Tommies run away with 34-14 victory over San Diego

ST. PAUL, MINN. – It was a picture perfect day for the University of St. Thomas football team. The sun was shining. The fall colors were on full display at O'Shaughnessy Stadium and Cretin Avenue, and the Tommies were firing on all cylinders. Thanks to a historic day from senior running back Hope Adebayo (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Simley), St. Thomas earned its most convincing and dominant win in Pioneer Football League (PFL) play, downing the University of San Diego 34-14 Saturday afternoon. The win helped the Tommies improve to 5-3 overall and 4-0 in PFL play, putting them in a tie with Drake University for first place in the conference standings.

RECAP:
Very few things went wrong for St. Thomas in the first quarter of Saturday's contest. After forcing an early punt by San Diego, the Tommies took over on their own 10 yard line and spent the next 10 plays moving downfield. Sophomore quarterback Tak Tateoka (Waukesha, Wis. / Waukesha South) commanded the St. Thomas offense, connecting with Colin Chase (Orange County, Calif. / St. John Bosco) for a 34-yard pass to put the Tommies in Torero territory. However, that SportsCenter worthy catch paled in comparison to the 42-yard touchdown run for Adebayo, his first of three Saturday afternoon, which gave St. Thomas the early 7-0 lead.

The Tommies were not done with highlight worthy plays in the first quarter, as senior safety Grif Wurtz (Chaska, Minn. / Chaska) added a few of his own to the tape. After intercepting Grant Sergent's pass on San Diego's next offensive possession, Wurtz became the first St. Thomas player in the Di era to record an interception and complete pass in the same quarter. Yes, after the Tommies seemingly failed to score after the turnover, head coach Glenn Caruso sent the field goal unit out to the field to attempt a 39-yard field goal. Only, Ben Hoiland (North Oaks, Minn. / Mounds View) didn't kick the ball. Wurtz held onto it and connected with Matthew Rink (Lincoln, Neb. / Southwest) to secure the first down for St. Thomas.

Hoiland eventually converted a 25-yard field goal on the drive, boosting the Tommie lead to 10-0 at the start of the second quarter. The Toreros did make things interesting, cutting the lead to 10-7 with a 12 play, 68-yard touchdown drive. However, San Diego was never quite able to regain the momentum or catch St. Thomas (and Adebayo for that matter). Tateoka found Jacob Wildermuth (Plymouth, Minn. / Wayzata) in the end zone on the Tommies next offensive drive, extending the lead to 17-7, before another Hoiland field goal made it 20-7 St. Thomas at halftime.

But truly, it was Adebayo who was the star of the show for the Tommies. On the second play of the second half, the senior leaped and pirouetted his way through San Diego defenders for a 60-yard touchdown, extending St. Thomas' lead to 27-7. San Diego did make it a two score game at the end of the third, scoring to make it 27-14 at the end of the third quarter.

Thanks to stellar play by the Tommie defense, the Torero offense was near nonexistent in the fourth quarter, but Adebayo was omnipresent. With San Diego seemingly closing the gap, the senior running back closed the lid on the Toreros hopes of a come back. With 11:51 remaining in the game, Adebayo rushed 70 yards to the end zone, all but securing the 34-14 win for St. Thomas.

TOP TOMMIES

There was no stopping Hope Adebayo (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Simley) Saturday afternoon. The senior running back rushed for a career high 277 yards on 18 carries and scored three touchdowns, his second straight multi touchdown game.
Tak Tateoka (Waukesha, Wis. / Waukesha West) tallied 105 passing yards and completed 10 of 18 passes. His top targets, Colin Chase (Orange County, Calif. / St. John Bosco) recorded 51 yards on four receptions, while Jacob Wildermuth (Plymouth, Minn. / Wayzata) scored the lone receiving touchdown of the afternoon.
Ryan Sever (Benilde-St. Margaret) led the team with eight tackles, including a sack of eight yards, and also tallied a fumble recovery.

HE COULD! GO! ALL! THE! WAY!
Hope Adebayo made plenty of history Saturday afternoon, becoming the first running back in the DI era to rush for over 200 yards in a game. He closed his career-high performance with 277 yards on 18 carries, the most for any Tommie running back since the 2018 season.

UP NEXT
St. Thomas hits the road for its next PFL contest, traveling to Morehead State on Saturday, November 2. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. CT in Morehead, Kentucky.

Next Event

Team Stats

Tak Tateoka

Grif Wurtz

Players Mentioned

Hope Adebayo

Colin Chase

Ben Hoiland

Matthew Rink

Ryan Sever

Tak Tateoka

Jacob Wildermuth

Grif Wurtz