St. Paul – Despite a 14-7 lead halfway through the second quarter, the Gustavus Adolphus football team was unable to keep a surging St. Thomas team at bay in the regular season finale on Saturday afternoon at O’Shaughnessy Stadium. The Tommies scored 36 points over the remainder of the second quarter and all of the third quarter en route to a 57-35 victory. Gustavus finishes its 2014 season with an overall record of 6-4 and an MIAC mark of 4-4. St. Thomas now holds an overall record of 8-2 and an MIAC record of 6-2.
Running for more than 100 yards for the third straight game, running back Luke Martinez’s (Jr., Lenexa, Kan.) big afternoon began in the first quarter when he plunged across the goal line from the one-yard-line for the first of his three rushing touchdowns at the 2:38 mark of the first quarter to give Gustavus an early 7-0 lead.
Martinez went on to finish the day with two more touchdowns and 110 yards on 19 carries (5.8 ypc). He scored on a three-yard touchdown run at the 12:29 mark of the fourth quarter to cut the St. Thomas lead to 43-21, and then later added a five-yard touchdown run later in the fourth at 5:39 to bring the score to 50-39.
Although Martinez’s afternoon stood out within the Gustie offense, his performance was trumped by the running game of St. Thomas and specifically that of running back Brenton Braddoc. Braddoc ran for a total of 261 yards on 41 carries (6.4 ypc) and found the end zone five times. Braddoc tied the game at 7-7 with a five-yard touchdown at the 9:59 point of the second quarter, then sparked St. Thomas’s 36-0 scoring run with another five-yard touchdown run later in the quarter at 3:12 to tie the game at 14-14.
Braddoc’s final three touchdowns came at 5:29 and 0:27 of the third quarter to put the Tommies up 43-14, and 6:24 of the fourth quarter to give the home team a 50-28 advantage.
St. Thomas totaled 504 yards of offense in the game, which included a 370-yard rushing performance. Quarterback John Gould added 49 yards on the ground, while Matt O’Connell provided 38 yards and a touchdown that came late in the game and brought the score to a final.
Gustavus ended up with 462 yards of total offense after running for 164 yards and passing for 298.
Quarterback Mitch Hendricks (Jr., Bemidji, Minn.) connected with seven different receivers and ended up with 298 yards after going 18-for-33. His lone touchdown pass of the day came halfway through the fourth quarter when he connected with Matt Boyce (Jr., Excelsior, Minn.) from 27 yards out. To go Hendricks’s passing performance, he also ran for a five-yard touchdown at the 7:56 mark of the second quarter to give the Black and Gold at 14-7 advantage.
Matt Boyce finished with 91 yards on four receptions, which included the game’s longest passing play, a 42-yard catch early in the opening frame. Gabriel Boyce (Jr., Excelsior, Minn.) led the receiving corps with seven catches for 102 yards.
Through the air, St. Thomas quarterback John Gould was 11-of-15 for 134 yards with two touchdowns. Both of Gould’s touchdown passes went to Charlie Dowdle who finished the game with six receptions for 55 yards.
Leading the Gustavus defense was Xavier Fust (Sr., Columbia Heights, Minn.), Zack Martinez (Jr., Lenexa, Kan.), and Tyler Jakes (So., North Mankato, Minn.) – all of which ended up with double-digit tackles. Fust led the way with a game-high of 11 (9 solo), Martinez totaled 10 (8 solo), and Jakes added 10 (2 solo).