St. Thomas' first D-I football season ends with rout of Presbyterian

St. Thomas ran off the game's final 40 points over the final 39 minutes, 10 seconds, getting touchdowns from six different players in that span in a season-ending 54-15 victory over Presbyterian on Saturday afternoon in St. Paul.

The Tommies finished 7-3 overall and 6-2 in their inaugural Division I season in the FCS Pioneer League, while extending their home winning streak to 31 games on Senior Day.

"The pride that I have in our seniors is difficult to put into words," coach Glenn Caruso said. "It's a group that's seen a lot, these 23 guys, they've come to us in many different ways, some high school, and four years, some five years, some are graduate students.

"They were there when [wife] Racheal [Caruso] shared the news about her battle with cancer in the family — they were freshmen. They were there when teams didn't want to play us. They were there when we didn't have a league, they were there when we didn't have a division. They have served each other and this program very well."

Touchdown runs by Nick Rice and Hope Adebayo gave the Tommies a 14-8 lead early in the second quarter. Presbyterian regained the lead shortly afterward on a Jalyn Witcher TD with 9:10 left in the second period.

Rice's second touchdown, on a 40-yard run, gave St. Thomas the lead for good. He finished with 101 yards on the ground.