Football 8-Game Notes/Nov. 9

November 9, 2005
NEXT UP: The University of St. Thomas (4-4 overall, 4-3 MIAC) plays host to rival St. John's University (9-0, 7-0) on Saturday, Nov. 12. Kickoff is 1 p.m. at Palmer Field in O'Shaughnessy Stadium.

Click here to read Johnnie football notes:
see SJU football webpage

ON AIR?: The Tommie-Johnnie game will air live on SJU's radio network in St. Cloud and the Twin Cities (1330 AM) and will be webcast.

TICKETS: Tickets will go on sale on game day at O'Shaughnessy Stadium at 11 a.m. Since St. Thomas doesn't have reserved seating, there's no advance ticket sales at either school. A crowd of 6,000-plus is expected. The UST facility seats approximately 5,000 and has room for several thousand more standing near the field. Tickets are $7 for adults and $3 for students. St. Thomas students, staff and faculty are admitted free with their UST ID cards.

SENIOR DAY: Saturday will be the final college game for approximately 15 Tommie seniors (a few have eligibility to return in 2006). UST is 19-18 in their four-year era. One the Toms will especially miss is senior LB Andrew Ubbelohde, who's now second on the UST career tackles list at 297 needs three tackles to reach 300. (That includes just 11 tackles as a freshman and several missed games with injuries.) He ranks in the top five in Division III total tackles per game (112 total in eight games, 13.9 tpg) in 2005. His 112 tackles match his 2003 total and are just two away from breaking a 17-year-old UST season tackles record.

THE SERIES: The first meeting was in 1901 and the all-time series is led by the Johnnies, 43-28-1. St. John's has won seven in a row over the Toms and 11 of the last 12 games in the series, including eight in a row in Collegeville, four in a row in St. Paul, and a split of two Metrodome games. The last four games at O'Shaughnessy Stadium include a 35-34 Johnnie win in 1994, and a 15-12 SJU fourth-quarter comeback win in 2003. St. John's went on to win the Division III championship after that close call.

ROCORI REUNION: The 2005 version of the colorful Tommie-Johnnie football rivalry will feature two Rocori High graduates starting against each other at quarterback -- Johnnie third-year sophomore Alex Kofoed and UST freshman David Sauer.

MEET MR. KOFOED: Kofoed is 16-2 as a starter and has completed more than 60% of his passes for 4,295 yards and 37 touchdowns with 22 interceptions in 19 career games. He was named Division III National Player of the Week after a five-TD performance in the Oct. 29 blowout win over previously-unbeaten St. Olaf.

MEET MR. SAUER: Sauer came into October as the Tommies' fourth quarterback, but after a season-ending injury to two-year starter Ryan Jansen he quickly moved up the charts. He's 2-0 as a starter and has thrown eight TD passes in four consecutive quarters of wins over Gustavus and Hamline. In four games overall he has completed 73% of his passes for 772 yards and nine touchdowns with two interceptions. He completed 13-of-15 for 227 yards in the second half of a 35-14 comeback win over Gustavus. In three quarters of play in the 35-13 win at Hamline Nov. 5, he completed 25-of-30 passes for 349 yards and four TDs. Sauer missed his first attempt but completed 20-of-22 the rest of the first half as UST built a 35-6 lead. Sauer threw for 4,418 yards and 24 touchdowns his last two prep seasons at Rocori.

GOOD OMEN?: The last Tommie freshman to start at QB for St. Thomas was in 1992, when Ryan Davis had several starts -- including a 15-12 upset of a highly-favored Johnnie team at O'Shaughnessy Stadium. Davis later moved to tight end and was a two-time All-American.

DID YOU KNOW?: Only once has St. John's been held under 16 points in its last 49 overall games (and last 53 MIAC games) -- a 15-12 SJU win over St. Thomas in 2003)... Only once has St. John's been held scoreless in the second half in its last 42 games -- St. Thomas did it it last season's 21-0 Johnnie win.

LOOK WHO'S HOT: UST's Justin Nwadiashi, a first-year starter at cornerback, has had one interception in five consecutive games... St. Thomas junior wideout P.J. Theisen tied a 19-year-old school record Saturday at Hamline with four touchdown receptions -- all in the first half -- to lead a 35-13 victory. He was named to the D3Football Team of the Week. His four TD catches doubled his career total and matched the UST record set by Brian Biehn vs. St. John's in 1986. Playing just three quarters, Theisen had 12 receptions for 224 yards for his fifth consecutive 100-yard receiving game. He needs 73 yards vs. the Johnnies to reach 1,000 season receiving yards in just nine games. Theisen, who leads the MIAC in receiving yards and all-purpose yards, now has 111 career catches for 1,758 yards in 27 games and is on pace to finish in the top five of both UST career charts. In track and field, Theisen has run on three MIAC championship teams, qualified for nationals twice in the 400 hurdles, and has run on two NCAA runner-up 4x400 relays.. His sister Katie, a St. Thomas freshman, earned All-MIAC honors in cross country Oct. 29 as she placed 13th in the conference meet to help the Tommies place second. It was Katie Theisen's third distance race of her life as she was a state runner-up in the triple jump and a hurdler at New Prague High.

MORE QUICK FACTS: St. Thomas has had two different QBs post a 300-plus yard passing game this season, and three different QBs (David Sauer, Ryan Jansen and Justin Lockrem) pass for 225 or more yards in a game... UST's 25-13 win Saturday at Hamline was its 10th consecutive over the Pipers. Its 21-7 win at Carleton Oct. 22 was the 12th in a row in that series... UST is averaging 420 yards a game of total offense... UST has lost just eight fumbles in the last two seasons covering 17 games. Freshman Jake Casey has not lost a fumble in 165 rushes this season... The Toms have lost five starters to season-ending injuries, including offensive co-captains Ryan Jansen (QB) and Joe Lepsche (FB)... UST needs two wins to reach 500 in their 101-year varsity history... Three of the Tommies' four losses have come vs. 7-2 St. Olaf, 8-1 Concordia and 8-1 Coe. UST lost 24-21 to Coe at home on a 38-yard TD pass with 40 seconds left... In Saturday's win over Hamline, UST had its 47th 100-yard rushing performance by a halfback in the last 14 seasons as Casey ran 22 times for 133 yards.

JOHNNIE WATCH:St. John's is 9-0 overall and ranked either second or third nationally in Division III. After missing the postseason in 2004, the Johnnies have secured at least a share of the MIAC championship and won the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA playoffs. It's their 10th NCAA playoff trip in 13 seasons.. SJU is averaging 43 points, 449 yards and 23 first downs a game and is holding teams to 207 yards a game. The Johnnies are plus-8 in turnover margin... Eleven different Johnnies have interceptions this season... SJU has three defensive TDs this season (two INT returns, one fumble return) but thus far has no punt or kick return TDs -- a rarity at SJU... The Johnnies appeared headed to defeat Oct. 15 at Concordia but used a 74-yard TD pass from Kofoed to Kyle Gehrman with 13 seconds left for a 20-16 win... The Johnnies have eight seniors starting on defense and three seniors on the offensive line... The Johnnies are the winningest NCAA Division III football team overall with a .702 winning percentage and a 524-216-24 all-time record in their 95th season. SJU's 9-0 start in 2005 has secured its 19th straight winning season and 38th straight season without a losing record... In nationals stats, SJU ranks fourth in total defense (207.0 ypg), has moved up to eighth in scoring defense (11.8), is ranked 14th in rushing defense (81.0 ypg), and moved up to fifth in pass efficiency defense with 79.9 rating. The Johnnie offense is also nationally ranked 18th in passing offense (290.3 ypg) and ranked seventh in scoring offense with 43.0 ypg.

QB CHANGE: Jansen was an Academic All-America candidate with a 4.00 grade-point average in Electrical Engineering before the injury knocked him out of the voting for this year. A threat as a runner or passer, Jansen had just thrown for a career-best 301 yards in the loss to unbeaten St. Olaf. Jansen is 7-4 as a starter and in 12 career varsity games has completed 56% of his passes for 2,155 yards and 11 TDs with seven interceptions.

LAST YEAR'S MEETING: St. John's scored on three of its four first-half possessions and blanked St. Thomas 21-0 in Collegeville. The loss ended the Tommie season with a 7-2 record -- a four-win turnaround from 2003. UST shared second in the MIAC with the Johnnies at 6-2. UST closed 4-1 on the road in 2004. St. John's, which posted its third shutout of the season, had eight sacks for 52 yards in losses. That helped hold the Tommies to 214 total yards. They held UST to 1-for-13 in third-down conversions. The Tommies used a diving catch by P.J. Theisen to get first-and-goal in the final minute at the SJU 2-yard line. But the Tommies were stopped on a run, were sacked twice, then had an incompletion on 4th-and-goal from the 10.

To see a web story on last year's game, click here: see story here

LAST WEEK: Junior wideout P.J. Theisen tied a 19-year-old school record with four touchdown receptions as visiting St. Thomas scored a 35-13 victory over Hamline. Paul. The Tommies moved back to .500 on the season and ran their winning streak to three games. Freshman QB David Sauer completed 25-of-30 passes for 349 yards and five TD passes in three quarters in just his second career start. That was just one TD pass off the UST single-game record held by Tom Stallings (vs. Bethel in 1993) and Chris Esterley (vs. Carleton in 1996)... Freshman Jake Casey rushed 22 times for 133 yards for his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season. UST used three Piper turnovers to help build a 35-6 halftime lead. The Toms outgained the Pipers 477-198 and recorded six sacks... St. John's was off Nov. 5 after its 63-9 home win Oct. 29 over St. Olaf.

Click here to access UST-Hamline story:
see story here


UST STARTERS:
Tommie Offense
QB #16 David Sauer, FR
RB #32 Jake Casey, FR
FB #41 Don Jaeger, S0
FL #84 P.J. Theisen, JR
TE #81 Billy Schreiber, SR
WR #4 Joel Korte, SR
RT #72 Mark O'Connell, SO
RG #79 Ben Hanson, JR
C #77 Pat Cahalan, SO
LG #69 Graham Gmach, SO
LT #65 Sam Friederichs, JR
--
Tommie Defense
DE #96 Mike Hara, JR
DE #51 Dannny Reisenaur, JR
DT #93 Mike Rouse, JR
DT #66 Ben Kessler, SR
ILB #10 Andrew Ubbelohde, SR
OLB #62 Matt Jones, SO
OLB #48 Justin Thom, SO
SS #22 Tom Fritze, SR
FS #42 Pat Sommerstad, SO
CB #35 Justin Nwadiashi, JR
CB #3 Jay Greavu, SR
--
Tommie Specialists
P #21 Taylor Thompson, SO
PR #3 Jay Greavu, SR
KR #84 P.J. Theisen, JR,
#4 Joel Korte, SR
PK #9 Eric Taylor, FR
H #3 Jay Greavu, SR
LS #69 Graham Gmach, SO


THE COACHES: SJU's legendary John Gagliardi is in his 57th season as a collegiate head football coach and 53rd season as head coach in Collegeville. The winningest coach all-time in college football history, Gagliardi (Guh-lahr-dee) currently owns a 430-117-11 (.779) collegiate career record and a 406-111-10 (.778) record at SJU. Gagliardi's 57 years of collegiate coaching is tied for the most in college football history with former Pacific coach Amos Alonzo Stagg (1890-1946)... St. Thomas' Don Roney is in his eighth season with a 46-31 record (45-23 in MIAC games). Roney moved into third place alone on the St. Thomas football coaching victory chart in October... Roney has six new assistant coaches in 2004 -- Dan Green returned to the staff after being head coach at Osseo High the last two seasons; ex-Tommie linebacker Blane Tetreault (224 tackles in three seasons) joined the staff as a full-time coach after working the last couple of seasons as a graduate coach at Division III power Rowan (N.J.)... ex-Richfield High coach Dan Fogelson has been on the Hamline staff the last three seasons; Eric Longtin has been head coach at Irondale High the last two seasons; Tim Fischer is a UST Athletic Hall of Famer who played on the Toms' last outright conference champion team in 1983; and Roger Velasquez has coached at several college and prep programs including Concordia-St. Paul and Augsburg.

GREAT GAINS: St. Thomas had Division III football's fourth-best improvement in won-loss record from 2003 to 2004. The Tommies rebounded from a 3-7 slate in 2003 to close the 2004 season 7-2 -- a plus-4.5 gain. Only Carthage (Wis.) (plus-6.5), and Puget Sound and Texas Lutheran (plus-5) had better shifts... The 2004 Tommies had a six-game, mid-season winning streak, and won five games by a combined 29 points. They posted five comeback victories (two late in the fourth-quarter), and won another game on an interception in overtime.

TURNOVER WATCH: After finishing minus-11 in turnovers vs. opponents in 2003, last year's Toms closed at plus-15 in turnovers... Thus far in 2005, UST is plus-4 in turnover margin (13 lost, 17 gained)... Junior first-year starter Justin Nwadiashi has five pickoffs and a forced fumble for the Toms.

BIG SQUAD: Roney has his largest roster to date, accented by youth. Of the 114 players, just 14 are seniors in eligibility. The list includes 47 true freshmen. The 61 returning letterwinners include 16 of 24 players with full-or part-time starting experience (nine on offense, seven on defense)... 97 of the Toms' 114 players are Minnesotans... Of the near 50 players on UST's 2-deep chart (starters/backups), half are from the last two recruiting classes.

CONSISTENCY: UST has won six or more games 18 of the last 24 seasons. UST's .607 all-time winning percentage ranks 21st in Division III.

CHASE FOR 500: In fact, St. Thomas (498-318-34 in 101 seasons) needs two wins to join the Minnesota Gophers (623) and St. John's (526) as just the third Minnesota collegiate football team to reach 500 all-time victories.

All-AMERICAN CALIBER: On defense, St. Thomas boasts two unique players in linebacker Andrew Ubbleohde and tackle Ben Kessler... Ubbelohde (6-0, 210) is a Marine ROTC student who spent six weeks of his 2005 summer in boot camp in Virginia. He's been a terror when healthy with 288 tackles in 23 games as a starter since 2003... Kessler has played in 35 career game with 159 tackles, 20.5 sacks, 31.5 tackles for loss, three fumble recoveries, three forced fumbles and two blocked kicks. The 6-2, 250-pound Kessler is a CoSIDA Academic All-American with a 4.00 gpa in Business and Philosophy and an even grander career goal -- he plans to become a Catholic priest.

To read a Ben Kessler feature story on NCAASports.com, click here:
see story here

NEW KICKERS: Freshman Eric Taylor handles placekicking duties. He was an all-conference placekicker for his 10-3, district-champion team last season in San Rafael, Calif. He's 28-of-30 on PATs and 1-of-5 in field goals (made 25 yarder, missed two from 50-plus yards)... Sophomore Taylor Thompson of Apple Valley is in his first season as punter and boomed a 61-yarder at Carleton.

NEWCOMERS ADD DEPTH: Taylor, who also plays running back, is part of a balanced recruiting class, including seven incoming freshmen who were named honorable mention all-state in Minnesota. Three of that group played in the 2005 Minnesota high school all-star game - running backs Kyle Jepson (5-9, 190) of Woodbury and Mikkel Haugen (5-9, 180) of Kenyon-Wanamingo, and lineman Pat Mooney (5-10, 265) of St. Agnes. Jepson also placed fifth at state track in the Class AA 100 meters as a senior. DB Nick Shannon of Fargo played in two state all-star games in North Dakota... Other promising in-state recruits include Rocori QB David Sauer (6-4, 180), a football-basketball standout who threw for 4,418 yards and 24 touchdowns the last two seasons; DT Jared Rasmussen (6-0, 260) of Anoka; LB Alex Falenczykowski (6-1, 215) of Benilde-St. Margaret, listed as a second-teamer at linebacker; and WR Rollie Cassilas (6-1, 200) of Henry Sibley... Blake Eyberg played at Iowa power West Des Moines Valley... Freshman Bill Lepsche of Woodbury, brother of starter Joe, is listed as a second-team offensive lineman.

SERIES ENDS: The Sept. 10 game vs. Coe concluded a two-year arrangement between UST and Coe. The Tommies will open vs. Loras (Iowa) in 2006 (home) and 2007 (away) in Coe's place.

SCHEDULE QUIRKS: In a quirk in the Toms' schedule, their first two foes (Coe, Concordia) played Sept. 3, and thus started practice one week before UST. Also, opponents Concordia, Gustavus and St. John's each had a bye the Saturday before it faced St. Thomas.

OPEN DATE: The Toms again play just nine regular-season games -- they had an open date Oct. 8 in the slot previously occupied by independent Macalester.