St. Thomas Controls the Clock, Hands Marist First PFL Loss 35-13

Marist came into Saturday alone atop the Pioneer Football League at 3-0. St. Thomas left Poughkeepsie with the ball, the clock and a share of first place.

St. Thomas scored 21 points in the second quarter, held the ball for nearly 39 minutes and beat Marist 35-13 on Saturday, Oct. 24, at Tenney Stadium. Gabriel Abel ran for 122 yards and two touchdowns, Nick Peipert threw for one score and ran for another, and the Tommies stayed perfect in the all-time series with the Red Foxes.

St. Thomas improved to 6-2 overall and 3-1 in the PFL. Marist, playing on its homecoming and reunion weekend in front of 2,840, fell to 4-4 and 3-1 with its first league loss of the season. The result leaves Marist, St. Thomas, Butler and Dayton in a four-way tie for first place.

Marist lands the first punch

The Red Foxes got exactly the start they wanted. Wayne Adair intercepted Peipert in the first quarter, Adair's third straight game with a pick, and Marist turned it into points. Sonny Mannino found Jayden Taylor for a 22-yard touchdown with 6:32 left in the first quarter, and Marist led 7-0.

St. Thomas spent much of the rest of the quarter grinding down the field. When the first quarter ended, Marist was still up seven, but the Tommies were knocking on the door.

A fake field goal and a 21-point quarter

The second quarter flipped the game, and it started with a gamble. Facing a field goal situation at 14:04, St. Thomas ran a fake, and Stefano Giovannelli scored on a 5-yard run to tie it at 7-7. That capped a 12-play, 72-yard drive that started in the first quarter. It was a gutsy call against a Marist team that shares the FCS lead with Valparaiso at seven blocked kicks this season, and it worked.

Moments later, Marist lost a fumble at its own 27. Walker Owens recovered for St. Thomas, and four plays later Abel scored from 10 yards out. The Tommies had scored two touchdowns in 2:32, and it was 14-7.

Marist answered with a 36-yard Luke Stenson field goal at 5:16 of the second quarter to make it 14-10. Then St. Thomas put together the drive of the day. Peipert led the Tommies 80 yards in 15 plays, eating 5:06 of the clock, and finished it with a 7-yard quarterback run with four seconds left in the half. It was 21-10 at the break, and the Tommies had owned the quarter.

Keep-away in the third quarter

Nobody scored in the third quarter, but St. Thomas still won it. The Tommies held the ball for 11:49 of the 15 minutes in the period. Marist did get one big play, a 24-yard completion into St. Thomas territory, but it ended in a lost fumble. Kyle Winchester forced it and Evan Tyler recovered.

That sequence summed up the afternoon for Marist. Every time the Red Foxes found something on offense, St. Thomas took it away.

Closing it out

Peipert opened the fourth quarter with the dagger. Just 53 seconds into the period, Peipert found Quentin Cobb-Butler for a 38-yard touchdown, finishing a seven-play, 76-yard drive and pushing the lead to 28-10.

Stenson hit a 45-yard field goal with 3:30 left, a career long for the kicker, to make it 28-13. But the Tommies were not done. Late in the game, Abel broke off a 34-yard run and finished the Tommies' last scoring drive with a 5-yard touchdown with 1:52 left. On the Marist side, a fourth-down pass at the St. Thomas 42 was broken up by Preston Franklin, and Jaden Richberg added a late interception for the Tommies.

The players who decided it

Abel, a fifth-year running back from Trenton, N.J., carried 20 times for 122 yards and two touchdowns. Abel has now scored in six straight games, and the St. Thomas ground game was the reason the Tommies could sit on the ball in the second half.

Peipert, a redshirt freshman from Barrington, Ill., completed 17 of 25 passes for 190 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and added 85 rushing yards and a score. Peipert leads the PFL in passing efficiency and ranks sixth in the country in that category, according to the league. Cobb-Butler caught six passes for 88 yards and the touchdown. Peipert was also one of 30 players named to Stats Perform's Jerry Rice Award watch list this week, an honor for the top freshmen in FCS.

On defense, Nash Tichy led St. Thomas with five tackles and a sack. Owens, Winchester, Tyler, Franklin and Richberg all made takeaway or stop plays that changed possessions.

For Marist, Taylor caught five passes for 91 yards and the touchdown. Mannino completed 13 of 25 passes for 193 yards. Isaiah Simmons led the Red Foxes with 41 rushing yards. Chase Hatton and Jace Williamson made 10 tackles apiece, a season high for Hatton and a second straight 10-tackle game for Williamson.

The stats that matter

The time of possession says everything. St. Thomas had the ball for 38:56, and Marist had it for 21:04. The Tommies piled up 27 first downs to 15 and outgained Marist 429-259. On the ground, it was not close: St. Thomas ran for 227 yards, and Marist managed 57.

Marist did not help itself with two lost fumbles, one of which set up a St. Thomas touchdown and one of which wiped out a promising drive. Against an offense that averages 444.3 yards per game, tops in the PFL, giving away possessions is how you lose by 22. St. Thomas was even flagged for 97 penalty yards to Marist's 25 and still won comfortably. Senior offensive lineman James Morrison, a fourth-team Phil Steele midseason All-American this week, anchors a line that leads the league in fewest sacks allowed, and the Tommies' offensive balance showed it. The official St. Thomas box score (opens in a new tab) has the full numbers, and both schools have recaps, from St. Thomas (opens in a new tab) and from Marist (opens in a new tab).

What it means and what is next

The PFL is a four-team race now, and St. Thomas has to like its position. The Tommies have won two straight, and their only league loss came at Presbyterian. Glenn Caruso's team also improved to 6-0 all-time against Marist.

Next on the schedule for St. Thomas was a home game against Davidson on Saturday, Oct. 31, with a five-game home winning streak on the line. After that come trips to Butler on Nov. 7 and Valparaiso on Nov. 21, with a home game against Drake in between.

Marist, in its third season under coach Mike Willis, has to regroup on the road. The Red Foxes are still very much in the race, and they still control a lot of their own path. Next on the schedule was a trip to San Diego on Saturday, Oct. 31. They then host Morehead State on Nov. 7 and Butler on Nov. 14 before finishing at Davidson on Nov. 21. The Butler game, in particular, could decide a lot.

The last word

Marist did plenty of things right early. It forced a turnover, scored first and was within one score until four seconds before halftime. But the Tommies controlled the ball, controlled the line of scrimmage and turned two Marist fumbles into a game they could manage.

That is the St. Thomas formula, and on Saturday it worked about as well as it can. One week after Marist sat alone on top of the PFL, there are four teams sharing that spot.

Sources: St. Thomas Athletics recap and box score, Marist Athletics recap and the Pioneer Football League recap and weekly release. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Marist Athletics.