No. 15-ranked St. Thomas picked off five passes, recovered a fumble in the end zone, and got another Fritz Waldvogel kick return tiouchdown to lead Saturday's 42-3 victory over Augsburg in MIAC football at O'Shaughnessy Stadium.

The Tommies (7-1 overall, 6-1 MIAC), who avenged last season's 22-20 loss at Augsburg, rolled up 25 first downs, 308 rushing yards, and 519 total yards. They beat the Auggies (4-4, 3-3) for the 19th time in a row in St. Paul since a 1970 loss. 

Coach Glenn Caruso's Tommies secured a top-three conference finish for the second year in a row and kept alive their NCAA playoff hopes. The Toms play Bethel next Saturday in Arden Hills in a showdown game with postseason implications.

Waldvogel accomplished something rare and possibly unprecedented by an NCAA player as he returned the opening kickoff for a TD for the second week in a row. His 74-yard TD return last week helped UST top Carleton, and Saturday he returned the first play 87 yards to the end zone against the Auggies. 

Waldvogel, who finished with 188 all-purpose yards, has five TD returns on punts or kickoffs in his last 12 games. The sophomore also had three TD returns in 2007 as a high school senior at St. Thomas Academy.

Junior Ben Wartman (108) and soph Colin Tobin (102) each surpassed 100 yards rushing to help the Tommies roll up a 519-320 advantage in total offense. Soph Dakota Tracy made his first career start and guided the offense to 420 yards and four TDs in three quarters in his first career start. Tracy completed 11-of-22 passes for 185 yards and also rushed eight times for 51 yards.

Augsburg's Jack Christopherson drilled a 40-yard field goal five minutes into the game to pull his team within 7-3. Augsburg's top-20 ranked D-III passing attack was limited to 219 yards and no TDs as it was hurt by the six turnovers.

The Auggies missed out on three prime scoring chances on two possessions in the second half. They fumbled at the goal line after a catch and run and saw the Toms recover for a touchback late in the third quarter. Later, the Auggies dropped a wide-open potential TD pass in the end zone off a flea flicker, then a few plays later threw an interception on 4th-and-goal.

Auggie QB Marcus Brumm completed 22-of-49 for 219 yards and the five picks. Muneer Al-Hameed had eight catches for 91 yards and Mike Nourie had eight catches for 88 yards. Marvin Riedewald came off the bench and gained 59 yards on 15 carries. On defense, Tyler Judkins had an interception, and Adam Mead had a blocked field goal and eight tackles.

For the UST defense, Wyatt Delgado had a forced fumble and an interception, Cyrus Allen recovered a fumble in the end zone and Brady Ervin, Tommy Becker, Kirk Baglien and Mike Valesano had pickoffs.
Press release submitted by St. Thomas on Oct 31, 2009 at 05:33 PM Eastern