It’s a new look for the St. Thomas men’s basketball team this season.
Gone are B.J. Viau’s big smiles, Al McCoy’s trademark dreads and Lonnie Robinson’s lock-down defense. In statistical terms that means 2,109 minutes, 791 points and 93 games worth of experience have vanished.
Ben Wartman led St. Thomas with 155 rushing yards and a score, and sophomore Fritz Waldvogel added 137 receiving yards and a touchdown Saturday in McMinnville, Ore.
McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Costly St. Thomas mistakes and Linfield’s efficient offense added up to a 31-20 defeat for the Tommies in the NCAA Division III football quarterfinals.
The loss ended a stellar season in which St. Thomas posted an 11-2 record and advanced further in the playoffs than any time before.
The football team arrived in Oregon this morning and promptly set to work preparing for Saturday’s quarterfinal playoff game against Linfield College.
With an early flight and two hours gained by traveling west, the team had a full day to get settled into a foreign atmosphere and turn their thoughts toward kickoff.
“It was a pretty long day with the time difference and everything,” junior Brady Ervin said. “Overall, it was pretty good.”
Tommie the mascot and a few brave souls withstood freezing temperatures Friday morning to see the Tommie football team head to the airport to make the trip to Oregon.
Although two decades separate them, the connections between the last Tommie football team to reach the playoffs and the 2009 squad run deep.
Sports Information Director Gene McGivern remembers the 1990 Tommies and knows that, although it’s difficult to compare teams of different eras, the two teams have striking similarities.
The St. Thomas women’s basketball team played its first home game of the season Wednesday at Gangelhoff Center against Concordia-Moorhead. And even though the Tommies returned four starters, the women struggled and shot just 30 percent from the field and 13 percent from the behind the arc.
The No. 3-ranked St. Thomas men’s basketball team jumped out to an early lead and never gave it up on the way to a 73-55 win Wednesday night over Concordia-Moorhead at the Gangelhoff Center at Concordia-St. Paul.
Like St. Thomas, Linfield College has won each of its two playoff games handily and now the two teams meet Saturday in McMinnville, Ore., to see who advances from the round of eight to the final four.
The St. Thomas football team earned its way to the quarterfinals of the Division III national championship playoffs with Saturday’s win. Now the Tommies travel to Oregon, where St. Thomas will take on the No. 5-ranked Linfield College Wildcats.
After St. Thomas’ decisive win over Coe College, a few players and coach Glenn Caruso sat down for the post game press conference.
Some former Tommies had not been to a game since their college days and others have made Tommie football games a tradition on autumn Saturday afternoons.
The Tommie defense harrassed Boyle’s freshman replacements grabbing two picks in a dominating 34-7 win over Coe College Saturday in O’Shaughnessy Stadium in the second round of the NCAA playoffs.
Ben Wartman rushed for 236 yards and two touchdowns to help St. Thomas roll to a 34-7 win over Coe College Saturday in O’Shaughnessy Stadium in the second round of the NCAA playoffs.
This Saturday’s matchup appears to be a game between the nearly unstoppable force – St. Thomas’ rushing attack – against the seemingly immovable object – Coe College’s stout run defense.
