RIVER FALLS, WIS. – St. Thomas, ranked No. 2 in the d3football.com poll, used a strong defensive effort on Thursday night to defeat Wisconsin-River Falls 25-7 for its 36th consecutive regular-season victory.
The Tommies (2-0) had five sacks and limited the Falcons (0-2) to 62 yards in the second half, when they twice stopped the Falcons deep in their territory (at the 17- and 33-yard lines).
Matt O'Connell passed for 260 yards and Nick Waldvogel and Dan Noehring each rushed for a touchdown to lead St. Thomas.
The Tommies outgained the Falcons 438-244 but lost two fumbles and had eight penalties. They led 15-7 at halftime.
St. Thomas is 3-0 against River Falls under coach Glenn Caruso, but the Falcons lead the overall series 8-5.
St. Thomas, whose last regular-season loss was in overtime to St. John's in 2009, will play host to St. John's in its MIAC opener on Sept. 21. It has a 27-game winning streak in the MIAC, which is one shy of the MIAC record held by St. John's.
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