Tommies Blog: St. Thomas/St. John's Rivalry Takes National Stage Saturday
One of the great rivalries in small-college football takes center stage on Saturday as No. 8-ranked St. John's hosts No. 12-ranked St. Thomas at Clemens Stadium in Collegeville.
And for both programs, it's a game that can go a long way in determining the outcome of the league champion at the end of the year. A capacity crowd of up to 16,000 is expected on the campus of St. John's for what is one of the best rivalries in college athletics. This year's match-up has also drawn national attention.
ESPN has a TV crew on the way for the big game this week. Their "SportsCenter on the Road" show will broadcast live from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. at Clemens Stadium. Fans are encouraged to attend the live broadcast before Saturday's 1 p.m. kickoff.
It will be the MIAC opener for the Tommies, who are 2-0 after wins at UW-Eau Claire and a home-opening 51-7 win over UW-La Crosse. St. John's was just as good in the non-conference, beating the University of Dubuque 45-9 and Buena Vista 56-7. The Johnnies faced a stiffer test last week in their league opener at Concordia in Moorhead, but came away with a 24-16 victory.
The Tommie-Johnnie game has been an even match-up lately. St. John's has won two straight games, both in St. Paul, after the Tommies had won three in a row on the way to claiming three straight MIAC titles under Glenn Caruso. In an interesting twist, the road team has won the last three meetings between the two teams. It's also the 10th time in the last 11 years that the two teams meet with at least one being nationally ranked.
Last year's meeting at O'Shaughnessy Stadium is one the Tommies would rather forget. St. John's was ready for everything St. Thomas had prepared and came away with a 24-14 victory. The Tommies had four turnovers, all in the fourth quarter, which eliminated any comeback effort.
In that game, Sam Sura rushed for 210 yards and a touchdown on 36 carries for the Johnnies. He was the offensive workforce, and St. Thomas had a tough time bringing him down. Sura is back and will present the same challenge as last year. He's a tough runner that doesn't go down easily. So far this year, he's rushing for 144 yards per game with four touchdowns.
Quarterback Nick Martin hurt St. Thomas last year both with his arm and his feet. He passed for 162 yards and two scores in last year's victory. This year, Martin is completing 81 percent of his passes and throwing for about 140 yards per game with five touchdowns. He also has rushed for three scores.
In three wins so far this year, the Johnnies are outscoring opponents 41-10 on average and are collecting about 400 yards on offense. They're running for about 227 yards per game. It will be a great challenge for a St. Thomas defense that's allowing only seven points per game, just 55 rushing yards and 158 yards of total offense.
St. John's is led defensively by Carter Hanson's 31 tackles, including 11 solo, over three games. Drake Matuska has 26 tackles and Michael Callanan has 21 tackles. The Johnnies also have nine sacks on the season and are allowing 97 yards rushing along with about 205 yards passing.
It's a great match-up on paper for both sides. Against UW-La Crosse, the Tommies piled up more than 650 yards of total offense. For the season, quarterback John Gould is averaging 306 passing yards per game and has four touchdowns on the year. His favorite target so far is Charlie Dowdle, who is averaging 120 yards per game and has scored three touchdowns.
The Tommies are also rushing for more than 146 yards per game on the season. That duty is largely split between Jordan Roberts and Jack Kaiser. Roberts leads St. Thomas at 77.45 yards per game and five touchdowns. Kaiser runs for about 38 yards per game and has three scores.
In last year's game, Kaiser had 10 carries for 74 yards and a touchdown. Gould was 12-of-20 passing for 182 yards and two interceptions. The four St. Thomas turnovers were the clear difference in the outcome.
You can talk statistics all you want, but this game is really all about the players and the rivalry between the two schools. Most of the players for both squads are from Minnesota and were familiar opponents in their high school football days. Some were even teammates at one point. Many of them are friends away from football, but for three hours on Saturday all that matters is winning.
Tune into Newsradio 830 WCCO AM at about 1 p.m. Saturday as Dave Lee will call the play-by-play and Eric Nelson will provide color commentary along with Fritz Waldvogel.