While it might seem counterintuitive, a football season can prove to be both successful and disappointing. That is the place the St. Thomas Tommies find themselves after extending their home winning streak to 31 games with a 16-10 victory over the Valparaiso Beacons on Saturday at O’Shaughnessy Stadium.

The Tommies finished the season with a 7-1 record in the Pioneer Football League (8-3 overall), but the one loss prevented them from winning the conference title for the second season in a row. Drake finished 8-0, including a 52-21 victory over the Tommies on October 14 in Des Moines.

“We just posed for a senior picture out there (on the field),” St. Thomas coach Glenn Caruso said when he met with the media after the game, “and we were happy to be able to (continue the home winning streak). But taking that picture and not having that championship banner in your hands does not feel great.

“I love that our program is in a place where I can say that. It’s just a great reminder that it is such a competitive sport, that if you don’t do your job one day out of the year you put yourself in the position that we were in.

“That’s why we have to be so diligent, and on it all the time. That was the first loss in about two-and-half years in our conference, and we need to work even harder so we’re not in that position.”

Tommies running back Hope Adebayo, who rushed for 90 yards on 15 carries on Saturday, echoed Caruso’s words by saying that one off day can change the trajectory of the season.

“We’ll figure it out,” said the senior from Inver Grove Heights, who will be back with the Tommies next season. “Right now we can be sad, but as soon as we start training again we’re just on to the next.

“We’ll learn from this. I’m grateful for what happened and how it turned out, because it gives us a fire, and allows us to know what we can really achieve.”

The Beacons entered the game with a 3-7 record but were in it until the end. The Tommies won the opening coin toss and elected to receive. On the first play from scrimmage, quarterback Amari Powell connected with wide receiver Andrew McElroy on a 50-yard pass completion.

The drive ended five plays later with a 29-yard field goal by Stephen Shagen for a 3-0 Tommies lead.

The Tommies used a double-reverse, toss back to the quarterback to score a touchdown in the second quarter for a 10-0 lead when Powell found tight end Patrick Wagner in the end zone on a 30-yard completion.

Valparaiso kicked a field goal late in the quarter to give the Tommies a 10-3 lead at halftime. The Beacons tied the game late in the third quarter on a 23-yard touchdown pass.

The Tommies responded on the ensuing possession, with fullback Landon Reed scoring on a 9-yard run to cap a seven-play, 73-yard drive.

“Once again we found a way to be successful even though we weren’t pretty,” Caruso said. “That’s become our calling card, finding a way to be successful even when you’re not at your best.”

Caruso said injuries affected this team more than any other he has coached in his career. The Tommies dealt with a number of long-term injuries to starters, including quarterback Tak Tateoka, nose tackle Jordan Titus, cornerback Branden Smith and safety Ryan Calcagno.

“When you have starters that go down for long periods of time — if not the season — it definitely makes it harder,” Caruso said. “We’re very fortunate that we had enough depth to weather those storms.”

And as the season came to a close, he was pleased to at least be able to send 17 seniors out with a victory.

“This senior class has been through a lot,” Caruso said. “When you think about two unprecedented events happening — the move to Division I, not to mention a global pandemic right in the heart of their careers.

“The way they weathered it, the way they stabilized this program and this university I think was impressive, and I love them for it.”

Related Articles

Tommies hoping to extend 30-game win streak at O’Shaughnessy Stadium, longest in college football

Area college football: Tommies top San Diego in overtime; Bethel clinches MIAC title

Tommies quarterback Amari Powell starting to find himself through the highs and lows

St. Thomas football: Tommies roll over Marist

St. Thomas’ Robinson taking charge at center

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Gophers kept it close against No. 2 Ohio State in the first half on Saturday.

If they were Boy Scouts, and that moral victory were represented in the modest of merit badges, their vest was set ablaze in the second half.

After the Gophers trailed only 13-0 after 30 minutes, the Buckeyes bulldozed them in the opening 67 seconds of the second half, scoring 14 quick points in an eventual 37-3 loss at Ohio Stadium.

On the first play of the second half, running back Treyvon Henderson broke loose on a 75-yard touchdown run. On the U’s first play, quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis was strip-sacked; the Buckeyes recovered and returned it 15 yards. Three plays later, star receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. caught a touchdown pass.

The Gophers couldn’t stop, drop and roll to put out their incenration. Ohio State out-gained Minnesota 432-159.

Kaliakmanis threw an interception on the next series and it led to a Buckeyes field goal.

After Ohio State put together a 16-play touchdown drive to make it 37-0 early in the fourth quarter, many of the 104,019 fans wearing scarlet and gray headed for the exits.

No. 2 Ohio State (11-0, 8-0) might have started slower in a potential trap game, with The Game against fellow unbeaten Michigan coming next Saturday in Ann Arbor, but the Buckeyes shifted into high gear after the break.

The Gophers (5-6, 3-5 Big Ten) haven  lost three straight games and still need one more win to reach bowl eligibility. They have one last chance in the Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe against Wisconsin next Saturday.

Minnesota avoided its first shutout since the end of the 2017 season with a 54-yard field goal from Dragan Kesich midway through the fourth quarter.

The Buckeyes offense averaged 10 yards per play on its opening touchdown drive, but didn’t have the same success on the next four drives. Minnesota forced a three-and-out on the next drive. They were stopped inside Minnesota’s 30-yard line and forced to kick two field goals to extend a 13-0 lead.

Two of Minnesota’s offense drives went inside the Buckeyes 45-yard line, but instead of go for it on two different fourth-and-5 situations, head coach P.J. Fleck opted to punt.

The Buckeyes defense came into the game allowing less than 10 points per game, but Fleck opted against looking to strike in rare opportunities in Ohio State territory.

Minnesota punter Mark Crawford had a strong first half, with all five of his punts downed inside the 20-yard line. He had two 5o-plus-yard punts, long with two inside Buckeyes territory, and all of them forced Ohio State to sustain long drives.

Minnesota has now lost 12 straight games to Ohio State since a win at The Horseshoe in 2000.

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — The Ukrainian government has collected evidence of around 109,000 alleged Russian war crimes, including physical and cyberattacks, according to Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin.

Kostin told POLITICO on the sidelines of the Halifax International Security Forum on Saturday that Ukrainian officials have identified more than 400 suspected perpetrators of these crimes. Around 300 have been indicted, and 66 convicted.

“The wide range, the big scale of these incidents and war crimes requires a lot of work and a lot of new approaches,” Kostin said at the forum, where the Ukraine-Russia war has been a dominant theme. “It’s our commitment to decide to document, prosecute each and every incident, because each and every incident of war crimes has its victims.”

As Ukraine struggles to make progress in its fight against Russia, Kyiv has been compiling evidence of war crimes since the full-scale invasion last year to present to the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

The vast majority of the charges being prosecuted were considered crimes against humanity, such as the mass executions of Ukrainians in Bucha in 2022.

Kostin’s figures also include 265 investigations into crimes against the environment, such as the Russian attack on the Ukrainian Nova Kakhovka Dam earlier this year that led to the evacuation of thousands of Ukrainians.

Four cases so far have also been opened into cyber war crime charges.

Kostin said the inclusion of cyber crimes and crimes against the environment for the ICC evidence is a new initiative by Ukraine during this war, stressing that “every crime has victims.”

He also acknowledged the challenge of convicting Russian citizens who may not be in Ukraine or have evaded capture, though he noted that some have been brought to trial.

“The bigger part is Russian war criminals who we charge and who we try in absentia. This is a quite longer process because it requires more procedural actions,” Kostin said. “While all of them receive defense, it’s our position to ensure a fair trial for everyone, including Russian war criminals.”