Defense carries Toms past Hamline

November 12, 1999
Thur. Nov. 11

MIAC Football

St. Thomas 13, Hamline 3

St. Thomas used a big defensive effort Thursday night to keep alive its NCAA playoff hopes in a 13-3 victory over Hamline in an MIAC's Metrodome Classic football game.

The Toms (7-3 overall, 7-2 MIAC), finished 7-2 in the conference for the fourth consecutive year and are assured of a second-place MIAC tie for the third year in a row.

UST can finish in a five-way tie for the MIAC title with three specific outcomes Friday -- Concordia (6-2) must beat Augsburg (4-4) at 2 p.m.; Gustavus (6-2) must beat St. John's (7-1) at 5 p.m.; and Bethel (6-2) must beat Carleton (1-7) at 8 p.m. St. Thomas would win a tie-breaker in a five-way deadlock to receive the MIAC's automatic qualifying berth into the NCAA playoffs.

The Toms, who have the conference's No. 1-ranked defense, had two interceptions, seven sacks and held the Pipers to just 192 yards of offense. UST now has allowed just two TDs in its last 12 quarters, and only five in its last 22 quarters.

UST senior Darren Nelson returned an interception 32 yards for a touchdown with 1:27 to go in the first half to stake the Toms to a 13-3 halftime lead.

Hamline (2-8 overall, 1-8 MIAC) had just one drive inside the Toms' 25-yard line all night, and no drives inside the UST 10. Piper PK Steve Koehn kicked a 30-yard field goal in the second quarter, but missed a 51-yarder in the third quarter.

UST senior QB Greg Kaiser completed 18-of-27 passes for 175 yards and no interceptions, including a 17-yard TD pass to Justin Hall in the second period. Hall finished with eight catches for 104 yards
Barring a post-season berth, Kaiser will finish with 55 career TD passes, 6,439 yards of passing and a completion rate of 61.7%. He threw a TD pass in 27 of his 29 career starts and was 20-6 in MIAC career starts.

After running for a first-and-goal, Kaiser lost a fumble on the Piper two-yard line on the last play of the third quarter that kept Hamline alive. It was one of two lost fumbles for UST.

The Toms played without two injured starters -- TE Jon Learn and RB Jake Barkley -- and were held to just 241 yards of offense (66 in net rushing).