Running back Jordan Roberts continued his dominance over the Johnnie defense, scoring three first-half touchdowns to lead St. Thomas to a 38-19 triumph over St. John’s in the second round of the NCAA playoffs Saturday afternoon at O’Shaughnessy Stadium.

Roberts capped off the No. 4-ranked Tommies’ (12-0 overall) lengthy 16-play first possession with a 1-yard touchdown. He rolled up another 1-yard rushing touchdown late in the first quarter and his third 1-yard plunge with just under one minute remaining in the second quarter. Roberts said St. Thomas battled through a good game plan from 10th-ranked St. John’s (10-2 overall) for the win.

“We had to be OK with getting 4-, 5-yard gains,” Roberts said. “We stuck with our game plan and kept running the ball, and it turned out well for us.”

In the regular-season matchup against St. John’s in September, Roberts rolled up 230 yards and four touchdowns on 31 carries. Saturday afternoon he chalked up just over half that total, with 126 yards and three scores on 33 attempts.

Quarterback John Gould also found success on the ground game. The senior tallied 85 yards on seven carries, including a 62-yard score early in the fourth quarter that pushed the Tommies’ lead to 38-13. This was Gould’s best rushing performance since he ran for 131 yards against Hamline in 2013. St. John’s coach Gary Fasching said both teams had the same game plan, but St. Thomas executed it better.

“When you control the line of scrimmage, you can win a lot of football games,” Fasching said. “We’ve proven that over the last couple years because that’s what we’ve done. If they’re able to run the football on teams, they’re tough to beat.”

The Tommies achieved moderate success through the air as well.The highlight of the passing game was a 42-yard touchdown pass from Gould to wide receiver Ryan Bradley near the start of the second quarter. Gould completed eight of 14 attempts for 107 yards, a lone touchdown and no interceptions on the day.

The Johnnies’ pass game took a crucial blow with 44 seconds left in the second quarter when quarterback Nick Martin was hit hard by defensive back Tanner Bedard. Martin was down for a few moments before getting back up but still seemed dazed. Martin did not return for the rest of the game, and it was later revealed that the Second Team All-MIAC quarterback suffered a mild concussion.

Prior to being replaced by backup Johnny Benson, Martin completed five of eight passes for 97 yards. His lone touchdown was a 38-yard connection to tight end Nick Simon with 2:11 left in the second quarter. Fasching said he ignored Martin’s plea to put him back in the game.

“(Martin) begged me to put him back in … there’s no way, I’m not going to do that to a kid. I know (Martin) wanted to play desperately,” Fasching said.

St. Thomas’ linebackers and secondary caused all sorts of headaches for Benson, the grandson of legendary St. John’s coach John Gagliardi. Benson didn’t complete his first six passes, was sacked three times – including one for a safety – and was intercepted on back-to-back possessions in the fourth quarter. His lone passing touchdown was a 10-yard pass to Bungum with 58 seconds left in the game. Overall, he completed just seven of his 20 passes for 114 yards.

Despite the setbacks, Fasching thought Benson did a “great job” under center.

“It’s not an easy time to come in when you’re down and your team knows you got to throw the football,” Fasching said. “He made some good calls … obviously the interceptions kept us from scoring a little bit more.”

Running back Sam Sura couldn’t get anything going the entire game, running for just 55 yards and one touchdown on 18 carries. Sura’s lone score was a 2-yard run near the beginning of the fourth quarter. Last season’s MIAC Player of the Year finished the regular season fifth in the nation in rushing touchdowns (23) and seventh in rushing yards (1,560) but was held to just 129 yards combined in this year’s two losses to St. Thomas. Sura said the quickness and size of the Tommie defense made it difficult for him Saturday.

“It’s hard to stop a team that’s that fast … they just move well and flow well,” Sura said. “It’s hard. If you break up one tackler, there’s four more of them right there.”

Sura was one of 19 seniors who donned the white and red for the last time Saturday afternoon. The 2016 class racked up a 32-13 record, a conference championship in 2014 and two national playoff appearances. Sura said it was difficult coming off the field one last time.

“I loved all the guys I played with these last four years; it’s definitely why I came here – to play with these guys,” Sura said. “But it’s good to know that I put everything out there.”

St. Thomas’ coaches and players have at least one more week with each other when they prepare to square off against Wabash College (Indiana) in the NCAA quarterfinals next Saturday at O’Shaughnessy Stadium.

The Little Giants (12-0 overall) escaped with a 33-27 victory over Thomas More College (Kentucky) after trailing 27-13 at the half. Linebacker Ethan Buresh returned a fumble 76 yards for a touchdown in overtime to cap Wabash’s 11-point fourth-quarter comeback. Coach Glenn Caruso called Wabash a “fantastic football team.”

“When you look at the national landscape, routinely year after year we’ve been blessed to be at the top of that conversation; so have they,” Caruso said. “You always wonder how it’s like to play them and how excited it would be.”

Full news conferences from St. Thomas and St. John’s.

Updated Division III playoff bracket.

Jesse Krull can be reached at krul7386@stthomas.edu.