So I made the executive decision to skip the Johnnies vs Hamline game on Saturday afternoon by instead heading to St. Thomas for a little scouting. This was just another instance of sacrificing short-term pleasure for the benefit of my loyal readers here at JohnnieFootball.com. I kid. I kid.
The day got off to a rousing start. I joined a good friend of mine and utmost authority on Division 3 football, Adam Johnson, over breakfast at the St. Clair Broiler in St. Paul. The bacon and cheese omelette was outstanding. As Adam mocked me by wearing his Linfield Wildcats Athletics shirt, a man approached our table. He asked, “Did you go to Linfield?” Adam quickly responded, “No but I’ve been out there several times and it is a great place!” The man then introduced himself as a MIAC referee (who along with his crew had just enjoyed breakfast at the Broiler before their assignment at UST in the afternoon). He proceeded to tell us his crew had done the 2001 Miracle in the Mud game between Linfield and Central College in the playoffs. This was generally considered one of the wackier games in Division 3 history. What a small world. I had no idea that a MIAC officiating crew had been in McMinnville on that fateful day.
Shortly thereafter, we headed for St. Thomas where Adam informed me that it was their homecoming on Saturday. I immediately had thoughts of parking nightmares (UST is in the midst of an enormous construction project that sits directly adjacent to O’Shaughnessy Stadium). However my initial inclination was horribly wrong. Parking was a breeze and the crowd was tiny. I would venture to say the stands were never more than 2/3 full.
This was homecoming. Is there no pride in thy alma mater at the corner of Cretin and Summit? Now I certainly realize Saturday wasn’t ideal weather. It was cold, windy, dreary, and generally miserable. But this highly optimistic turnout of 3250 was absolutely pathetic and quickly reminded me how lucky we truly are at St. John’s. I was just flabbergasted, especially having been in Collegeville last week where there was 10 thousand+ people who came back to campus to celebrate Homecoming.
We quickly utilized our credentials to gain field access and assume our position before kickoff. The Tommies kicked off and Concordia returned the kick 80 yards to the St. Thomas 3 yard line. As I stood in the South endzone my first thought was, “Holy cow you could have driven a semi-trailer through that hole!!” It was atrocious special teams kickoff coverage.
The Tommies would respond with effective, long plodding drives. It sure looked to me like Tommie Head Coach, Glenn Caruso, loves the trick play (which was later confirmed to me by Adam). Early in the game the Toms called a double reverse to their ultra speedy sophomore WR, Fritz Waldvogel, and it became crystal clear the gameplan was to get the ball in his hands as much as possible. He made an incredible circus catch on the Toms first drive of the game that would have made Blake Elliott blush. Clearly these aren’t the Tommies of years past.
My thoughts on the Tommies are as follows:
-QB Greg Morse throws a terrific ball and when given time will pick apart defenses. However, when he was pressured and forced to scramble he made poor decisions. I saw him throw across his body and into tight coverage several times during the game. This resulted in a few interceptions that would be costly in a close game.
-RB Ben Wartman was underwhelming to me. Both Adam and I concurred that he ran “too tall” and left himself susceptible to taking a big hit by not having his pads lower to the ground. His numbers on the season are certainly impressive, but from what I saw on Saturday the Toms prefer to put the ball in the air.
-The Tommie defense was impressive. They really run well and gang tackle to the football. They did lose containment a few times and appear to play very aggressive. Delayed draws, screens, mis-direction plays etc. that are designed to take advantage of this over-aggressiveness would be excellent play calls this week from the Johnnies.
-The key cog on the entire Tommie squad is WR, Fritz Waldvogel. The Toms will do just about anything to get his hands on the ball in space. He is really shifty, has tremendous speed, and has the ability to break any play for a touchdown. I saw the Tommies throw the quick bubble screen several times, the slant, a double reverse, a few delayed middle screens, and the down/out/up routes to Waldvogel.
Email me at touchdowntommy@johnniefootball.com with further questions/comments. It should be quite an atmosphere at Clemens Stadium on Saturday!!!