For about 90 seconds on Saturday it looked the Bethel University Royals were going to pull out another victory over St. Thomas, but John Gould and Jordan Roberts were having none of that. The Tommies quarterback and running back led a potent offense that put up 445-yards of offense, while the St. Thomas defense smothered the Royals on their way to a 45-14 victory.

The Royals received the opening kickoff and marched right down the field. Riding the legs of running back Bridgeport Tusler, the Royals moved 55-yards in three-plays for the score. Tusler rushed for two-yards on his first play, then broke a 45-yarder to the Tommies eight. Quarterback Trey Anderson then kept the ball on a draw, bursting up the middle to score. It was a very impressive start to the drive, but the Bethel euphoria would not last long.

St. Thomas started their first drive of the game from their own 18, and they methodically moved down the field primarily on the ground. The Tommies moved 82-yards in 16-plays, mostly riding the legs of Roberts and Jack Kaiser. On second and goal from the five, Kaiser bulled his way into the end zone to tie the score and St. Thomas was ready to take command of this game.

The St. Thomas defense forced a punt on Bethel’s next series, giving the Tommies the ball at their own 26. Gould made two huge passes, one for 13-yards and the other for 17, both to Nick Waldvogel. On the 11th play of the drive Roberts scored from 10-yards out to give the home team the lead, a lead they would not relinquish.

The defense forced another Bethel punt and the St. Thomas offense led another impressive drive. Kaiser and Roberts carried the ball a combined eight times on the 10-play drive, but the big play of the possession came when Gould found Charlie Dowdle for 30-yards, moving the ball to the Bethel 16. Five players later Kaiser scored from two-yards out and it was 21-7.

The game looked like it was going to get out of hand quickly, but a surprise onside kick attempt did not travel 10-yards, giving the Royals the ball at the St. Thomas 42. Tusler carried the ball on the first three plays of the drive, then Anderson rushed for 29-yards on another quarterback draw for the score. That pulled Bethel within a touchdown, and when the defense forced a three-and-out on the Tommies next possession it looked like the onside kick attempt was going to backfire.

The Royals mounted an impressive 10-play drive to the St. Thomas 18 looking to tie the score. On third and 2 the visitors called for Tusler to get the ball, but he was stuffed forcing an interesting decision on fourth down. Coach Steve Johnson opted to go for it, but the Tommies defense came up big again, stuffing Tusler once again and getting the ball back.

St. Thomas was happy to go to the locker room up by seven at half, especially considering that they received the ball to start the second half. They most the most of that opportunity, getting a 38-yard field goal from Paul Graupner to extend their lead to 10. Roberts continued to get stronger as the game went along, gaining 34-yards on the possession, which included two impressive runs, one of 12- and the other of 14-yards.

On the next possession for St. Thomas it was time for Gould to show off his many skills. The senior completed all three of his pass attempts, including a 14-yard to Dowdle for the touchdown. That increased the lead to 31-14.

Gould was incredibly accurate all day, which was primarily the reason why Bethel could not get their defense off the field. The Tommies quarterback finished the day 18-21 for 186 yards and 2 touchdowns. It was an incredibly impressive performance, but one he wasn’t patting himself on the back about.

“It’s easy to make plays like that when the O-line is doing such a great job and the receivers are getting open,” Gould explained after the game. “They made this look easy for me.”

The modesty of the senior only added to the impressive performance that he and junior running back Jordan Roberts put on. Roberts would add a three-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, and Gould would add a 21-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Bradley to close out the scoring.

While the offense was putting up 45-points, the defense was simply crushing any hopes that Bethel had of getting back into this game. The Royals offense had the ball for just 18-plays in the second half, gaining a total of 31-yards.

For the game the Tommies defense allowed just 153-yards of total offense. They sacked Anderson three times and recovered a fumble. Steve Harrell led St. Thomas in tackles with 10, and Tim McClanahan added eight more.

The defense was an amazing story, but the job of Gould and Roberts was epic. The running back carried the ball 39-times for 194-yards and 2 TDs. Kaiser added 43-yards of his own and 2 scores. Waldvogel made 7-catches for 67 yards and Dowdle had 3-catches for 51-yards and a score.

For the Royals, Tusler had 22-carries for 127-yards. Anderson scored twice on the ground, but struggled in the passing game, going just 1-5.

By Robert Pannier