Despite trailing at halftime, the St. Thomas football team erupted in the second half for 32 unanswered points, earning the team its sixth-straight win in a 46-14 crushing of Presbyterian Saturday in Clinton, South Carolina.
The game marked the first time the Tommies (6-1, 4-0 Pioneer League) have trailed at halftime in a conference game this season. With the win, the Tommies remain atop the PFL standings for another week as the Blue Hose (1-7, 0-5) remain in last place.
“I thought our energy and our urgency early was good, but, especially some of the younger guys, everybody didn’t really handle some of the difficult moments in the first half,” coach Glenn Caruso said in a postgame interview with ESPN radio.
Presbyterian jumped out to an early 10-0 lead over the Tommies in the first quarter after the Blue Hose scored on their first two drives of the game and stopped the Tommies on downs on their first drive.
The Blue Hose hit a 21-yard field goal followed by a 53-yard TD pass from first-year quarterback Tyler Wesley to first-year receiver Dominic Kibby. Despite giving Tommie fans an early scare, with no points in the first quarter, the Tommies got on the board less than 18 seconds into the second quarter as senior running back Josh Komis ran in a 4-yard score.
Although it seemed like Presbyterian would respond on their next drive, taking it to the St. Thomas 16-yard line, senior defensive back Luke Glenna had other plans. Glenna intercepted a Blue Hose pass to squash any major momentum they had.
Two drives later, sophomore running back Shawn Shipman ran in a two-yarder to bring the score to 17-14 at halftime.
“The lesson today is that we need to be willing to have the faith to just continue to go to work every single day,” Caruso said. “If you keep pounding at that wall, eventually the deluge will come and when the flood came, it came big today.”
The flood indeed came big in the second half as the Tommies surged for 22 points in the first nine minutes of the half. Senior quarterback Cade Sexauer ran in the first score on a 1-yard quarterback sneak down the middle.
On Presbyterian’s ensuing drive, first-year linebacker Ryan Sever blocked a punt and stopped any likelihood of a Blue Hose upset on their homecoming day. Sever came off the line in a direct sprint for the ball as he blocked the ball and ran it in for an 11-yard score.
To finish off the scoring barrage, Sexauer hit senior tight end Max Zimmerman for an 8-yard score to put the Tommies ahead to a healthy 36-17 lead.
Sexauer finished the game with 173 yards in the air and completed 14-of-19 passes.
However, it was the St. Thomas defense that truly stole the show in the second half, allowing no points and totaling six sacks by six different players in the game. Glenna also picked up another interception in the second half, his third in the last two games.
“Proud of the way our guys responded, but great lessons to learn,” Caruso said.
First-year quarterback Amari Powell got to play in his second game this season as he finished off the fourth quarter for the Tommies, helping his team earn another 10 points in the final frame.
Powell threw for 24 yards, completing 3-of-6 passes and running in a 1-yard score of his own with 2:11 left in the game.
The Tommies look to redeem themselves from last year’s 27-24 loss to San Diego as they face the Toreros for a rematch on Saturday, Oct. 29 at noon at O’Shaughnessy Stadium.
Cam Kauffman can be reached at kauf8536@stthomas.edu.