Kicker Paul Graupner’s 23-yard field goal with 1:21 left in the fourth quarter broke the tie between the No. 18-ranked St. Thomas football team and Augsburg College, giving the Tommies a 17-14 win over the Auggies Saturday at Edor Nelson Field.

Wide receiver Nick Waldvogel said the Tommies executed the final drive well.

“We wanted to score a touchdown obviously, but getting that field goal was a huge part of the game, and Paul nailed it,” Waldvogel said. “I’m sure he’s loving that right now.”

Defensive back Josh Carey sealed the victory, intercepting Augsburg (4-4 overall, 3-4 MIAC) quarterback Ayrton Scott in the final minute. Carey said the main focus of every game is to stop the run and force their opponents to throw the ball.

“We try to make them one-dimensional, and I think we did a pretty good job of that today,” Carey said. “So things worked out, and I’m glad I could make the pick at the end.”

Running back Jack Kaiser led the Tommies’ (6-2 overall, 4-2 MIAC) offense on the ground, rushing the ball 20 times for 88 yards and scoring one touchdown on the day. Kaiser sparked the Tommies when he found an opening and broke loose for a 25-yard touchdown run on fourth and 1, putting the Tommies up 7-0 with 3:53 remaining in the first quarter.

Augsburg answered when Scott completed a 50-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Joey Sonnenfeld, but a failed PAT put the game at 7-6 with 14:09 left in the second quarter. Coach Glenn Caruso said Scott can run the ball and throw it, and he did a good job of both against the Tommies.

“When a play is dialed in for him and it’s clean, he makes the play; but when a play is dialed in for him and it’s not clean, and we have a free rusher, he improvises as good as anybody—maybe in the nation,” Caruso said.

Midway through the second quarter, quarterback Alex Fenske was intercepted by defensive back Paye Tengben, but the Tommie defense forced the Auggies to punt. On the following Tommie possession, Fenske’s pass was tipped and intercepted again, this time by linebacker Enrico Barrozo.

On the ensuing Augsburg drive, Scott evaded Tommie defensive lineman Riley Dombeck and completed a 44-yard touchdown pass to tight end Adam Carl. The Auggies succeeded on this two-point conversion, putting them ahead 14-7 with 2:58 remaining in the third quarter.

Caruso said the Auggies moved the ball down the field pretty swiftly.

“Bend, but don’t break is something that is used quite a bit,” Caruso said. “We’d rather not even bend at all, but it’s nice to know we didn’t break.”

On the next kickoff, Waldvogel was stripped by running back Derek Ruff, but the Tommie defense held the Auggies on fourth and 5 with a sack by linebacker Harry Pitera.

With 11:37 remaining in the fourth quarter, Waldvogel broke multiple tackles and carried the pile across the goal line for a 5-yard touchdown run to tie the game 14-14.

Waldvogel said his team did a good job of running the ball toward the end of the game.

“It wasn’t exactly pretty or the way we wanted to play, but you know, whatever gets the job done, gets the job done,” Waldvogel said. “We ended up running the ball a bunch, which is what the coaches made adjustments to.”

St. Thomas piled up 231 total yards offensively, while Augsburg had 348 yards of total offense. It was also a sloppy game with a total of eight turnovers; five of those belonged to the Tommies.

Waldvogel emphasized the importance of staying confident throughout the entire game.

“It’s just all about confidence. Football’s an up and down game, so when you get up, you have to keep playing up and try to play through that emotion,” Waldvogel said. “But when you’re down, you have to play with that confidence to get back up to the confident level.”

Next Saturday, St. Thomas plays No. 21-ranked Concordia-Moorhead (7-1 overall, 5-1 MIAC) in its final regular-season home game.

Kyle Jonas can be reached at jona7984@stthomas.edu.