St. Thomas Holds Off Southern Utah 28-26 on a Late Score
St. Thomas led 28-17 after Gabriel Abel's 78-yard touchdown run early in the second half, and then did not score again. Southern Utah got a field goal in the third, a touchdown with 24 seconds left, and a failed two-point try that decided the whole thing. Make that conversion and it is 28-28. It did not work, so St. Thomas won 28-26.
The Tommies started fast, with Nick Peipert hitting Quentin Cobb-Butler for 63 yards on the opening score. Southern Utah answered with a field goal and then took a 10-7 lead on Parker Vance's 29-yard interception return, which tells you where Peipert's one pick went. That was the biggest hole St. Thomas had to climb out of, three points. Joseph Koch (1 yard) and Peipert himself (1 yard, just before halftime) put St. Thomas up 21-17 at the break, and Abel's run made it 28-17.
The yardage was close, with St. Thomas ahead 406 to 367. The Tommies ran for 175 yards and Abel had 120 of them on 19 carries (78 on that one run, so the other 18 went for 42). Southern Utah ran for 146 and Floyd Chalk IV carried 26 times for 118. The Thunderbirds lost a fumble, St. Thomas threw the interception, and the two cancelled out about as well as two turnovers can.
St. Thomas moves to 1-1 and Southern Utah falls to 1-2. Four lead changes, a game that was never tied, and a team that scored 7 points over the final 30 minutes and still won. I will take it.
For fantasy, this was a quarterback day on both sides. Peipert and Will Burns were the top two scorers, and Cobb-Butler and Mark Bails (4 catches, 106 yards and the final touchdown) were right behind them.