St. Thomas routs Gustavus to clinch at least tie for MIAC title

St. Thomas clinched at least a tie for the MIAC title — its sixth in the past eight seasons — and secured a berth in the Division III playoffs with a 58-7 victory over Gustavus Adolphus on Saturday in St. Paul.

The Tommies (8-1, 7-0 MIAC), ranked No. 4, can claim the title outright with a victory at St. Olaf next Saturday.

If St. Thomas loses that game, the winner of the St. John's vs. Concordia (Moorhead) game in Collegeville next week would tie for the first place. But the Tommies hold head-to-head tiebreakers over both teams.

The Tommies were nearly flawless against the Gusties as they limited them to 1 net yard of offense and five first downs. The Tommies defense had seven sacks and forced 11 punts.

Jacques Perra passed for 237 yards and two TDs and Josh Parks rushed for 100 yards and two TDs to lead the Tommies offense, which gained 550 yards.

The Tommies scored 20 points over the final 5 minutes, 4 seconds of the second quarter to open a 34-7 lead at halftime. Matt Christenson caught two TD passes from Perra and Tommies linebacker Blake Weber returned an interception 1 yard for a TD to fuel the run.

St. Thomas has outscored seven conference foes 361-62.

The Johnnies scored 23 points in the final seven minutes of the first half and 21 points in the first eight minutes of the second half to open a 58-6 lead.

Dusty Krueger ran for three TDs, Jackson Erdmann passed for 206 yards and two TDs and Evan Clark caught a TD pass and ran for a TD for the Johnnies, who gained 539 yards.

Concordia (Moorhead) 54, St. Olaf 12: The Cobbers (8-1, 6-1), ranked No. 18, pulled away in the second half for the victory over the visiting Oles.

Blake Kragnes, who scored on a 10-yard run late in the first half to extend the Cobbers' lead to 20-0, went 52 yards for a TD on the first play of the second half to make it 26-0. A little over five minutes later, Kragnes capped an 8-play, 51-yard drive with a 1-yard TD run to make it 33-0.

Kragnes rushed for 107 yards as the Cobbers ran for 411 yards. Kragnes also passed for 97 yards and a TD.

Bethel 42, Augsburg 22: Jake Marsh passed for 225 yards and three TDs and ran for a TD to help the host Royals outlast the Auggies.

Marsh threw TD passes of 30 yards to Joel Koenecke and 16 yards to Drew Larsen in the first eight minutes of the third quarter to give the Royals a 36-16 lead.

Augsburg, which trailed 21-3 early in the second quarter, had pulled within 21-16 late in the first half on two TD passes from Quinn Frisell to Nick Heenie. After the Frisell's second TD pass, with 20 seconds left in the half, the Auggies' PAT attempt was fumbled and Bethel's Trey Anderson returned it 98 yards for a safety and a 23-16 lead for Bethel.