Football hosts Black Hills State Saturday

ST. PAUL, MINN. – It's another home weekend for the University of St. Thomas football team. After back-to-back home games to open the 2024 season, the Tommies will host Black Hills State on Saturday, their third consecutive game at O'Shaughnessy Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:04 p.m. in St. Paul, Minnesota.

St. Thomas and Black Hills State met in 2023, with the Tommies earning a 36-26 win over the upset minded Yellowjackets. Like in its season opener, St. Thomas scored on the second play of the game thanks to a pick-six from fifth year senior Johnson Fallah. Current Tommies Amari Powell (Valencia, Calif. / Chaminda College Prep) and Hope Adebayo (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Simley) both scored in the contest, as St. Thomas scored five touchdowns on the ground.

Saturday will serve as the Tommies Military Appreciation game, and St. Thomas will give out FREE Military Appreciation baseball hats to the first 750 fans in attendance. The Tommies will also open Purple in the Plaza at 11:00 a.m.

Tickets are still available for Saturday's contest and can be purchased online at www.tommiesports.com/tickets. Fans who are unable to attend in person can now watch St. Thomas football through Midco Sports Plus and the Midco Sports Plus App. The subscription-based service will provide a digital streaming platform for regular season home St. Thomas football games along with exclusive Tommie and Pioneer Football League (PFL) content, including replays, highlights, interviews, and special feature stories. Subscriptions cost $9.99 per month or $79.99 for an annual plan. Fans can also listen to the call on 1500 ESPN and the Varsity Network App and follow Live Stats on TommieSports.com.

PREGAME FESTIVITIES: St. Thomas will once again host Purple in the Plaza before all home games in 2024 and will kickoff at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. This week's Purple in the Plaza will feature several activities including the inflatable field goal challenge, and other opportunities to win prizes.

LAST TIME OUT: St. Thomas and head coach Glenn Caruso have a lot to be proud of, despite falling to (RV) Northern Iowa 17-10 on Saturday, September 7. The Tommies led the storied Panther program 10-7 with 11 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, and the game was tied 10-10 with three minutes to go. However, a UNI fumble in the red zone eventually led to a go-ahead touchdown for the Panthers, as they took their first lead of the game with 2:57 left on the clock. Turns out, it was just in the nick of time. Though Michael Rostberg led the Tommies into UNI territory, he was unable to come up with the game-tying score, resulting in the 17-10 loss.

THE OPPOSITION: The Yellowjackets gave St. Thomas a bit of a scare back in 2023, and for good reason. In Josh Breske's fourth season at the helm, Black Hills State averaged 35.00 points per game and scored 26 against a Tommie defense that traditionally held opponents to under 20. In 2024, the Yellowjackets opened the season with a 24-14 win over Southwest Baptist thanks to a diversified receiving and passing game. Quarterback Luke Duby threw for 264 yards Saturday afternoon and connected with six different receivers for more than 20 yards. Defensively, Black Hills State held Southwest Baptist to just six total rushing yards and 14 first downs.

UNCHARTED TERRITORY: St. Thomas has never started a season 0-2 in the Glenn Caruso era. The Tommies have also never lost three consecutive games since the head coach took over in 2008. In fact, St. Thomas longest losing streak under Caruso is exactly two games, set last year when the Tommies lost to South Dakota and Harvard in early September.

AND THE KICK IS...: Good! Junior placekicker Stephen Shagen made history in the team's 17-10 loss to UNI last weekend and nearly won the game for St. Thomas. With 3:53 remaining in the third quarter, the Tommies could either go for it on fourth and long or send Shagen out to attempt a 50 yard field goal. The junior was sent out to attempt the longest field goal in St. Thomas' DI era. He made it, setting program records for longest field goal attempted and longest field goal made since the team jumped to DI in 2021.

50 YARD CLUB : According to available records, Shagen is just the second kicker in the Caruso era to make a 50+ yard field goal. He joins Paul Graupner as the only other kicker to do so. Graupner connected on a 51-yard field goal in a win over UW-Eau Claire on September 5, 2021. Graupner also tied the school record for longest field foal made in 2013 when he successfully converted a 53 yard attempt versus Augsburg.

TIGHT ENDS ARE RECEIVERS TOO!: Patrick Wagner made quite the case for that claim on Saturday, as he became just the second student-athlete in the DI era to record over 100+ receiving yards in a game for St. Thomas. Wagner's 104 receiving yards against the Panthers ranks third in the DI era for a single-game performance, as he trails only former wideout Andrew McElroy in the top-10 rankings. McElroy recorded a DI-program record 200 receiving yards against San Diego in 2021 and then 121 in a loss to Harvard last year. Since then, no single receiver has recorded over 100 yards in a game until Wagner did so on Saturday.

MR. 2000: Senior running back Hope Adebayo rushed for 113 yards on Saturday vs. UNI, bringing him one step closer to the 2000 yard mark. Thanks to his performance, Adebayo has rushed for 1992 in his career and is just eight yards shy of the milestone mark. If he were to pass the mark against Black Hills State, Adebayo would become the first running back in the DI era to rush for over 2000 career yards. He additionally is the first Tommie running back to rush for 100+ yards in a game since Shawn Shipman vs. Marist in 2023.

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Players Mentioned

Hope Adebayo

Johnson Fallah

Andrew McElroy

Amari Powell

Michael Rostberg

Stephen Shagen

Shawn Shipman

Patrick Wagner

University of St. Thomas Athletics