Coming off a thrilling Week 1 win, the St. Thomas football team will attempt to go 2-0 for the sixth straight season when it faces off against the Wisconsin-La Crosse Eagles Saturday at O’Shaughnessy Stadium.

The Tommies have not played the Eagles during coach Glenn Caruso’s six seasons at St. Thomas, and after last week’s familiar opponent – Wisconsin-Eau Claire – Caruso acknowledged the challenges of facing an unfamiliar one.

“You have to go off what you see on film, but it’s never as good as having an opportunity to play them,” Caruso said. “You have to do a good job in a short amount of time of identifying not just where your statistical advantages are but your matchup advantages too.”

Running back Brenton Braddock recognized the different preparation strategies from last week’s game to this week’s, but he stressed film study and scout team play as two important tools the team is using to combat the uncertainty.

“La Crosse is a new team, but we have been able to see some film on them,” Braddock said. “The scout team has also done a really good job replicating their defense and giving us a great look at what we might see on Saturday.”

La Crosse is coming off a 24-8 win over the University of Dubuque in which the Eagles intercepted three passes, recovered three fumbles and sacked Dubuque’s quarterback three times. Facing an opportunistic defense, Caruso said the Tommies will emphasize getting ahold of the ball heading into Saturday’s matchup.

“Ball security goes both ways, and we talk about ball security on both sides of the ball,” Caruso said. “On offense, it means holding onto it; on defense, it means going after it.”

St. Thomas’ ball security may be something the team is monitoring during the game, but linebacker Cavan Metzler said the defense is more concerned with “playing like it’s a 0-0 tie at any point in the game.”

Eau Claire outscored St. Thomas 14-7 in the second half last week, but the Tommies managed to hang on for the victory with a late defensive stand. Caruso said his defense learned a lot from last week’s adversity and that, in some ways, it was about as good of a first game as they could ask for. However, he also realized that there is always room for improvement.

“I think (that game) teaches our team that when given an opportunity to close out a game, you have to do so, and that goes for all three facets of our team,” Caruso said. “I’m a big believer that the biggest growth of any program is between one and two. Whether it’s year one to two, game one to game two, practice one to practice two.”

La Crosse wide receiver Tony Bilderback is coming off a 103-yard, two touchdown game against Dubuque, but after allowing two Eau Claire receivers to surpass 100 yards last week, Caruso said pass coverage is something the Tommies are looking to tighten up.

“We had some very serious issues in our pass coverage, but they are not that dissimilar from other opening games,” Caruso said. “Bilderback is definitely a great athlete and an explosive player, but they have so many other guys at the wide receiver corps. I think they feel comfortable dispersing the ball a little bit.”

Metzler agreed and said the defense “wants to stay balanced and avoid scheming around just one player.”

Defensive back Jordan Young said the Tommies will need to “limit the mental mistakes” in Saturday’s game and “make sure tackles and have proper alignments” if they hope to stop the La Crosse offense.

Sure tackling will once again be key for the Tommies in order to stop La Crosse’s running game, which racked up 209 yards rushing on 50 attempts against Dubuque. St. Thomas was able to limit Eau Claire to 95 yards rushing last week, but Caruso said the team will face a different type of runner this weekend in running back Ben Hertrampf.

“He’s a very physical and violent runner, and I say that in a positive way,” Caruso said. “He runs the ball with an intensity, and that’s how the ball should be run.”

Hertrampf rushed for 130 yards last week, but Young said the Tommies will stop him if the defense – defensive backs included – make a commitment to matching the Eagles’ physicality in the backfield.

“As defensive backs, we need to play physical and come up in the run game,” Young said. “It comes down to playing good, hard-nosed football.”

Caruso added that opening the season with two straight home games provides the team with a bit of an advantage.

“Our crowd is not only enjoyable, but it’s an absolute winning edge, especially at the end of games when the opponent’s offense is out there and can’t hear all the plays, cadences and checks,” Caruso said.

Tom Pitzen can be reached at pitz2014@stthomas.edu.