Box Score Game Photos (James Garvey)

St. Paul, Minn. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team fell 51-7 at 12th-ranked the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) Saturday afternoon at O'Shaughnessy Stadium.  The Eagles drop to 1-1 on the season while the Tommies improve to 2-0.  St. Thomas (Minn.), ranked 12th on this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll, now leads the all-time series, 5-2-2, with UWL.

The Eagles were forced to punt on the first possession of the game with St. Thomas (Minn.) taking over at the Eagles' 41-yard line.  The Tommies drove 41 yards on seven plays and 1:48 as Jordan Roberts scored on a 12-yard touchdown run to make it 6-0.  Charlie Dowdle's pass attempt failed on the extra-point.  After UWL was forced to punt on its next possession, St. Thomas (Minn.) took a 13-0 lead as John Gould threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Bradley with 5:52 left in the first quarter.  Paul Graupner's extra-point was good as the Tommies went 64 yards on seven plays and 2:23.

Graupner connected on a 40-yard field goal with 2:17 remaining in the opening quarter to lead 16-0.  The drive went 30 yards in 11 plays and 2:21.

Early in the second quarter, St. Thomas (Minn.) drove to the UWL two-yard line on Gould's pass to Roberts, but the Eagles' Matt Williquette forced a fumble with UWL recovering. After a UWL punt, the Tommies' Jack Kaiser was intercepted by the Eagles' Nicholas Peters at the UWL 20-yard line with 8:00 left in the first half.  Roberts later scored on a three-yard run with 3:58 remaining in the second quarter to give St. Thomas (Minn.) a 23-0 advantage.  The Tommies went 26 yards on six plays and 1:52.

Gould was intercepted by UWL's Williquette with :43 left in the second quarter.  The Eagles drove to the Tommies' 34-yard line, but Joshua Fischer missed a 51-yard field goal and St. Thomas (Minn.) took a 23-0 lead into halftime.

St. Thomas (Minn.) was stopped on its first possession of the second half and UWL took over at the Tommies' 23-yard line with 13:50 remaining.  The Eagles could not gain a yard on the drive and Fischer's 40-yard field goal went wide left.  The teams traded punts on the game's next two possessions before St. Thomas (Minn.) drove 71 yards in six plays and 2:19 as Roberts scored on a 10-yard touchdown run to make it 30-0 with 5:05 remaining in the third quarter.

Mike Santucci returned the ensuing kickoff 54-yards to the Tommies' 45-yard line and a personal foul penalty on St. Thomas (Minn.) moved the ball to the 30-yard line. Tyler Jenkins followed with a 30-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage.  Matt Van Druten's extra-point made it 30-7 with 4:49 left in the third.  The Tommies responded on their next drive to take a 37-7 lead with Kaiser scoring on a two-yard run with :46 remaining.  St. Thomas (Minn.) went 79 yards in 11 plays and 3:54. 

Alex Fenske's 78-yard touchdown pass to Wolfgang Dvorak with 13:57 left in the game gave St. Thomas (Minn.) a 44-7 lead.  The drive went 68 yards in two plays and 1:04.  After UWL's Andrew Thompson fumbled, the Tommies' Tory Adams scored on a 10-yard touchdown run with 12:35 remaining to make it 51-7.  The drive was 19 yards in four plays and 1:12.

UWL finished with 116 yards of offense Saturday, including 38 rushing and 78 passing.  The Eagles totaled nine first downs and were one-of-14 on third-down.

Trent Cummings went six-of-10 passing for the Eagles for 64 yards while John Tackett finished one-of-three for nine yards and Thompson two-of-three for five yards.  Jenkins totaled 45 yards rushing on five attempts while Joel Oxton (30 yards) and A.J. Day (12 yards) each had three catches.

St. Thomas (Minn.) totaled 654 yards of offense, including 171 rushing and 483 passing.  The Tommies finished with 29 first downs and while going eight-of-16 on third-down. St. Thomas (Minn.) was five-of-eight in the red-zone.

Gould went 18-of-31 passing for 277 yards with one touchdown and one interception while Fenske finished 10-of-12 for 206 yards with one touchdown.  Roberts had 92 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 16 carries.  Nick Waldvogel led the Tommies with four catches for 46 yards. Thirteen different players caught a pass for St. Thomas (Minn.).

Ryan Weber led UWL's defense with 15 tackles while Peter Kissling finished with seven tackles, including 1.0 for loss.  Trent Napp and Peters each had six tackles.  Matthew Salerno averaged 36.4 yards on 11 punts with a long of 51-yards.

Tim McClanahan led St. Thomas (Minn.) with eight tackles.  The Tommies recorded 9.0 quarterback sacks.  Sam Enea had one punt for 36 yards.

UWL returns to action Saturday, September 19 at fourth-ranked the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas) at 6 p.m.