St. Thomas-Gustavus FB preview

October 25, 2000
By Tim Kennedy
Gustavus SID

Gustavus - St. Thomas Football Preview/Sat. Oct. 28/1 p.m.

The Welcome
The Gusties welcome the University of St. Thomas to Lloyd Hollingsworth Field in a game that pits two squads with identical 4-3, 4-2 records and who are tied for third place in MIAC play. St. Thomas is coming off a wild 38-28 win over Macalester while Gustavus is fresh off an even wilder 20-13 double overtime win over Augsburg. Saturday marks the final home game of the 2000 football season for the Golden Gusties and the Athletic Department will be paying tribute to eight individuals that are being inducted into the Gustavus Athletics Hall of Fame as well as 19 seniors who are playing their final game at Hollingsworth Field.

The Series
This will be the 69th meeting between Gustavus and St. Thomas and the series is deadlocked at 33-33-2 through the first 68 contests. The last three matchups between the Gusties and Tommies have been indicative of how closely contested this series has been historically as all three games have been decided by three points or less. The Tommies claimed a 34-31 win in St. Peter in 1997, then Gustavus rebounded to claim a 26-23 in St. Paul in 1998 and last year the Tommies claimed a 18-17 win in St. Peter. In the past 10 years, these two long-time rivals have won five games each with St. Thomas averaging 23.4 points per game and Gustavus averaging 21.9 points per game. If history is to hold the last team to score today will likely be the victor.

Meet the Head Coaches
Gustavus Head Coach Jay Schoenebeck is in his seventh season at the helm of the Gusties with a career record of 33-34. After starting off with a mark of 8-22 his first three seasons Schoenebeck's squads have posted a record of 25-12 the past three seasons. St. Thomas Head Coach Don Roney
is in his third season directing the Tommies with a career record of 18-9. Roney, a 1984 graduate of St. Thomas, was an assistant coach with the Tommies for 12 years before being named the head coach in 1998.

A LOOK AT THE GUSTIES

As a result of their exciting 20-13 double overtime win at Augsburg last Saturday the Gusties can now look at their next three games as an opportunity to complete the season with four consecutive wins and finish as high as second place in the MIAC. Yes, mathematically Gustavus could still win the MIAC title, however that would require both St. John's and Bethel lose two of their remaining three games and that is not likely. The win over Augsburg was important to this young team for a couple of reasons,including the fact that they found a way to win on the road on a day when, as a team, they were not playing their best football and also, they came from behind to win a game for the first time this season. The offense responded with two impressive plays in pressure situations including the touchdown pass from Joe Thorvig to Brett Boese on fourth-and-13 in the first overtime and the 15-yard, Thorvig to Mike Gahlon touchdown pass which proved to be the gamewinner in the second overtime. The defense also came up big when freshman cornerback Matt Diercks playing for the injured Ryan Frank tipped a pass in the end zone that was intercepted by safety Brad Arndt to secure the win for the Gusties. Coach Jay Schoenebeck and his staff have done an excellent job of bringing this young and inexperienced team along and their hard work has paid off as this Golden Gustie squad has taken a step forward in at least one area in every game this season.

Freshman wide receiver Brett Boese turned in the finest performance of his young career last Saturday as he made five catches for 97 yards and one touchdown. Boese, who is averaging 18.7 yards per catch, has made several clutch catches this season including his touchdown catch against Trinity earlier this year. Joe Thorvig also turned in a gutsy performance as he completed 27-of-46 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. Defensively, freshman Matt Diercks, who got his feet wet with some extended playing time against St. John's two weeks ago, turned in a solid performance against the Auggies with nine tackles (5 solo, 4 assists) and the key breakup in the overtime. All-conference linebacker Brian Bergstrom had another big day as he recorded 22 tackles (8 solo, 14 assists) with two tackles-for-loss.

A VIEW OF THE TOMMIES

Coach Don Roney brings a young St. Thomas squad to St. Peter today as the Tommies start seven sophomores, a freshman, and a junior transfer QB on offense and three sophomores and one freshman on defense. While the Toms youth and relative inexperience is a reality, Roney doesn't use it as a crutch. "We just need to execute the way we are capable of. We don't expect to be making the same kinds of mistakes we were in the first or second games." Offensively, St. Thomas has five new starters from tackle to tackle, yet the Tommies rank in the top 25 nationally in rushing. A big reason for the Tommies success on the ground is sophomore sensation JakeBarkley, who ranks in the top 10 in NCAA Division III rushing at 162.6 yards per game with seven consecutive 100 yards games. Barkley has already rushed for over 1,000 yards this season with 1,138 and he is averaging 7.3 yards per carry. Junior transfer Nick Ambrasas has settled in at the quarterback spot and has helped the Tommies compile a 2-1 mark since moving into the starting spot against Augsburg. Ambrasas has completed 39-of-80 passes for 503 yards and four touchdowns with four interceptions this season. His primary target through the air has been sophomore wideout Andrew Hilliard who made an 83-yard touchdown catch against Macalester last week. Hilliard has made six catches for 159 yards and two touchdowns since Ambrasas became the starting quarterback. Defensively, St. Thomas has been very stingy against the run allowing only 128.7 yards per game. The line has played particularly well including junior end Brent Nelson, junior tackle Andy Kaiser, junior tackle Aaron Johnson and junior end Conor Casey. Nelson has posted some pretty impressive numbers from his end position with 26 tackles including 12 for-loss and five sacks. As a group, the line has combined for 13 sacks and 28 tackles for loss this season. Sophomore inside linebacker Rick Joslin leads the team in tackles with 64 including 38 solos and 26 assists. While the Tommies have been strong against the run, they have struggled against the pass allowing an average of 239.6 yards per game and 11 touchdown passes. Coach Don Roney starts a young defensive backfield with juniors Connell Nolan and Matt Boro at the cornerback spots and
sophomore Joe Fritze at free safety and freshman John Kaiser at strong safety.

GAME NOTES
Gusties Historically Rise to the Occasion on Senior Day --- Saturday marks the 78th time that the Gustavus football program has dedicated its final home game of the season to the squad's seniors and the Gusties have compiled a record of 56-18-3 on that day. This will be the ninth time that St. Thomas has been the Gusties Senior Day opponent with the Gusties compiling a record of 5-3-0 in the previous eight meetings. The last time the two teams met for Senior Day was 1975 with Gustavus claiming a convincing 40-20 victory.

Thorvig Reaches 3,000 yard Passing Milestone --- Junior Joe Thorvig became the sixth quarterback at Gustavus to compile 3,000 passing yards in his career last weekend when he completed 27-of-46 passes for 255 yards against Augsburg. Through 17 games at Gustavus, Thorvig has completed 266-of-469 passes for 3,049 yards and 18 touchdowns with 21 interceptions. Thorvig currently ranks sixth on the all-time Gustavus passing list and he needs 166 yards to move past Mark Pfundstein into fifth place.

Bergstrom Nearing 100 Tackles for Second Consecutive Season --- Junior linebacker Brian Bergstrom has compiled 95 tackles (40 solo, 55 assisted) through seven games this season and he needs just five tackles today to become the first player to record 100 tackles in two consecutive seasons since Gustavus started recording tackles as a defensive statistic in 1977. Bergstrom has compiled 247 tackles in his career (87 solo, 160 assisted) and now needs 61 tackles to break the Gustavus career tackle mark of 307 set by Shane Thielke from 1994-1997. Bergstrom, who recorded 22 tackles against Augsburg last Saturday, has compiled at least 10 tackles in 13 of his last 14 games.

Traetow Makes Mark in First Year with Gusties -- Sophomore running back Andy Traetow has had a significant impact on the Golden Gustie football program this year as he leads the team in rushing with 344 yards and in all-purpose yards with 878. Traetow also ranks first in Division III in kick returns with an average of 37.4 yards per return.

STARTING LINEUPS

Gustavus Adolphus

OFFENSE
80 Chris Greavu WR
87 Brady Brau WR
2 Ryan Hoag WR
72 Jeff Brown LT
56 Andy Kopperud LG
74 Lance Staples C
70 Joel Skaaland RG
63 Drew Gehler RT
84 Mike Gahlon TE
15 Joe Thorvig QB
44 Eric Schmidt RB
42 Andy Traetow FB

DEFENSE
92 Seth Jacobson LE
95 Josh Peterson LT
50 Mark Elfstrom RT
91 Tim Sundby RE
28 Ryan Frank LCB
39 Andy Barnick SLB
52 Brian Bergstrom MLB
4 Jason Opsal WLB
1 Joe Arlt RCB
46 Brad Arndt SS
14 Zach Zimmer FS

SPECIAL TEAMS
91 Tim Sundby LS
8 Aaron Halle H
42 Andy Traetow KR
14 Zach Zimmer PR
43 Christian White K
29 Curt Baldus P


STARTING LINEUPS

University of St. Thomas

OFFENSE
10 Nick Ambrasas QB
3 Jake Barkley RB
22 Marcus Ludtke RB
9 Mike Westland FB
2 Andrew Hilliard FL
86 Jon Learn TE
84 Justin Hall WR
72 Logan Kane RT
78 Joe Moline RG
54 Matt McLaughlin C
73 Justin Wallick LG
74 Blake Norman LT

DEFENSE
12 Brent Nelson DE
96 Andy Kaiser DT
93 Aaron Johnson DT
90 Conor Casey DE
38 Bob Hannah OLB
49 Sean O'Leary ILB
50 Rick Joslin ILB
44 John Kaiser SS
32 Joe Fritze FS
8 Connell Nolan CB
24 Brett Gjovik CB

SPECIAL TEAMS
40 Brian Lynch PK
1 Alex Jadin H
93 Aaron Johnson LS
81 Kyle Davenport P
42 Tom Eldridge KR
32 Joe Fritze PR

RESULTS and STATISTICAL LEADERS

GUSTAVUS (4-3, 4-2)
SCORES TO DATE
Sep. 9 at Trinity (TX) L 7-14
Sep. 16 HAMLINE W 32-15
Sep. 23 at Bethel College L 13-14
Sep. 30 CONCORDIA W 39-22
Oct. 7 at Carleton W 42-14
Oct. 14 ST. JOHN'S L 17-38
Oct. 21 at Augsburg W 20-13 2 OT
Oct. 28 ST. THOMAS 1:00
Nov. 4 St. Olaf (at Metrodome) 7:00
Nov. 11 at Macalester 1:00

GUSTAVUS STATISTICAL LEADERS

RUSHING NO YDS AVG TD
Andy Traetow 86 344 4.0 5
Eric Schmidt 67 197 2.9 2

RECEIVING NO YDS AVG TD
Brady Brau 29 369 12.7 2
Ryan Hoag 26 352 13.5 2

PASSING ATT CMP PCT YDS INT TD
Joe Thorvig 240 136 56.7 1612 12 10

PUNTING NO YDS AVG LG
Curt Baldus 28 962 34.3 46

KO RETURNS NO YDS AVG TD
Andy Traetow 10 374 37.4 1
Eric Schmidt 7 114 16.3 0

PUNT RETURNS NO YDS AVG TD
Zach Zimmer 14 111 7.9 0

INTERCEPTIONS NO YDS AVG TD
Joe Arlt 2 32 16.0 1


ST. THOMAS (4-3, 4-2)
SCORES TO DATE
Sept. 9 at Bemidji State L 9-32
Sept. 16 CONCORDIA W 38-22
Sept. 23 at Carleton W 36-13
Sept. 30 ST. JOHN'S L 0-17
Oct. 7 at Augsburg W 16-0
Oct. 14 at St. Olaf L 15-24
Oct. 21 MACALESTER W 38-28
Oct. 28 at Gustavus 1:00
Nov. 3 Bethel (at Metrodome) 8:00
Nov. 11 HAMLINE 1:00

ST. THOMAS STATISTICAL LEADERS
RUSHING NO YDS AVG TD
Jake Barkley 156 1138 7.3 8
Marcus Ludtke 78 310 4.0 0

RECEIVING NO YDS AVG TD
Andrew Hilliard 15 347 23.1 3
Mike Westland 14 142 10.1 1

PASSING ATT CMP PCT YDS INT TD
Nick Ambrasas 80 39 48.8 503 4 4
Alex Jadin 68 29 42.6 350 8 3

PUNTING NO YDS AVG LG
Kyle Davenport 37 1168 31.6 49

KO RETURNS NO YDS AVG TD
Tom Eldridge 12 276 23.0 0
Phil Remes 9 234 26.0 0

PUNT RETURNS NO YDS AVG TD
Joe Fritze 8 40 5.0 0

INTERCEPTIONS NO YDS AVG TD
Joe Fritze 3 52 17.3 0
Connell Nolan 2 19

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