The St. Thomas football team engaged in an offense versus defense scrimmage game at O’Shaughnessy Stadium on Saturday after officially beginning its spring practice on April 4.
The game saw the offense — wearing white jerseys — triumph over the purple-clad defense 40-16. The offense had the possibility to earn points through normal scoring means such as touchdowns and field goals, though they also earned a point for their first first down earned per possession. The defense, on the other hand, scored primarily through fumble receptions, fourth-down stops and other defensive markers.
Coach Glenn Caruso said that while he felt some disappointment in the offense’s dominance, both squads had shown marked improvement in practice and in the team’s previous two intrasquad scrimmages.
“It’s difficult because it’s zero sum; you can really never be happy because the only way to score a touchdown is to give one up, and the only way to give a sack is to give one up,” Caruso said. “So there are certain markers you can look for, like did we build depth? Absolutely. But did we tackle as well as we wanted to? Not exactly.”
Sophomore running back Gabriel Abel left the game in the first half with an injury, taking off his pads. He did not return for the duration of the game.
First-year quarterback Tak Tateoka was a welcome addition back onto the field in his first game since being injured during Tommies’ loss to Drake in October of last year. Tateoka credits his coaches and training staff in overcoming the injury — which was a combination of a broken fibula and ankle sprain in his right leg — showing no signs of wear and tear on Saturday.
“I feel like I just did my job,” Tateoka said. “All the people around me did their job exceedingly well, you know, Colin (Chase) had the touchdown in the back corner, ran a great route. I think we had a great team performance today.”
Caruso expressed satisfaction in Tateoka’s growth during his first spring season, praising newly-hired offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Caleb Corrill in helping to build the team’s offensive depth, with Tateoka as the starting quarterback and first-year Michael Rostberg and sophomore Amari Powell as the second and third-string quarterbacks, respectively. Powell did not take part in spring practice due to an undisclosed injury but is expected to return in the fall.
“When you play a physical sport, you have to have a stable of depth; if last year didn’t teach us that (for) quarterback, when are we ever going to learn?” Caruso said. “So to have Tak playing the way he is, Michael having grown into the role he’s in, and you still get to see Amari, who won five games for us last year.”
Caruso said that spring training has helped the team build depth and ability within its offensive line, defensive line and quarterbacks, despite some holes in depth that have yet to be filled.
“If you have a position group like safety or linebacker that has two spots, we don’t just play the two guys; we play with three in a rotation, and on the defensive line that has three, we play with five in a rotation,” Caruso said, “so right now I can’t honestly say that the guy who’s in the third spot at every one of our defensive positions is performing.”
Caruso said that even with developments made, more questions will be answered in the fall with the arrival of new recruits.
“It doesn’t make sense to just say ‘This is who we are,’ and stay status quo,” Caruso said. “We’ve always got to be finding new ways to be in the margins, and the simple fact that the players have embraced that makes me feel good.”
A crowd of over 100 spectators filled the stands in spite of the cloudy, damp conditions. The sun peeked out during the second half before finally shining through as players and coaches excitedly packed up after the game.
“We have all of our rituals and routines that surround game day, and I mean it was smiles from all the players, so it just feels right,” Caruso said. “It’s kind of like Hawaii: it’s like this little respite in the middle of this huge ocean of time you have off, and it’s pretty cool.”
The Tommies will return in the fall to face off against the University of Sioux Falls on August 29.
Kevin Lynch can be reached at lync1832@stthomas.edu.