First-year kicker Ben Hoiland and sophomore punter Elliot Huether encourage each other in a rainy fourth quarter. The Tommies lost 22-19 against Drake Saturday at O’Shaughnessy Stadium. (Evan Neubauer / The Crest) 
Tommies in the crowd raise their shields for a scholarship giveaway at the Homecoming game. (Evan Neubauer / The Crest) 
Junior linebacker Jordan Pendleton and graduate defensive back Matthew Guggemos celebrate a play. (Evan Neubauer / The Crest) 
Running back Hope Adebayo evades a tackle. (Evan Neubauer/The Crest) 
Junior tight end Patrick Wagner clings to the ball as he is tackled. (Evan Neubauer / The Crest)
Until earlier this season, no current St. Thomas students had seen the football team lose at O’Shaughnessy Stadium or lose more than three games.
On Saturday, many of them didn’t see the team lose its first home D-I conference game or back-to-back loss to the same D-I opponent either, because they were already filing out of the wet and rainy stadium early in the fourth quarter.
That scene, along with key special teams blunders, encapsulated St.Thomas’ emotions after their 22-19 homecoming loss to Drake University Saturday at O’Shaughnessy Stadium.
“It certainly was what I call a ‘legacy game’ from the point of view of, ‘this is homecoming…’ And we had a lot of guys that have come through that locker room, that have sweat and fought and bled, just like our guys,” coach Glenn Caruso said.
The Tommies needed to win to put themselves at the top of the Pioneer Football League. Now, they sit at 4-2 along with three other teams, while Drake has already clinched a share of the conference title.
Morehead State beat St. Thomas on Nov. 2, which gives it the edge in the standings. St. Thomas has the tiebreaker over San Diego after winning its matchup on Oct. 26. The Tommies play the final 4-2 team, Butler, on Nov. 16.
Last year, Drake gave them their then-worst Division I loss during the 2023 season while keeping them from the conference championship.
“There’s a lot of people that want to jump on the bandwagon of ‘Is this a rivalry game?’” Caruso said, “We’re trying to be better than we were and that’s what our focus is.”
While the Bulldogs were breaking streaks, they were upholding one of their own. The Bulldogs have now won 17-straight conference games, dating back to October 2022.
“We knew two highly competitive teams, every little thing matters, and today we didn’t win inside the margins,” junior receiver Colin Chase said.
St. Thomas first-year kicker Ben Hoiland lined up for a field goal early in the third quarter with the game tied 10-10. The kick was blocked, returned to the Drake’s 20-yard line and a penalty put them at the 10. Three plays later, Bulldogs graduate quarterback Luke Bailey threw a touchdown.
A play that should’ve put the Tommies up 3 points, turned into a sequence that resulted in them down 7.
“Those two minutes of football were absolutely the most pivotal in the game,” Caruso said.
An errant snap on a punt turned into a safety against the Tommies, and their final extra point was blocked after a high snap that graduate defensive back Grif Wurtz had to reach up and pin down for the hold.
“I was very disappointed with the snapping. Not at all what it needed to be,” Caruso said, “And it’s not just the ones that are obvious like the PAT at the end or the punt snap that went over our punter’s head.”
Entering into Saturday, senior running back Hope Adebayo was riding a four-game streak of rushing for 100 yards or more. He had 99 net yards against Drake.
“His last month is among the best months I’ve ever seen a running back (have), at least in our time,” Caruso said.
The run game wasn’t helped by the injury of senior center Langston Robinson midway through the first quarter. Graduate defensive lineman Seth Hopkins and junior tight end Matt Rink also left the game.
“The center runs more than just his position. He does so much. I mean, guys like Seth Hopkins and Langston are difficult to just plug a guy in with all those reps into him,” Caruso said.
The rest of the Tommie offense struggled early and didn’t reach the red zone until sophomore quarterback Tak Tateoka threw a 32-yard pass to junior tight end Patrick Wagner to reach the 14-yard line in the final minutes of the half.
Down 10-0, St. Thomas just hoped to put up a score before half and had to settle for a field goal.
The very first play of Drake’s next drive, junior defensive back Den Juette picked off Bailey.
Caruso employed a little trickery on the next play and senior fullback Landon Reed threw a pass to Tateoka, who ran out of bounds at the 2-yard line to stop the clock.
Adebayo punched it in from there, and in just 1:23 of game time, the Tommies had tied it up.
“With the tip-ball interception by Den Juette right before half and then being able to get a score right there before half… I thought we played well enough in the first half on defense,” Caruso said.
St. Thomas only reached the red zone twice more: the blocked field goal and a successful one.
Drake continued to capitalize on the Tommies’ mistakes and were up 22-13. The Bulldogs had a two-score cushion with seven minutes left in the game.
Their offense was led by Bailey, who went 20-26 with 167 yards and two touchdowns. Their run game was held to just 38 yards.
“It’s difficult, certainly when a team comes in here and has 205 yards of offense and leaves with a win, and those are the things that are going to have to be addressed,” Caruso said.
Time continued to tick off the clock, and the purple and gray had to employ hurry-up offense to give them a chance. Tateoka hit Chase in stride after the two-minute warning for a touchdown, making it 22-19.
Chase said that he could tell by the way the defense was covering graduate receiver Jacob Wildermuth that the ball would probably be coming his way.
“We know in those big situations, you’ve got to make big time plays,” Chase said.
Chase finished with six receptions and 91 yards, the most on either team.
St. Thomas attempted an onside kick and junior defensive back Ryan Calcagno was unable to reel it in, sealing the loss.
“We had a great look at it and couldn’t finish on it. I mean, those things are definitely discouraging,” Caruso said.
The Tommies travel to Indianapolis to play Butler Saturday, Nov. 16. Kickoff is at noon.
“We don’t really want to think about how many losses in the D-I era, what we could have done. We’ve just got to get better for next week, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Juette said.
Adam Mueller can be reached at muel7541@stthomas.edu.