Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
Junior RB Jordan Roberts rushed 39 times for 194 yards and two touchdowns and the host Tommies outscored Bethel 24-0 in the second half en route to Saturday's 45-14 MIAC football victory at O'Shaughnessy Stadium.
The No. 7-ranked Tommies (7-0 overall, 5-0 MIAC) had no turnovers and ran 88 plays to just 44 for the Royals (4-3, 3-2).
Trailing 21-14 in the final 90 seconds of the first half, Bethel had 2nd-and-2 from the UST 18 yard line but the Tommies stopped three rushing tries by sophomore RB Bridgeport Tusler for no net yards -- thanks to two tackles by Bennett Celichowski -- and UST was able to keep a seven-point halftime lead.
Bethel gained just 16 net yards in the second half on 18 plays, and on the game gained just one yard in passing in one catch in only five attempts. The Royals had combined for 458 passing yards in the 2013 and 2014 home victories over the Tommies.
Senior QB John Gould improved to 11-1 as a starter and surpassed 3,000 career passing yards as he completed 18-of-21 passes for 186 yards and two TDs and no interceptions. Nick Waldvogel had seven catches for 67 yards and Charlie Dowdle had three catches for 51 yards and one TD. Dowdle now has 18 TD catches in is last 14 games. UST had just one offensive gain of more than 20 yards on a day it recorded 445 total yards rushing and passing.
For the Royals, Tusler rushed 22 times for 127 yards, and freshman QB Trey Anderson completed 12 carries for 35 yards and TD runs of 8 and 29 yards. Nathan Hultgren had a sack among his 11 tackles.
The Tommies punted only once in the game and have punted just twice in their last 37 offensive possessions over three games.
Another balanced effort for the Tommie defense saw it allow just 153 net yards. Steve Harrell was in on 10 tackles; Tim McClanahan had a recovered fumble and eight tackles; Ryan Winter had a forced fumble and a pass beak up; Anthony King-Foreman had a sack and Jesse Addo had two tackles for loss including a sack.
Roberts went over 1,000 all-purpose yards on the season (153 touches, 1,021 yards) with 16 touchdowns. He ran a streak of 100-plus rushing games to five.