University of St. Thomas Athletics
Marist
Game Notes - Football opens Pioneer League play on the road at Marist
9/28/2022 1:56:00 PM | Football
St. Thomas Football will look to build on their 2-1 record when they travel to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to take on Marist.
The Tommies are coming off a 43-6 home win against the Lincoln Oaklanders.
St. Thomas has seen success running the ball in every game this season with a variety of ball carriers. Last game, Gabriel Abel and Shawn Shipman were both given 16 carries with the two backs rushing for 106 and 75 yards respectively. Shipman is the team's leading rusher on the season, averaging 97.7 yards per game on the ground.
QB Cade Sexauer has put together a good start to the season as the team's starting quarterback. Last week, Sexauer played his best game of the season so far, completing 15-of-22 passes for 185 yards, 3 touchdowns, and no interceptions. The Tommies have spread the ball around through the air with WR Andrew McElroy leading the team with 9 catches for 143 yards on the season.
On the defensive side of the ball, Grif Wurtz has led the team with 17 total tackles. Mason Cassady and Yusef Leak each have one of the Tommies two interceptions on the season.
The contest can be heard live on AM-1500 Radio Skor North, with Corbu Stathes on the play-by-play call with Ayo Idowu as the color analyst. The game will also be broadcast live on ESPN3.
Meeting the Marist Red Foxes
St. Thomas Football will travel to Poughkeepsie, New York to face Marist Football on Saturday, October 1. These two teams met last year in St. Paul with St. Thomas Football taking the 27-7 win over Marist.
Marist Football has a 1-2 record heading into their game against the Tommies. Their most recent game was a 30-25 road win against Drake. Starting QB Brock Bagozzi led the way for Marist scoring an impressive three touchdowns all in different ways, one passing, one rushing, and one receiving. DB Teddy Wright led the team on defense with nine tackles, including a tackle for loss.
Bagozzi was named the Pioneer Football League offensive player of the week for his efforts.
Running Backs Amin Woods and Glenmour Leonard-Osbourne have both gotten multiple carries every game so far for Marist. In the last game the two backs carried the ball a combined 23 times, with Woods rushing for 58 yards, and Leonard-Osbourne rushing for 59 yards. Marist's defensive front looks to be a strong point of the team at this point in the season, in their last game the unit had a combined 4 sacks and 5 tackles for loss.
On the season, Marist has gained an average of 298 yards per game while allowing an average of 411.3 yards per game. The Red Foxes have scored an average of 15 points per game while allowing 35.3 points per game.
Last Time Out
Tommie Football received five touchdowns from five different players and points from nine players Saturday as it recorded a 43-6 non-conference victory over Lincoln (Calif.) University at O'Shaughnessy Stadium.
For the second-straight game, the Tommies (2-1) blocked a punt and returned it for a score. The Purple also also held its opponent out of the end zone for the second consecutive contest.
St. Thomas has allowed 12 points, all field goals, over its last eight quarters. The Tommie defense had two takeaways and a safety in the second half and limited the Oaklanders to 1-of-14 on third-down conversions on the day.
Senior special teamer Ty Barron, senior TE James Klecker and freshman WR Bryce Boyd all scored their first career TDs for St. Thomas, which extended its home regular-season win streak to 32 games.
Cade Sexauer completed 15-of-22 passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns, with receptions by nine different Toms. Running back Gabe Abel had his first collegiate 100-yard rushing game with 16 carries for 104 yards in his third college contest. Sophomore RB Shawn Shipman had 16 carries for 73 yards and one score.
Sophomore Mason Cassady had his first career interception, and sophomore Yusef Leak recovered a fumble to lead a balanced Tommie defense on the day. Freshman Ryan Sever blocked the punt that set up Barron's TD return.
The Tommies marched the ball down field on their opening drive, which was capped off with a 16-yard touchdown strike from senior QB Cade Sexauer to junior WR Jacob Wildermuth. St. Thomas used a trick-play which ended with a two-point play by senior RB Joshua Komis giving the Purple an early 8-0 lead. The Purple have scored a touchdown on each of their three opening drives with a touchdown.
Sexauer threw his second touchdown of first quarter, this time to Klecker, from 19 yards out to open a 15-0 lead with 7:26 remaining in the first quarter.
Lincoln found its way onto the scoreboard by way of a 28-yard field goal with 3:37 to play in the first quarter.
Neither team was able to add to the scoring column in the second quarter resulting in a 15-3 lead heading into intermission.
Sexauer finished the first half completing 11-of-15 passing attempts with two touchdowns. Shipman tallied 69 yards on 15 rushing attempts and averaged 4.8 yards per rush.
The Oaklanders scored the first points of the second half by way of a 28-yard field goal with 10:49 to play in the third quarter, cutting the Tommie lead to 15-6.
With 6:21 to play in the third quarter, the Tommies added two points with a safety recorded by sophomore LB Luke Herzog's tackle, opening a 17-6 lead.
Following the safety, the punt by Lincoln, was returned 57 yards by sophomore WR Andrew McElroy to the Oaklander 6-yard line, and a tacked-on penalty gave the Tommies a first-and-goal from their own 3-yard line. Shipman punched it in on first-and-goal opening a 24-6 lead with 6:01 to play in the third quarter.
That play opened the flood gates as 22-point third quarter fueled by a blocked punt by Sever, which was returned 15 yards by Barron for the touchdown. It marked the second-straight game the Tommies blocked a punt and returned it for the score.
Lincoln (0-4) recorded 308 yards of offense, 216 in the air, but was hurt by 18 penalties for 138 yards.
Tough Tests
St. Thomas Football has a rare opportunity in 2022 to play two home games in the same month against returning conference co-champion teams.
Highlighting a six-game home schedule, the Toms are set to play the 2021 Pioneer Football co-champions Davidson (Oct. 8) and San Diego (Oct. 29) three weeks apart at O'Shaughnessy Stadium.
Davidson took the PFL's automatic bid into the NCAA playoffs in an 8-4 finish after it led all FCS and FBS teams in rushing at 336 yards a game.
San Diego averaged 235 passing yards a game to rank among the top third of 123 FCS teams.
Touchdown Talk
St. Thomas did something last season that only two other D-I football programs can claim for 2021: record a .700 or better win percentage despite scoring under 25 ppg.
The Toms finished 7-3 while scoring 24.4 ppg and allowing just 17.8 ppg. Iowa in FBS did it (10-4 record, 23.4 ppg on offense), as did FCS's Columbia (7-3, 24.9 ppg).
The Toms' success was helped as it ranked 13th among all 123 FCS teams in fewest points allowed per game at 17.8. Only 18 of the opponents' 22 TDs in 2021 were scored on the Tommie defense, too, as four TDs came via special teams and defensive scores. The Purple ranked first among all FCS and FBS teams in takeaways per game at 2.7.
St. Thomas averaged scoring nearly six touchdowns a game in Caruso's 12-season D-III chapter (446 TDs in all). Last year's Tommies scored 33 TDs in 10 games in season one of D-I competition.
The Toms are on pace as early as this season to score the program's 500th touchdown of the Caruso era.
Offensive Improvements
In 2021, St Thomas did their best in low scoring games with the team scoring an average of 24.4 points per game. This season the Tommies have averaged 29.3 points per game. For some perspective, over ten games last season St. Thomas Football had three games scoring 30 or more points, this season have they have done so in two of their first three games.
This season, the Tommies have averaged 4 touchdowns per game which is also an improvement from the 3.3 touchdowns per game scored the previous year
Fresh Starts
Three Tommie opponents have new head coaches for 2022.
Southern Utah hired DeLane Fitzgerald from the NCAA Division II ranks at Frostburg State.
Butler's 16th-year head coach Jeff Voris resigned and was replaced by Temple offensive coordinator Mike Uremovich.
Presbyterian's first-year coach Kevin Kelley resigned and was replaced by former Florida Tech head coach Steve Engelhart.
A fourth foe, Lincoln University of Oakland, has a second-year head coach in Desmond Gumbs. Lincoln started its athletics program in 2021 and sponsors five men's sports and three women's sports. Its football team posted a 1-9 record last season and played all 10 games on the road over seven states.
Another PFL opponent, Stetson, also has a second-year head coach in Brian Young.
Tommie QB History
It's been 29 seasons since St. Thomas Football didn't feature a native Minnesotan or native NW Wisconsin athlete as its starting quarterback. The last Tommie starting QB whose hometown was 200 or more miles from campus was Tom Stallings (Chicago Heights, Ill.).
Stallings guided the Purple offense in 1991, sat all of 1992 with an injury, then returned in 1993 for his final year. Stallings had a "Mic Drop" performance on Senior Day in 1993 closing his playing career with a 602-yard passing day and six TD passes in leading a 42-41 victory over Bethel to cap an 8-2 season.
This summer, Coach Glenn Caruso started fall camp with only one Minnesotan among five QBs on his roster: fifth-year senior Cade Sexauer of South St. Paul, who shared the starting job in 2021 and played in all 10 games. The 6-4 Sexauer came into fall practice with the inside track to win the starting role for the Sept. 1 opener at Southern Utah.
Two newcomers with promise are true freshmen: 6-1 Amari Powell of Valencia, Calif., and 6-5 Travis Plugge of Bakersfield, Calif.
Another talented athlete who played some QB last season, 6-3 sophomore Branden Smith of Las Vegas, Nev., has taken game reps at wide receiver and will lineup as a defensive back this week.
Opponent QB Talk
Five of the Toms' eight conference opponents graduated their starting QB last spring, including 2021 league co-champs Davidson and San Diego, and 2022 road foes Marist, Presbyterian and Valparaiso.
The Purple's other six opponents will bring back a starter at QB that's either a redshirt junior, senior or graduate student -- Southern Utah, Michigan Tech, Lincoln (Calif.), Drake, Stetson and Butler.
Lefty Leaders
Left-handed Senior QB Cade Sexauer helped produce 1,000-plus yards and seven TDs as a passer and rusher last season, and brings a solid command of the team's offense.
The Toms also have a lefty who could contribute on special teams with true freshman left-footed kicker Stephen Shagen. The Park City, Utah native is pushing returning starter Louis Hyde for the No. 1 kicking spot. Hyde won't be easy to unseat: In the 2021 season opener, he kicked a tie-breaking 32-yard field goal with 59 seconds left to give the Toms a 12-9 win at Michigan Tech. Hyde converted 5-of-8 field goals and 25-of-26 PAT kicks on the season.
Shagen has one of the more interesting bios on the roster. A soccer player through his junior season, he's only played one year of high school football (2021). But the inexperience didn't show as he nailed all 30 PATs and 8-of-10 field-goal attempts last season. He's one of the first few -- if not the first -- Utah natives to compete for St. Thomas Football.
Upper Echelon of the Conference in Year 1
In just its first year as members of the Pioneer Football League, St. Thomas showed it belongs. The Tommies finished the 2021 campaign ranked in the top-five of the conference in a myriad of categories including the top ranked defense.
Below are rankings and statistics for all games by the eight conference schools last season. These stats and rankings include totals from the Tommies' game against FCS power-house Northern Iowa, which was ranked in the top-25 for most of the season.
Rank Category Stat
Defense
1st Total Defense 296 yards per game
1st Scoring Defense 17.8 points per game
1st Pass Defense Efficiency 100.4 efficiency rating
1st Pass Defense 174.4 yards per game
1st Opponent 3rd Down Percentage 31.0% (45/145)
1st Opponent 4th Down Percentage 28.6% (8/28)
1st Opponent 1st Downs Allowed 16.6 per game
t-1st Interception Return TDs 3 touchdowns
2nd Rushing Defense 121.6 yards per game
Offense
2nd Rushing Touchdowns 25 touchdowns
3rd Offensive Rushing Yards 1,644 yards
3rd Rushing Offense 164.4 yards per game
Team
2nd fewest Penalties Committed 46 penalties (4.6 per game)
2nd Turnover Margin +5
2nd Time of Possession 33:36 minutes per game
Hope is on the Way
Sophomore running back Hope Adebayo raced out to a fast start in the 2022 season opener at Southern Utah - the sophomore took a handoff 60 yards on the first play from scrimmage in his second collegiate season. That drive was capped off one play later when fellow running back Shawn Shipman capped off the 2-play, 75-yard opening drive with a touchdown.
Adebayo led the St. Thomas rushing attack with 699 rushing yards on 110 attempts in 2021. Adebayo averaged 6.0 yards per carry and scored 10 touchdowns on the ground a season ago.
Last season, Adebayo gashed the Stetson defense for a 78-yard touchdown on the game's opening offensive play in his first collegiate start. He finished the game with 182 rushing yards and four touchdowns, earning him Pioneer Football League Offensive Player of the Week honors.
Righting the Ship(man)
Sophomore running back Shawn Shipman rushed for 157 yards and two short touchdowns in his first collegiate start against Michigan Tech on Sept. 10 in the Tommies 2022 home opener.
In the first three games of the 2022 season, Shipman has rushed the ball 49 times amassing 304 yards on the ground and is averaging 6.0 yards per rushing attempt. The Brooklyn Park, Minn., native has scored four touchdowns on the year and is averaging just over 100 yards rushing per game this season.
Notable Performances in First Career Starts by Tommie RBs
2022: Shawn Shipman, 23 carries, 157 yards, 2 TD vs. Michigan Tech
2021: Hope Adebayo, 20 carries,182 yards, 4 TD vs. Stetson
2016: Josh Parks, 14 carries, 74 yards, 1 TD vs. Gustavus
2016: Tucker Trettel, 6 carries, 70 yards, 1 TD vs. Carleton
2015: Jordan Roberts, 16 carries, 92 yards, 3 TD vs. UW-La Crosse
2014: Nick Waldvogel, 14 carries, 67 yards, 2 TD, vs. Hamline
2013: Jack Kaiser, 17 carries, 60 yards, 1 TD, vs. UW-River Falls
2012: Brenton Braddock, 13 carries, 79 yards, 0 TD vs. Augsburg
2010: Colin Tobin, 14 carries, 85 yards, 1 TD vs. St. Olaf
2008: Ben Wartman, 11 carries, 84yards, 2 TD vs. Macalester
Pioneers in the Pioneer League
St. Thomas posted a 6-2 record against Pioneer Football League teams in its first year in the conference. The Tommies two losses came at the hands of the top-two ranked teams in the conference - Davidson (7-1 PFL) and San Deigo (7-1 PFL).
Tommie D
St. Thomas' defense only allowed 19 touchdowns through their 10-game schedule a season ago. While it may seem that the defense has taken a small step back this year allowing five touchdowns in their first 3 games, it is important to remember that all five came in the Tommies' first game against Southern Utah. In the team's last two games, the Tommies have not allowed a touchdown of any kind.
St. Thomas' defense also only allowed an impressive 17.8 points per game. They have performed similarly this year allowing 18.7 points per game in their three games this season.
Since the Southern Utah game, the St. Thomas defense has played lights out football, allowing only 229 yards per game and 6 points per game in the two contests since.
The Tommie defense has especially dominated third down, with the team allowing conversions on only 8 of the 45 third downs they have faced for a 17.8 conversion percentage allowed. This puts St. Thomas Football second, only behind Weber St., for best third down conversion percentage allowed.
Proud Program Builder
15-year Head Coach Glenn Caruso has an 9-4 record in FCS after building a 126-21 record in the Toms' D-III era.
Adding in his 6-12 record in two seasons of a rebuilding project as Macalester College head coach (2006, 2007), Caruso boasts a 141-37 career record (.792). That all-game win percentage ranks in the top 10 among current NCAA football coaches at all levels who have worked 10 or more seasons.
Balance on Both Sides
The 2021 Tommies had no superstars but played well as a team with several guys sharing the load.
The Tommies won despite these unusually low totals by category leaders:
• The leading passer, Cade Sexauer, averaged just 86 yards per game.
• The leading available receiver, Wesley Juszczak, averaged 24 yards per game.
• The leading scorers were RB Hope Adebayo, 72 points, and K Louis Hyde, 36 points.
• Their defense had only one player (S Luke Glenna) with more than three solo tackles a game, with 13 different players recording an interception, a forced fumble or a fumble recovery.
Starting Strong in the Second Half
In eight of their 10 games in 2021, St. Thomas was in scoring position on its first drive of the second half. On six of those instances, the Tommies scored on their first drive of the second half (touchdown vs. Butler, field goal at San Diego, touchdown vs. Valpo, touchdown at Stetson, touchdown vs. Marist, touchdown at Davidson, touchdown vs. Presbyterian). Against Michigan Tech, St. Thomas turned it over on downs at the Husky 7-yard line.
The Tommies were unable to get into scoring position in their first second-half possesion of the first contest of the 2022 campaign and fumbled away their first possesion of the second half in the second or third contests of the season.
Home Sweet Home
St. Thomas has started its Division I era with a 6-0 home record - building on its 39-1 record in its last 40 games played on campus. The only loss in that span was to eventual NCAA Division III runner-up UW-Oshkosh 34-31 in the 2016 NCAA playoffs.
The Purple are riding a 32-game home-field regular-season win streak.
Different Week, Different Quarter
An interesting trend has developed with St. Thomas' scoring patterns early in this season. In their first game against Southern Utah, the Tommies scored more than half of their points in the first quarter. In their second game against Michigan Tech, the Tommies scored more than half their points in the second quarter. In their third game against Lincoln, the team scored more than half of their points in the third quarter.
While this is most likely a coincidence, the superstitious ones among us may be expecting a strong fourth quarter in the Tommies' fourth game against Marist.
Did You Know?
• This fall St. Thomas will make program history by traveling to play its first games in the states of Utah, New York, South Carolina and Indiana.
• The Tommies' three dozen newcomers for 2022 come from 14 different states.
• The Purple have their first graduate students in program history in veteran LB Trent Meyer, LB Ty Barron (2022 Minnesota transfer) and DL Mark O'Reilly (2022 Concordia-St. Paul transfer).
• St. Thomas' 30 seniors include 13 who are 2018 high school grads and now starting their fifth season of eligibility. Besides the three graduate students, other fifth-years are 2021 transfer LB Kellan McKeag; offensive lineman Matt Weimann and Mark Schmitz; defensive linemen Seth Bickett, Noah Borgeson and Brent Robley; QB Cade Sexauer; TE Max Zimmerman; FB Joshua Komis; and DB Luke Glenna.
• The Toms just missed their magic scoring number in the 27-24 loss at San Diego. They are 92-0 in regular-season games in the Glenn Caruso era when they score 25 or more points.
• In 127 games last decade (2010-2019), St. Thomas defenders recorded 21 interception return touchdowns.
• Last season, Jonathan Bunce's first interception since his youth football days took him to the end zone with a 22-yard return. But he scored several TDs as a high school running back at Edina High.
• Jr. K Louis Hyde, went 5-of-8 on field goal attempts a season ago. That's a change from the 2019 season when the Toms made only 2-of-7 field goals.
• St. Thomas has held a second-half lead in 15 of its last 16 conference games (MIAC, Pioneer). The only conference game in that span in which the Tommies didn't hold a second-half lead was at Davidson.
St. Thomas Returning Academic All-Conference honorees
Defense
• #91 – DL Seth Bickett, Actuarial Science major 4.00
• #90 -- DL Noah Borgeson, Political Science major 3.93
• #41 -- LB Jonathan Bunce, Business Admimistration 3.91
• #49 – DL Brent Robley, Biology major 3.87
Offense
• #14 – QB Cade Sexauer, Mechanical Engineering major, 3.63
Pioneer Football League by the Numbers
11: Members for 2022 season with the addition of Presbyterian and St. Thomas in 2021
8: Conference games each team plays each season
8: Teams with Red or Blue as primary color
3: Teams with primary colors of Green (Stetson), Brown/Yellow (Valparaiso) or Purple (St. Thomas)
3: Teams that play games on natural grass (San Diego, Stetson, Presbyterian)
2: Teams with Bulldogs as nickname (Drake, Butler)
1: Team that changed nicknames in 2021 (Valparaiso, was Crusaders now Beacons)
2: Teams whose nickname includes a color (Presbyterian Blue Hose, Marist Red Foxes)
4: Teams that don't share a nickname with any other college (Presbyterian Blue Hose, Stetson Hatters, San Diego Toreros, St. Thomas Tommies)
1: Team located in Pacific time zone
2: Teams located in Central time zone
8: Teams located in Eastern time zone
6: Teams that at one time were Division III programs (Dayton, San Diego, Marist, Valparaiso, Davidson, St. Thomas)
3: Teams located in a city that's the state capital (Butler/Indy; Drake/Des Moines; St. Thomas/St. Paul)
4: Remaining charter members since league's 1993 creation (Dayton, Drake, Butler, Valparaiso)
6: Different programs to win or share a PFL championship since 2012 (San Diego, Davidson, Dayton, Drake, Marist, Butler)
15-1: Coaching record in PFL games for Jim Harbaugh at San Diego, 2004-06
57: Years, from 1956-2013, when Stetson didn't play football before restarting its program
5: Current Pioneer schools that once played in a January 1 bowl game (Dayton, Drake, Presbyterian, Valparaiso, St. Thomas)
About MaristLocation: Poughkeepsie, NY.
Distance to St. Paul: 1,214 miles
Founded: 1905
Athletics Website: https://goredfoxes.com/
Undergrad Enrollment: 5,510
Nickname: Red Foxes
Colors: Red and White
2022 Record: 1-2
Head Coach: Jim Parady (31st season)
