Tommie Football Notes/Oct. 3

October 03, 2008

Game 4:

St. Thomas (2-1 overall, 1-1 MIAC) hits the road Saturday to face Gustavus (2-1, 1-1) in conference action in St. Peter. Kickoff is 1:30 p.m. on the Gusties' field.

Did You Know?

--The Toms have outscored foes 35-7 in the first quarter after being outscored 125-41 in the first period in 2007

--UST's defense has allowed just five touchdowns in 12 regulation quarters this season

--Coach Glenn Caruso's Tommies have scored first in all three games

--UST has only five turnovers through three games after committing 13 in an 0-3 start in 2007

--Tommie QBs have allowed just two sacks in three games after being sacked 35 times in 2007

--UST has won 10 of its last 16 MIAC road games.

--The Tommies had at least one TD pass in 21 of their last 22 games before getting none (three rushing TDs) in last week's 24-21 win over Hamline

--The presence of tight end co-starter Jake Friederichs marks the ninth year in a row with at least one Totino-Grace grad playing on UST's offensive line

--The UST offense has had 100-yard rushing performances by a player 53 times in the 17 seasons since 1992

--UST has had just three losing football seasons in the last 13 years, and was a combined 13-6 in 2005 and 2006; St. Thomas has won six or more games in 19 of the last 27 seasons

--St. Thomas has 23 upperclassmen with grade-point averages of 3.50 or higher, plus an overall team gpa near 3.30.

Listen/Watch:

Saturday's game will be webcast and videocast live by Gustavus, and can be accessed here: 

http://gustavus.edu/athletics/audio.cfm

Live stats can be accessed here:

http://gustavus.edu/athletics/fb/LIVE/xlive.htm 

More on Gustavus:

--THE COACHES: Glenn Caruso is 8-13 overall, including two seasons at Macalester as an independent and his 2-1 Tommie record...  Jay Schoenebeck is 70-73 in his 15th and final season as a college head coach. He has announced his resignation following the 2008 season.

--ALL-TIME GAC SERIES: St. Thomas leads a very competitive all-time series 38-36-2. The Gusties broke a three-game losing streak to UST with last year's 30-14 win in St. Paul... Seven of the nine UST-Gustavus games from 1996 to 2004 were decided by three or less points, including a 10-7 overtime game in howling winds in 2004, but the last three meetings have been decided by 14 or more points.

--SCOUTING THE GUSTIES: The Gusties lost 31-17 last week at St. John's and led briefly at 10-7 before allowing 24 unanswered points... Gustavus beat Hamline 21-14 and won at Coe, 27-19... The Gusties have one of Division III's best receivers in senior Chad Arlt, who had 100 receptions for 1,294 yards last year and thus far has 24 receptions for 341 yards... GAC has a new starter at QB, junior Jordan Becker, and he's completed 64% with five TDs for 625 yards but has had seven picked off.

For more details on Gustavus football, click below:

http://gustavus.edu/athletics/news/4302

Spotlight Tommies:

--WHO'S HOT: Tommie junior A.C. Clothier is averaging 42.3 yards on nine punts, with three downed inside the five-yard line.... junior PK Eric Taylor is 10-for-10 on PAT kicks this season... junior Brady Ervin, a transfer from Iowa State, has three interceptions, one TD, one recovered a fumble in the end zone, 16 tackles and two pass breakups in his three UST games... freshman WR Fritz Waldvogel has 17 catches for 281 yards... sophomore Ben Wartman had his first career 100-yard rushing game to fuel the comeback victory over Hamline (more below)

--PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: St. Thomas named six Players of the Week for Sept. 22-27: RB Ben Wartman (offense), CB Kris Kopp (defense), LB Tony Danna (defense); TE Jake Friederichs (Hustler), OL Reed Mainquist (Scout team, Offense); DB Joe Sunnarborg (Scout team, Defense).

--GOOD WORKS TEAM: St. Thomas running back and kick returner Mikkel Haugen (SR-Kenyon/Kenyon-Wanamingo) was among 22 players nationally -- and just two Division III players -- named to the 2008 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team... Haugen is among 11 players honored from Division II and III and NAIA teams for exceptional campus and community service. Eleven players also were chosen from the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) series, formerly known as Division IA... Haugen's selection gives UST an honoree for a record 11 consecutive seasons. St. Thomas' 11 all-time selections ties Nebraska and Georgia for tops on the national list... Minnesota was the state with the most honorees (three). Northern Illinois' Matt Simon of Farmington and St. Cloud State's Ricky Horn of Melrose were the other Minnesotans selected... Haugen, a Geography major with 3.68 gpa, is a two-time Academic All-MIAC honoree. He's been slowed by injuries thus far in 2008, but last year averaged 21.8 yards on nine kick returns... Past Tommie Good Works honorees were Mark Warder (1998), Greg Kaiser (1999), Mike Westland (2000), Brian Brenberg (2001), Andrew Hilliard (2002), John Kaiser (2003), Ben Kessler (2005), P.J. Theisen (2006) and Pat Sommerstad (2007).

Click here for more on Mikkel Haugen's campus and community service:

http://www.tommiesports.com/ftbl/news/GoodWorks08.html

Hot Links:

--MONDAY MORNING QB Click here view and listen to Coach Caruso's Monday audio blogs, with action photo slideshows:

http://www.stthomas.edu/magazine/2008/fall/monday_morning_qb.html

--MORE LINKS: Read Today's UST Bulletin Today blog written by Dave Nimmer on Glenn Caruso:

http://blog.stthomas.edu/thescroll/archives/2008/10/football_coach_and_passion.html#more

Click here to view Adam Johnson's d3football.com Sept. 23 column on Toms' six-overtime game at St. Olaf:

http://www.d3football.com/columns/around-the-region/west/2008/Physical+camp+might+have+led+Olaf+to+win

--VIDEO CLIPS:  Here are some video highlights from the Sept. 20 game, shot by St. Thomas videographer Brad Jacobsen:

Brady Ervin's first-quarter TD interception:

http://stream.stthomas.edu/view.htm?id=Football_at_StOlaf_21_int_TD

Fritz Waldvogel's first-quarter 65-yard TD catch and run:

http://stream.stthomas.edu/view.htm?id=Football_at_StOlaf_4_td_catch

David Sauer's rushing TD in the fifth overtime:

http://stream.stthomas.edu/view.htm?id=Football_at_StOlaf_3td_ot

Tommy Becker's blocked field goal to send the game to the fifth overtime:

http://stream.stthomas.edu/view.htm?id=Football_at_StOlaf_block_FG_ot

St. Olaf's game-winning 16-yard run:

http://stream.stthomas.edu/view.htm?id=Football_at_StOlaf_game_winner

Aquin video story on Sept. 6 over Macalester:

http://www.stthomas.edu/aquin/080912GlennCaruso/indexwindows.html

Looking Ahead:

--NEXT WEEK: The Tommies visit Moorhead to play the first-place Cobbers on Oct. 11 before returning home for an Oct. 18 battle vs. rival St. John's.

--HOME GAMES: UST students, faculty and staff are admitted free to all home football games with their St. Thomas ID card. Remaining home games this fall are Sept. 27 vs. Hamline; Oct. 18 vs. St. John's; Oct. 25 vs. Carleton; and Nov. 7 against Bethel (Homecoming).

--NEXT SEASON: The Tommies will play the same schedule in the same order again in 2009, except at the opposite site. Thus it will open at Macalester Sept. 5 of 2009.

Looking Back:

--LAST WEEK: Sophomore Ben Wartman, a converted wide receiver, ran for 112 of his 140 yards in the second half to help the Toms rally to beat Hamline, 24-21. Wartman is averaging 6.6 yards a rush. It was UST's first 100-yard rushing performance of 2008... UST outgained the Pipers in total yards 395-280, and scored 17 unanswered points to rally from a 14-7 second-period deficit. The Tommies had three rushing touchdowns on the day and avenged a 41-34, two-overtime loss to the Pipers in 2007... Tommie junior PK Eric Taylor was 3-for-3 in PATs and made a key 35-yard field goal with 14:04 to play to break a 14-14 tie. Moments later, with the lead still at 17-14, UST junior punter A.C. Clothier had a 61-yard punt that was downed at the Hamline four-yard line with under 7:00 left... The Tommie offense had just one turnover but had the bulk of the team's 12 penalties for 130 yards. The Toms were called for an illegal block play far away the ball that negated a 13-yard touchdown pass on the last play of the third period, with the score tied 14-14... For UST, linebacker Tony Danna had 1.5 sacks and six total tackles, and CB Kris Kopp had three pass breakups including one in the end zone. On offense, Fritz Waldvogel caught five passes for 74 yards, and Sauer completed 13-of-24 passes for 143 yards and no interceptions.

PHOTO: Ben Wartman

--OVERTIME MADNESS: In the longest football game in NCAA Division III history, St. Olaf scored a 29-23 victory over the visiting Tommies in six overtimes Sept. 20 in Northfield. A crowd of 4,400 on a warm September afternoon watched a game with many prime scoring chances stopped by defense and special teams. In the sixth overtime, the Oles' Coty Watkins' 16-yard touchdown run finished off a game that lasted 3:40 and spoiled the conference coaching debut of UST's Glenn Caruso... It was one of the 10 longest games in NCAA football history. The only longer NCAA games on record are an eight-overtime game in Division I-AA, and three seven-OT games in Division I... UST led 14-0 early and still led 14-7 at halftime, but the game finished regulation at 14-14 after St. Olaf's 99-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter. Both teams lost fumbles on the one-yard line in regulation that denied them prime scoring chances... Both teams went scoreless in the first, second and fourth overtimes while scoring field goals in the third OT. St. Thomas blocked a 22-yard field goal and saw a 27-yard try sail left to keep the game going. Both teams scored touchdowns in the fifth overtime then missed the mandatory two-point tries. The Oles took a 23-17 lead on John Haberman's 25-yard TD pass to Evan Endsley, but a two-point pass failed. St. Thomas tied the game 23-23 on QB David Sauer's two-yard run, and the Tommies had to go for two by NCAA rule. Sauer's sneak was stopped short to deny UST the victory, and extend the game to a sixth extra session. The Tommies stalled and missed a 43-yard field-goal try. The Oles (3-0, 1-0) needed just three plays to finally secure the win as Watkins rushed in from 16 yards... Brady Ervin finished with two interceptions. Tommy Becker had a sack, a forced fumble, a blocked field-goal try in overtime and 13 tackles. Zach Sturm had 12 tackles, a sack and a recovered fumble in the end zone. Fritz Waldvogel had six catches for 109 yards, and Sauer completed 17-of-34 passes for 207 yards.

PHOTO: Brady Ervin

--QUOTING UST'S HEAD COACH: On Sept. 21, Glenn Caruso told the Star Tribune's Kent Youngblood that the six-overtime battle was special. Caruso said the never-ending overtime sessions reminded him of the movie "Groundhog Day, as captains kept going out to midfield for coin flips, deciding who would take the ball first, over and over again. "But there was a smile on everybody's face," Caruso said. "This is what college football is about: a beautiful day, a great opponent, a tooth-and-nail game to the end. Win or lose, it was amazing."

The Caruso Factor

--NEW LEADER: Caruso was hired last January as St. Thomas' 29th head coach in the 104-year history of its football program. He replaced Don Roney, who resigned last November after 10 seasons. In his 12-year coaching career, Caruso, 34, has been a part of three impressive rebuilding jobs. In 2006 he inherited just 24 players as head coach of a Macalester program that was coming off a 2-25 stretch from 2003-2005. Coach Caruso doubled the roster size and took the Scots to a 2-7 record in 2006 and a 4-5 mark in 2007. In his first season at Macalester, the Scots produced their two highest single-game total yardage outputs in their program's 119-year history. He has earned a reputation for installing dynamic, high-scoring attacks on offense, most recently in stints at Macalester and South Dakota's offensive coordinator (2004, 2005). His South Dakota teams averaged nearly 600 yards and 50 points per game to lead the nation in both catagories.

--MORE CARUSO: Caruso has achieved one distinction before he even worked a game with the Tommies. Caruso became the first Division III coach to twice grace the cover of American Football Monthly. Based in Palm Beach, Fla., American Football Monthly is the nation's foremost football publication for coaches, from high schools to NCAA Division I. Coach Caruso's story "10 Mistakes You¹re Bound to Make at Pre-Season Practices" was accompanied by some creative studio color photos taken by UST photographer Mike Ekern. The images were shot through plexiglass... In 2007 at Macalester, Caruso became the second D-III coach ever to appear on AFM's cover with his story on the "Pass, Action, Run" concept, which advocates an innovative offensive approach of selling the pass to open up the running game... St. John's legendary coach John Gagliardi was on an AFM cover in 2002 during his pursuit of the all-time coaching victory record.

--COACH TALK: Coach Caruso will have a QB Club meeting open to alumni, parents and fans on select Monday nights this fall at Plum's in St. Paul (Snelling and Randolph Avenues). The next session is next Monday Oct. 6... The coach also has an audio blog for the St. Thomas Magazine, on Mondays in the football season. It will be accompanied by a slide show of game action photos on Mondays after home games.

Miscellaneous News:

--UST OFFENSE: Senior QB David Sauer has played in 23 career games and has completed 60% of his passes for 4,968 yards and 43 touchdowns. He needs 1,472 passing yards to close his career second on the UST all-time list. Last season, he passed for 446 yards at Augsburg, 352 yards at St. Olaf, and 334 yards at St. John's. In the latter game in Collegeville, Sauer led an attack that put up 34 points on eye-opening scoring drives of 90, 58, 73, 69 and 55 yards. It was the most yards allowed by a St. John's defense since 2001... Senior WR Tony Margarit had a breakout season in 2007 as he went over 1,000 career yards (51 receptions, 578 yards), but has been sidelined with an injury thus far in 2008... Another receiving threat is speedy junior Sam Moen, who has eight career touchdowns along with 62 catches for 700 yards. Moen is an All-American relay runner and a multiple MIAC sprints placewinner in track and field and has helped St. Thomas win three conference titles thus far in that sport.

PHOTO: David Sauer

--ROCORI: Tommie starting QB David Sauer of Cold Spring was a high-school teammate of Gopher star WR Eric Decker and former Johnnie QB Alex Kofoed at Rocori High. Standout MIAC senior volleyball players Katie Kremer of UST and Bridget Burtzel of Gustavus are also Rocori grads... Five years ago this fall, the halls of Rocori High were rocked by a senseless and tragic shooting that left two students dead. The 15-year-old shooter, a third Rocori student, was convicted and is now serving a life sentence in prison. That community continues to go through a healing process and attempts to move past that dark day in late September 2003.

Click here to read more about the many Rocori graduates in the MIAC:

http://www.tommiesports.com/news/GeneBlog-10.html

--OH, BROTHER: The 2008 season marks the first time since 1994 that there isn't a Kaiser or Sommerstad brother on the UST football roster. Greg, Andy and John starred from 1996-2002 and Paul and Pat Sommerstad were defensive standouts since 2002.

--TWO-SPORT TOMS: UST football's two-sport players include Moen, and DBs Matt Griswold (hurdles) and Chris Victor (conference runner-up in pole vault) in track and field; LB Tony Danna in hockey; DB Matt Olson in baseball; and three newcomers, QB Greg Morse, WR Fritz Waldvogel and DB Brady Ervin... Tommie freshman Zach Bork was the Minnesota Class AA state champ in the long jump at 22-8 1-4... In addition, sophomore Ben Wartman also plans to play baseball in 2009 and will compete for the open job at catcher.

--NEW FACES: The Tommies 2008 newcomers include five skilled transfers from Division I or II scholarship programs... The Tommies' recruiting class includes a dozen incoming freshmen who were invited to play in Minnesota's, Wisconsin's or Iowa's high school all-star games this summer... Linebacker help has come from former Minnesota Gopher Tommy Becker, who transferred to UST last spring. Becker helped lead Wayzata High to a 13-1 record and the large-class state championship in his senior season... Three other transfers are starting at safety or outside linebacker, including ex-Iowa Stater Brady Ervin of Eden Prairie and former St. Cloud State players Alex Hass of Wayzata and Zach Sturm of Spingfield. Sturm, who played in 10 games with the Huskies in 2007, led Springfield High to the 2005 Class A state championship as a senior as he threw or ran for 21 TDs and closed with 10 career pickoffs... At running back, sophomore transfer Michael Duncombe, a Mounds View graduate, transferred from Division II Truman (Mo.) State. At Mounds View, the 5-10, 170-pound Duncombe scored 43 touchdowns and rushed for 2,453 yards in his career... Freshman WR Alex Gauper of Spokane played on Washington's 2007 large-class state champion team.

PHOTO: Tommy Becker

--SENIOR STUFF: St. Thomas' 125-man roster, minus injured players, includes only 14 seniors, and that group includes just 10 from the 2005 recruiting class who are playing their fourth consecutive season -- QB David Sauer; WR Andrew Docter; RB Mikkel Haugen; LBs Alex Falenczykowski and Brian Plourde; DE Andrew Pafko; and offensive linemen Bill Lepsche, Zach Rishel, Paul Lyons and Phil Hollway. Other seniors are RB Adam Stein and DE Mark Peterson, who played their freshman seasons elsewhere, and TEs Tom Knowles and Jamal Gipson each took at least one season off.

--NON-LEAGUE TESTS: For the first time since 2001, St. Thomas' schedule consists entirely of Minnesota opponents. St. Thomas has played challenging non-conference schedules over the years. Since 1998, the Toms have had 14 games vs. Division II Bemidji State or strong Division III programs Central, St. Norbert, UW-Stout, Coe and Loras. The Toms went 2-12 in those games, but seven of the 12 losses were by a combined 43 points... The next two years the Toms will face Macalester and Upper Midwest Conference champ Northwestern.

--TURNOVERS: To improve on last season's 2-8 finish, one of the tangibles that Caruso has emphasized is turnovers. The 2007 Tommies actually outgained seven of 10 opponents in total offense -- including nationally-ranked Bethel, Central and St. John's. But UST committed 31 turnovers in its eight losses. The Toms also had three punts blocked, with two returned for touchdowns. St. Thomas was plus 11 in turnovers in 2006 but slipped to minus 13 in last season's disappointing finish... One season before Caruso's hiring as Macalester's head coach, in 2005, the Scots had a minus-26 turnover ratio in an 0-9 finish. In 2007, Macalester had a plus-2 turnover ratio and finished 4-5.

--LAST 13 YEARS: In MIAC games since 1996, St. John's is 94-10; Bethel is 79-25; Concordia is 69-35; UST is 67-37; Gustavus is 54-50; St. Olaf is 48-56; Augsburg is 41-62; Hamline is 21-83; Carleton is 16-87; (Macalester was 5-49 before leaving the MIAC for football).

--GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: St. Thomas' graduation losses include school-record setting receiver P.J. Theisen (41 games, 218 catches, 3,223 yards, 25 TDs); tailback Jake Casey (11 100-yard rushing outings in 24 career games); three offensive line starters in center Pat Cahalan (three-year starter), guard Graham Gmach (four-year starter), and tackle Mark O'Connell (NCAA champion in hammer throw in track and field); and three-year starting LB/DB Pat Sommerstad (193 tackles, eight interceptions).

--COMING AND GOING: Junior tight end Jake Friederichs is back out after sitting out in 2007. He's expected to see extensive action with returner Tom Knowles. Friederichs presence will mark the ninth year in a row with a Totino-Grace grad playing on UST's offensive line... At placekicker, 2005 and 2006 starter Eric Taylor is back after a season away from the team. In three seasons Taylor has converted 4-of-10 field goals under 40 yards and has made 56 of 62 extra-point kicks... Last year's placekicker, Sean Barrett, is now competing in golf for the Tommies and is playing this weekend in the MIAC Championships... At least two UST recruits are not in football this season and will play other sports at St. Thomas -- Tait Sande (hockey) and Brad Weiers (baseball).