The Tommie defense held the MIAC’s second-best rushing attack to 78 yards and no touchdowns Saturday at O’Shaughnessy Stadium as St. Thomas shutout Concordia-Moorhead 21-0.
In their best game as a unit this season, the Tommie front seven recovered three of five Cobber fumbles, brought down quarterback Blake Kragnes four times and allowed only 108 yards of total offense.
“Stopping the run first helped us win the day,” linebacker Adam Brant said. “It was just really special that everyone came together and did their job.”
Shutting down the Cobber run game was no easy feat; Concordia’s triple-option offense, led by running back Chad Johnson, ran for 1,021 yards entering Saturday’s game.
“When you play a team like this that has so many different ways to run the ball,” coach Glenn Caruso said, “you’ve got to be playing 11 guys all the time. Of all the things I’m most happy about, shutting down the run the way we did … that’s a good day.”
Johnson entered the game as the MIAC’s leading rusher. In four games this season, the senior fullback gained 585 yards and accounted for all nine of Concordia’s rushing touchdowns.
“Early on in the game, we were thinking they were going to run the ball quite a bit,” safety Isaac Seering said. “We were really prepared to come down and fit up the run.… We’re going to enjoy this one tonight.”
As well as the run defense performed, the Tommies were even better against the pass. The Cobbers did not once reach the Tommies’ side of the field.
Kragnes completed only six of 13 throws for 30 yards and was sacked four times. He fumbled four times and lost three, accounting for all of the Cobbers’ turnovers.
“The pressure on the quarterback was really good,” Brant said. “Four sacks is huge.”
The Tommies’ dominant defensive performance made up for the offense’s lowest-scoring game of the season. Caruso said the low scoring was due in part to the strength of the Cobber defense.
“This was about as hearty of a defense as we have seen,” he said. “We needed to establish our run game … (and) we got just about everything we needed out of it. We’ve still got to improve, though.”
Running backs Jordan Roberts and Josh Parks left the game with minor injuries, which also hindered scoring. Running back Tucker Trettel, who took a majority of the snaps at running back in place of Roberts last year, once again filled the void at tailback.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s Josh, Jordan or me,” Trettel said. “We’re all ready to step in and fulfill the role the best we can.”
“It just speaks to our depth,” Caruso said. “When one guy goes out you can bring in another guy, and when that guy goes out you can bring in another guy.”
Trettel led the Tommie offense with two touchdowns and 86 yards on 16 carries. His touchdown in the third quarter came on a one play, 2-yard drive set up by Brant’s 25-yard return of a fumble recovery.
“It’s absolutely awesome,” Trettel said. “To be picked up by the defense for that second touchdown feels a lot better than those two touchdowns on their own.”
Though the offense was able to score only half of its season average Saturday, the unit played one of its cleanest games this season. The team committed three penalties, down from their season average of 12, and committed only one turnover.
“We needed to be clean, ball secure and penalty free,” Caruso said. “We were that.”
Special teams saw improvement this week, snapping a consecutive turnover streak at five games. Everything was not perfect, however, as kicker Bryan Steinsapir missed both of his field goal attempts. Before this game, he had made his previous two field goal attempts this season.
“Anytime you don’t make a field goal is a concern because he’s been perfect for us all year in terms of his productivity,” Caruso said. “Fortunately it didn’t cost us today, but we need to get back on track.”
The Tommies will have time to address problem areas with the upcoming bye week. With the win over Concordia, St. Thomas kept its spot at the top of the MIAC standings. The Cobbers fell to third behind St. John’s.
St. Thomas will continue MIAC play Oct. 21 at Hamline.
Noah Brown can be reached at brow7736@stthomas.edu