Saints To Play St. Thomas In NCAA Playoffs

Nov 13, 2011

Northland Sports Online

The St. Scholastica football team will face third-ranked University of St. Thomas in it’s first-ever NCAA Playoff game next Saturday at O’Shaughnessy Stadium; it was announced on Sunday night.

The Saints are in their fourth year as a program and just completed a perfect 10-0 regular season, capturing the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference’s (UMAC) first automatic qualifier.

With the 48-7 victory over Eureka on Saturday, the Saints improved their win total by three games from the previous season for the third straight year (1-8 (2008), 4-6 (2009), 7-4 (2010)).

The Saints have 18 seniors on this year’s squad, most of whom were part of the inaugural recruiting class in 2008. Of the seniors, quarterback Alex Thiry (Cambridge, Minn. /Braham HS (Minn.-Duluth)) is the most efficient passer in all of college football with 235.5 rating. Thiry has thrown 37 touchdowns to just one interception this season. His favorite targets are seniors in Keegan O’Neill (Superior, Wis. /Superior HS) and Jonny Bennett (Blackduck, Minn. /Blackduck HS). O’Neill has 50 receptions for 926 yards and 16 touchdowns, while Bennett has 31 receptions and nine touchdowns.

The offensive line is made up of three seniors, including two-time first team All-UMAC center Stephen Voelkner (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Central HS), along with guard Mike Evans (Andover, Minn./St. Francis HS) and tackle TJ Hirsch (Duluth, Minn./Marshall School).

On the defensive side, senior linebackers Sean Graskey (Superior, Wis. /Superior HS) and JP Leary (South St. Paul, Minn. /South St. Paul HS) lead the way. Graskey has a team-high 93 tackles, including 13 for a loss, while Leary led the team with 11 tackles in Saturday’s win over Eureka. It’s an all-junior class defensive line, which has combined for 41 tackles for a loss, 17.5 sacks, and four forced fumbles this season.

The CSS defense continues to lead the nation in turnover margin as it is up to +24 after Saturday’s win.

St. Thomas comes in also unbeaten on the year at 10-0. Winners of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC), the Tommies are ranked third in the D3football.com top 25 poll. St. Thomas has been ranked in the top five of that poll all season.

The Tommies enter with the second best rush defense in the country, allowing just 54 yards on the ground per game. They are sixth in total defense and fourth in scoring defense. St. Thomas had last weekend off.

Kickoff will be at noon at O’Shaughnessy Stadium on Saturday. The game can be heard live on csssaints.com.

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