75 yards, TOP 6:26
UST-2012 14, HU 3
UST-2012 - Logan Marks 7 yd pass from Matt O'Connell (Paul Graupner kick) 3 plays, 23 yards, TOP 1:27
UST-2012 14, HU 9
HU - Zach Deitchman 29 yd pass from Ryan Ferkinhoff (John Broback kickblocked) 4 plays, 36 yards, TOP 1:35
UST-2012 20, HU 9
UST-2012 - Ben Duncan 9 yd run (Dom Truoccolo passfailed), 7 plays, 62 yards, TOP 0:46
UST-2012 27, HU 9
UST-2012 - Matt Allen 27 yd pass from Ben Duncan (Paul Graupner kick) 6 plays, 58 yards, TOP 2:29
UST-2012 30, HU 9
UST-2012 - Paul Graupner 27 yd field goal 9 plays, 58 yards, TOP 3:00
UST-2012 37, HU 9
UST-2012 - Ben Duncan 13 yd pass from Kyle Whitley (Paul Graupner kick) 8 plays, 56 yards, TOP 3:11
UST-2012 44, HU 9
UST-2012 - Dom Truoccolo 7 yd run (Paul Graupner kick), 14 plays, 75 yards, TOP 4:20
UST-2012 51, HU 9
UST-2012 - Jack Kaiser 77 yd run (Paul Graupner kick), 1 plays, 77 yards, TOP 0:16
