MINNEAPOLIS — Tommie quarterback Jacques Perra threw two first-half touchdowns of 31 and 61 yards Saturday at Target Field to help lead the Tommies to a 20-17 victory over archrival St. John’s.

On both scoring plays, Perra was flushed out of the pocket. He connected with tight end Matt Christenson in the first score and wide receiver Gabe Green for the second.

The Johnnies were the only team to find the end zone in the second half. Johnnie wide receiver Evan Clark hauled in a 40-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to cut the Tommies lead to three. However, the Johnnies were unable to capitalize on several miscues by the Tommies, including a fourth-quarter interception, late in the game and would not score again.

The Tommies gained 386 yards of total offense in the contest and were on the field for about 20 minutes in the second half. Fullback Jeremy Molina led the ground attack with 61 yards on nine carries. Perra completed 12 of 24 pass attempts for 230 yards and two touchdowns with only one interception. Kicker Bryan Steinsapir added a 44-yard field goal in the third quarter to give the Tommies their last points of the day.

St. Thomas’ defense, which struggled at times against the pass throughout this season, held the Johnnies to 151 total yards. Defensive lineman Austin Jochum led the attack with two sacks.

The attendance at Saturday’s game was 37,355, which broke the single-game record for Division-III football. The previous record was 17,535, set on Oct. 8, 2016 by Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Wisconsin-Whitewater.

This was the 87th matchup between the two teams, and for first time since the 1950s, the Tommies have won four in a row against the Johnnies.

Noah Brown can be reached at brow7736@stthomas.edu.