NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Carleton College football team built an early lead and hung around for the first half before No. 18 University of St. Thomas used its run game to pull away in the second half en route to a 63-15 decision.
Carleton (4-4, 2-4 MIAC) led 6-0 until late in the first quarter and pulled to within 14-9 at the break after
Trent Ramirez (Fy./Denver, Colo./George Washington) drilled a school-record 48-yard field goal with 0:01 left in the first half.
After the Carleton defense limited the St. Thomas (5-2, 4-1 MIAC) offensive attack to points on only two of eight possessions during the first half, the Tommies used their power running attack to take over after intermission, reaching the end zone on the first seven drives of the second half.
On a sunny, windy day at Laird Stadium, the Knights got off to an ideal start, as receiver
Bert Bean (So. Kansas City, Mo./Pembroke Hill School) opened the scoring by pulling in a 15-yard touchdown on the Carleton's second possession. Quarterback
Jonathan Singleton (Fy./San Martin, Calif./Live Oak) avoided trouble on the scoring play, splitting two St. Thomas defenders in the backfield before finding Bean running along the back of the end zone for the score. Bean finished the day with a season-best 7 catches for a career-high 53 yards. Singleton, coming off a career-best performance against Augsburg, accounted for all of the drive's 70 yards, completing 6-of-8 passes for 44 yards and scrambling for the rest.
The Tommies responded with a 59-yard scoring drive on their next possession. After setting his team up with a 36-yard rush, running back Josh Parks drove it in from three yards out to give St. Thomas a 7-6 lead.
The visitors extended their lead midway through the second quarter, as a 50-yard reception by Grant Slavik led to a two-yard Stephen Wagner touchdown plunge. The visitors were held scoreless for the remainder of the half, however, due in part to a Slavik fumble in Carleton territory that was forced by the Knights' safety
Travis Brown (Jr./St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville).
It appeared as if St. Thomas had further opened up the game just before halftime, but a 91-yard Parks' touchdown run was called back due to a penalty. The drive instead ended with the visitors failing to pick up a first down. Carleton quickly seized advantage of the shift in momentum, as its ensuing drive resulted in the decision to let Ramirez attempt a 48-yard field goal on second down in the closing seconds of the half.
That kick cleared the crossbar and eclipsed the previous team record, a 47-yarder by Pat Berry at Colorado College on Nov. 15, 2003.
Carleton trailed only 14-9 at the break after posting 207 yards of offense against St. Thomas's 214 yards.
After intermission, St. Thomas showed the Laird Stadium faithful that they were deserving of their national ranking. The visitors turned a swing pass into a 75-yard catch and run by Parks for his second touchdown of the afternoon. Parks added two more touchdown runs before the end of the third quarter and finished the game with 255 yards of total offense (180 rushing, 75 receiving) with four total touchdowns.
Carleton closed to within 35-15 with a nine-play, 59-yard scoring drive midway through the fourth quarter. On the play after defensive pass interference was called on St. Thomas in the end zone, Singleton rolled to his right and found a sliding
Emanual Williams (Sr./ Lovelady, Texas/Lovelady) for a 2-yard touchdown. Williams complemented his score with a team-high 11 catches for 74 yards, while Singleton finished the afternoon completing 39 of his 52 passes for 225 yards and the two touchdowns.
Today's performance moved Williams into fourth place on Carleton's all-time leaderboard with 169 career receptions. He is also tied for sixth with 16 career touchdowns.
St. Thomas finished the game by scoring 28 unanswered points.
Brown had a standout day on both defense and special teams for Carleton, racking up two forced fumbles and a career-high 17 tackles, as well as 89 kick return yards on four runbacks.
Aside from Parks, The Tommies' offensive attack was led by Nick Rice (59 yards on nine attempts) and Dolan, who ran four times for 62 yards in addition to his 202 passing yards. On defense, St. Thomas finished with seven sacks, including two each for Alex Taylor and Parker Hlavachek.
UP NEXT FOR THE KNIGHTS: Carleton travels to Gustavus Adolphus College for a 1 p.m. kickoff on Saturday, Nov. 2.
