The Tommie football team was sent off to Illinois in style at 8 a.m. Friday morning to take on Monmouth.

Fans, cheerleaders, “Caruso’s crew” and even the mascot Tommie were all there to cheer the team on one more time before St. Thomas plays in the NCAA playoffs for the first time since 1990.

John Kruger can be reached at jckruger@stthomas.edu