Following last week’s 45-27 Homecoming victory over Augsburg, the No. 23-ranked St. Thomas football team will face Hamline University Saturday at Klas Field.

The Tommies (4-1 overall, 2-1 MIAC) enter the matchup having won two straight games, while the Pipers (2-3 overall, 0-3 MIAC) have dropped their past three. Despite the different directions the two teams have gone, coach Glenn Caruso said Hamline’s last game against Bethel highlights how tough the Pipers can be.

“They made Bethel really work for it. Defensively, they just didn’t allow too many big plays, and I think that was one of the keys to holding Bethel the way they did,” Caruso said. “The other impressive thing they did was they answered. When Bethel would score, they would come right back.”

Including last season, Hamline has gone 4-11 in its past 15 games, but St. Thomas linebacker Rutger Heffelfinger said the team will once again concentrate on playing its best.

“At this point, I don’t think we would ever overlook a game,” Heffelfinger said. “We’re really focused on ourselves, and that’s the most important thing.”

Workhorse running back Austin Duncan remains the focal point of the Piper offense. After leading the MIAC with 1,460 rushing yards last season, he has continued to rack up yardage this year. Duncan is second in the conference with 745 rushing yards and has topped 120 yards on the ground in all but one game thus far (he had 99).

Caruso said Duncan’s durability makes him a tough opponent, but he added that it is no secret the Pipers will look to run the ball with their star running back.

“Last year, he ran the ball 37 times versus us in one game,” Caruso said. “He’s not only a good back, he’s a big back, he’s a durable back … Plus he’s their best player, so it’s not like he’s splitting reps with someone else.”

Duncan topped 600 career totes last week and has carried the ball 127 times this season – five times as many as the next leading Piper, running back Brendan Nachtrieb.

Heffelfinger said Duncan’s running style isn’t unlike anything the Tommies have seen from prior opponents this year, but he said the burden for the defense will be “making sure we tackle well the entire game.”

“He’s definitely a very talented running back. He runs hard, and he’s big and physical and is definitely their go-to guy,” Heffelfinger said. “I think if we shut him down and shut down the running game, we’ll be fine.

St. Thomas had 20 different defensive players register a tackle last week, and defensive lineman Sam Pokornowski said depth will once again be a factor for the Tommies.

“Everybody has to have the energy. It can’t be just the top guys; it has to be the twos and threes as well,” Pokornowski said. “We’ll just keep rotating guys in and making plays.”

With Augsburg’s three fumbles last week, St. Thomas’ defense has now forced 10 turnovers this season, tied for third in the MIAC.

Pokornowski said he attributes the high turnover rate to a philosophy of “stripping the ball, creating turnovers and getting the ball back to our offense.”

With both teams averaging just over 31 minutes of possession time per game, St. Thomas running back Jack Kaiser said the Tommie offense would like to keep the defense off the field and sustain long drives.

“We definitely think it’s going to be a slower kind of game,” Kaiser said. “If the offense can stay on the field and prolong our possessions and tire out their defense, it would be an advantage for us.”

After St. Thomas was held to 14 points in its Sept. 27 loss to St. John’s, the Tommies have scored 114 points over their last two games. Kaiser said although the team still isn’t perfect, he thinks it’s starting to find its groove.

“We know we can be even better, but we’re all coming together as one unit and hitting our stride right now,” Kaiser said.

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