Graduate Student Matthew Guggemos hauls in the first interception for the Tommies. St. Thomas defeated Stetson 34-24 on Saturday at O’Shaughnessy Stadium. (Eli Andersen/The Crest) 
Guggemos and junior defensive back Logan Cassady blocked and returned two straight punts for touchdowns to start the game. (Eli Andersen/The Crest) 
Senior running back Hope Adebayo made his return from injury Saturday along with junior running back Gabe Abel and graduate receiver Jacob Wildermuth. (Eli Andersen/The Crest) 
St. Thomas earned its first Pioneer League victory after going 1-3 in non-conference play. (Eli Andersen/The Crest). 
The Tommies won in front of a large family weekend crowd. (Eli Andersen/The Crest).
St. Thomas football beat Stetson University 34-24 Saturday to open Pioneer League play at O’Shaughnessy Stadium.
The Tommie offense only reached the end zone once as most of the scoring was dominated by their defense and special teams. Defensive backs graduate Matthew Guggemos and junior Logan Cassady each blocked and returned a punt for a touchdown in the first five minutes of play.
“The thing I said to (special teams coach) Mark (Kubacki) on the phone was, ‘it’s just really impressive that we’re able to do this without having a ton of guys that are starters littered all over special teams,” coach Glenn Caruso said, “I was really impressed by that and it’s fun to see how fun those guys work.”
The purple and gray offense didn’t get to step onto the field for their own drive until 9:46 left in the first quarter after Guggemos picked off sophomore quarterback Brady Meitz.
“It felt good to come out strong and put some points on the board early and just really get back to ourselves. The biggest thing is we just want to be ourselves, and going into conference play, that’s what we did,” junior defensive back Den Juette said.
The offense started at Stetson’s 27-yard line and it only took two rushes from senior running back Hope Adebayo and one from sophomore quarterback Tak Tateoka to reach the 12-yard line. From there, Adebayo punched it in for the Tommies’ only offensive touchdown.
Saturday was Adebayo’s first game back from injury since Sept. 14 against Black Hills State. He rushed for 86 yards on 19 carries along with that first quarter touchdown.
“It felt good, felt really good. Thankful for the O-line. They played their butts off today, so that made the job easy. But it felt good. The trainers have been working so I’m excited to be back,” Adebayo said.
Caruso also praised the offensive line’s performance, after expressing disappointment in the unit after earlier games. Saturday, he said they played “a lot better than the offense presented.”
“You could see the line of scrimmage being reestablished … it was really impressive. What I don’t think we did a very good job is getting the ball to that area urgently enough,” Caruso said.
Despite the offensive line’s performance, the offense only had 216 total yards.
“You gotta keep doing the little things and everyone just– we’re doing our jobs and we’re just working on that, and that’s something that will get figured out,” Adebayo said.
Also returning to the offense with Adebayo was junior running back Gabe Abel in his first game since Sept. 7 and graduate receiver Jacob Wildermuth, who hadn’t played since Aug. 29.
“Those two guys are honestly my rocks, honestly. They hold me stable and they keep me right so having those two guys back was huge,” Adebayo said.
The Tommies added another defensive score after junior defensive back Ryan Calcagno leapt up, snagged and returned a Stetson pass for a 66-yard pick-6. Juette had the third Tommie interception to start the fourth quarter which he returned for 52 yards.
First-year kicker Ben Hoiland made his first-ever appearance on Saturday and sank a 21-yard field goal to end the half, and a 40-yarder in the fourth quarter, even after missing the opening point-after attempt.
The stifling defense that had St. Thomas up 31-3 faltered in the third quarter and allowed two passing touchdowns from Meitz.
“He also placed some really nice balls that were really tough. We defended three of them, but they also caught a couple of them and attacked us vertically. Our pass rush didn’t get home quite as much as we’re used to, and that was the difference in the second half,” Caruso said.
The defense suffered a blow after star junior linebacker Ryan Sever was also disqualified from the game in the third quarter for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after an interaction with a player he tackled.
“I did not see it. I saw the play before it, where he was personal fouled and it wasn’t called. Definitely saw that and made that note to the officials that it’s going to get out of hand unless they control it right before that play,” Caruso said.
Caruso is still juggling the quarterback position after reaching to the third man in the depth chart in the team’s 64-0 loss against Lindenwood.
Today, Sophomore quarterback Tak Tateoka started the game. He ended with seven completions on 17 attempts for just 66 yards. Tateoka was pulled late in the third quarter for sophomore quarterback Michael Rostberg who limped out of the game after going 0-3 and taking three sacks.
Caruso said Rostberg’s injury prevented him from re-entering the game.
Saturday’s victory was the first since Sept. 14 after the loss to Lindenwood and a bye week.
“Even when you win a game, I’m going to go back into the locker room and say, ‘Boy we have a lot of work to do right?’ And that’s not meant to be malicious and say, ‘Oh boy, we’re not very good,’” Caruso said, “It’s meant to give the players the control and the power to empower them to know that they can get better and they control their own opportunities.”
The Tommies travel to Poughkeepsie, New York to play Marist College at 11 a.m. CDT at Tenney Stadium.
Adam Mueller can be reached at muel7541@stthomas.edu.