As soon as the words escaped his mouth, Glenn Caruso caught himself. "It might not have been the prettiest win in the world," the St. Thomas coach said Saturday, shortly after the Tommies' 38-7 demolition of Wabash. "Although to win by 31 in the regional championship, I know it looks good."
Aesthetics aside, Caruso found much to like as the fourth-ranked Tommies advanced to the Division III semifinals. They manhandled a team that looked much like themselves — one that was 12-0 and averaged 42 points a game while giving up 10 — with their offense, defense and special teams each playing a role at O'Shaughnessy Stadium.
The Tommies defense did not allow a score until Mason Zurek's 4-yard touchdown run with 12 minutes, 53 seconds remaining in the game. Zurek, who was averaging 162 rushing yards a game, was held to 72 yards as St. Thomas surrendered only 226 total yards to a team ranked No. 7 in the nation.
St. Thomas' special teams blocked a punt, forced a fumble on another and recovered an onside kick, with all three plays setting up scores. Nick Waldvogel returned a punt 48 yards for the opening touchdown, and Charlie Dowdle ran for an 18-yard score on a fake field goal.
The Tommies will play Linfield, a 38-35 winner over Mary Hardin-Baylor in next Saturday's semifinals. The site will be announced Sunday, with St. Thomas likely to host.
"When we perform to our abilities, we're pretty dynamic," said Caruso, whose team moved to 13-0 for the third time in its history. "I've said it many times: being dynamic as a team means you can win a game in many ways.
"Today, everyone had to chip in; it wasn't just the offense, or just the defense, or just the special teams. All three phases are really performing well."
The Tommies rolled to a 17-0 lead at halftime, holding Wabash to 85 yards and racking up 20:40 of possession time to the Little Giants' 9:20. On St. Thomas' second drive of the game, Waldvogel fielded a punt at the Wabash 48, threaded through the defense and stiff-armed the last player in his way en route to the end zone.