Football takes thriller over Tommies

St. Thomas got on the board first, scoring on a five-yard pass just under seven minutes into the game. Hamline evened it in the same quarter, on a 16-yard pass from junior quarterback James Leary (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.). Sophomore Derek Johnson's (Casa Grande, Ariz.) was good, and the first quarter ended at 7-7.

Four minutes into the second quarter, St. Thomas had their shortest drive attempt of the game at the Piper seven yard line when sophomore Brian Dorn (Maplewood, Minn.) forced a fumble on a rush and recovered it at the six yard line on the first play.  First-year Mark Masso (Farmington, Minn.) scored on a one-yard run, and Johnson's kick was good, bringing the score to 14-7 in favor of the Pipers.

The Piper defense continued their dominance in the half, forcing St. Thomas to punt on fourth and 15 on their own 22-yard line during the next drive attempt. The Tommies' kick was blocked by sophomore Sean Lewis (St. Paul, Minn.) and recovered by Dorn at the two-yard line, who ran it in for the touchdown. With another successful point-after attempt, the Pipers led 21-7.

St. Thomas brought the game to 21-13 just seconds before halftime on a one-yard run. Senior Tyler Scholl (Trimont, Minn.) blocked the point-after attempt to keep the Piper lead at eight points.

In the second half, the Tommies came out strong, scoring less than two minutes after the break. They attempted the two-point conversion and failed, leaving Hamline up 21-19.

Heading into the fourth quarter, St. Thomas still trailed the Pipers by two points, until another one-yard run and a successful point-after attempt put the Tommies up 27-21.

Led back down the field by key plays from first-years Alex House (Champlin, Minn.) and Sean Traynor (Eau Claire, Wis.), the Pipers ended a 47-yard drive with a 16-yard rushing touchdown by Leary. At third and 15, House caught a 16-yard pass from Leary to bring the Pipers to the St. Thomas 36 yard line. Traynor then had a 20-yard run to set up Leary's score. With the score tied at 27-27, Johnson's kick was blocked, keeping the teams even with St. Thomas holding the ball for the final possession of regulation.

With 12 seconds remaining on the clock, St. Thomas set-up for the game-winning 37-yard field goal attempt. After pressuring the Tommies' kicker all day, blocking both a punt and a point-after attempt, the Pipers were aggressive at the line and St. Thomas' kick flopped wide left to send the game into overtime.

In the first overtime, St. Thomas took the ball at the 25-yard line first, scoring on a one-yard rush by their quarterback. After Hamline took over at the 25, two rushes and an incomplete pass netted the Pipers just one yard, putting them at a potential last play at fourth down and nine yard to go. Leary connected with Alex House for a 22-yard reception, putting the Pipers two yards away from a score.

Hamline put together two one-yard runs to get the ball into the end zone, with Traynor being stopped at the one-yard by a mass of Tommies and Leary taking the ball in himself to tie the game at 34-34.

Just before Hamline took possession of the ball first in the second set of overtime drives, the stadium lights came on, shining on a Piper offense that was determined to get into the end zone. Needing three yards at third down, Leary ran the ball 13 yards to the five-yard line for the first down. Traynor took the ball to the one, before Leary snuck in for his second one-yard touchdown in the overtime period, giving Hamline the 41-34 lead to force St. Thomas into a must-score drive situation.

On the final St. Thomas attempt, Hamline forced four incomplete passes to prevent the score and win their first conference game of the season.

Hamline's offense was led by Traynor's 91 yards on the ground. Masso added 63, while Leary accumulated 40 rushing yards at quarterback. In the air, Leary had 107 yards passing on nine completions. House had two catches for 38 yards and Masso added two catches of his own for 29 yards.

Defensively, junior Mike LaBore (South St. Paul, Minn.) led the Pipers with 15 tackles (10 solo, five assists). Scholl had 11 (eight solo, three assists). Dorn had nine tackles (six solo, three assists) in addition to his punt recovery for a touchdown and an interception. Sophomore Brady Lorenzen (Grand Meadow, Minn.) had a fumble recovery and two interceptions for the Pipers.

Hamline had 299 yards of total offense in the game, 192 of those yards on the ground. The Pipers were also two for two in fourth-down conversions in the game.

With the win, the Pipers improve to 3-6 (1-6 MIAC), while the Tommies fall to 2-7 (2-5 MIAC).

The Pipers return home to Klas Field on Saturday, November 10, for their season finale against Augsburg at 1:00 p.m.