W, 47-24

at Carleton, September 29, 2012

By DOUG HENNES

NORTHFIELD -- The expected and unexpected came through for St. Thomas football Saturday in a 47-24 win over Carleton in MIAC football.

The expected: Sophomore quarterback Matt O'Connell shined again in his fourth start as he threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third in leading the No. 3 Tommies (4-0, 3-0 MIAC) to their 28th consecutive regular-season win (and 21st straight in MIAC games).

And the unexpected: Freshman backup halfback Brenton Braddock stepped boldly to the front with three touchdown runs and 123 yards rushing in leading an offense that piled up 357 yards on the ground against Carleton (2-2, 1-2).

"We've known all along that we have a great running back in Brenton," Coach Glenn Caruso said of the 2011 Mahtomedi High grad who missed last season with an injury. "He was a little dinged up in camp, but he's a talented and tough runner, and he sure showed that today."

Braddock came into Saturday with just five rushes for 45 yards but made his presence felt during the Tommies' third series. On his third carry, he took a pitch from O'Connell, busted a tackle and outran Carleton defenders for a 54-yard touchdown run.

"It was an option call," Braddock said. "I made a cut to the right side, then cut inside and had great blocks downfield. It was a bit of a foot race, but I got to the end zone first."

The run gave the Tommies a 13-3 lead. They had opened scoring in a familiar manner, putting six points on the scoreboard on their first play from scrimmage for the second game in a row. Two weeks ago at St. John's, O'Connell hit Dan Noehring with a 33-yard touchdown pass and a 7-0 lead; on Saturday, the quarterback's target was Dan Ferrazzo.

"I just threw it out in the flat to Dan," said O'Connell, who finished with 179 yards passing and 95 yards rushing, "and he made sure their guys missed him."

Ferrazzo took the bubble screen pass and ran 79 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown just 18 seconds into the game.

"Dan (Noehring) made a big inside block to spring it," Ferrazzo said. "He took out the corner, and then I just had to run. I would have been pretty disappointed if I had let them catch me."

Knights Hang Tough

Despite giving up the two big plays, the Knights hung tough in the first half. They got on the board with a 27-yard field goal after holding St. Thomas on fourth and 2 at the UST 24, and cut the margin to 13-10 on a fake punt early in the second half when Chase Gottschalk hauled in a 53-yard touchdown pass from the up man in the formation.

But four plays later, O'Connell registered the Tommies' third big offensive play of the half. He took off on a keeper, avoided two tackles and ran 56 yards for a 20-10 lead.

"It was an option play," O'Connell said. "I faked the pitch to Ryan (Toney) and got great blocks from Dan (Noehring) and Dan (Ferrazzo). They opened things up pretty nice for me. There was a lot of green out there."

Caruso never would complain about big -- and early -- scoring plays such as the O'Connell and Braddock runs and the Ferrazzo catch, but he still would like to see more consistency on offense.

"There's no doubt that we have quick-scoring ability, and we can ground and pound, too," he said. "But it can be difficult to find rhythm when you score quickly. When you have only 11 plays in the first quarter and 33 in the first half, your rhythm suffers."

St. Thomas had two more opportunities before halftime inside the Carleton 10-yard-line but was turned away both times.

On the first miss, the Tommies had a first -and-goal from the 2 and Braddock scored on third down, but the play was called back because of an illegal formation penalty. Two plays later, they lined up at the 6 for a field goal and faked it, but Ferrazzo's pass was broken up.

"Not punching the ball in when we're that close . . ." Caruso said, his voice trailing off. "That's the most disappointed I have been with our offense this season."

The second missed opportunity came at the end of the half. St. Thomas took over on its 34 with 2:26 on the clock and moved quickly to the Carleton 8, where two O'Connell passes fell incomplete. On fourth down, Griffin Snyder's 25-yard field goal hit the upright and caromed away with no time remaining.

"We got stopped twice inside the 10 when we should have scored twice," Caruso said. "We need to correct that kind of stuff -- it could really hurt us in a close game."

Big Third Quarter

St. Thomas opened scoring in the second half with a 20-yard touchdown pass from O'Connell to Noehring. Braddock had touchdown runs of two and five yards later in the third quarter to give the Tommies a 41-10 lead, the first coming on fourth down after Tremayne Williams intercepted a Carleton pass at the 25 and returned it to the Knights' 6.

"We knew we had to get that one in," Braddock said. "We didn't score when we were close earlier, and coach told us at halftime that was no option for us in the second half. I had to break a couple of tackles and dive for the pylon, but I got in."

Freshman running back Jack Kaiser concluded their scoring with a six-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Kaiser racked up 77 yards on 10 carries in the second half as the Tommies had their biggest rushing day of the season (49 carries for 357 yards). For the game, they had 589 yards of offense on 78 plays.

After three games on the road in September, the Tommies return home for two straight games in O'Shaughnessy Stadium. They will face Gustavus Adolphus, which defeated Hamline 37-0 Saturday to even its record at 2-2, on Oct. 6. Then No. 7 Bethel, 4-0 after a 21-20 win over Augsburg, will be the Toms' Homecoming opponent on Oct. 13.

Football rolls on, gets 47-24 road victory

Knights Hang Tough

Big Third Quarter

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University of St. Thomas Athletics

Football rolls on, gets 47-24 road victory

Knights Hang Tough

Big Third Quarter

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