Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
Senior Josh Parks surpassed 4,000 career rushing yards, had 241 yards of rushing and receiving, and scored five touchdowns to lead No. 18-ranked St. Thomas to a 57-36 win over Gustavus in an MIAC football offensive shootout Saturday at O'Shaughnessy Stadium.
The Tommies (7-2 overall, 6-1 MIAC) rolled up 481 yards on offense, but Nick Raddatz' blocked punt set up one TD, and interceptions by Logan Petersmeyer and Nick Ektanitphong preceded two other Purple TD drives.
Parks rushed 26 times for 184 yards and had four catches for 57 yards in his five-TD day. He now has 60 touchdowns and 4,012 rushing yards in 40 career games, and needs 65 run yards to pass program leader Ben Wartman (4,076).
Gustavus (6-3, 4-3), which never led and trailed 29-14 at halftime, rallied to within 43-36 in the fourth quarter but never got closer.
GAC senior QB Michael Veldman completed 29-of-45 passes for 356 yards and four scores and also had a running TD. Brice Panning had 10 catches for 169 yards.
St. Thomas goes into next Saturday's home game with No. 9-ranked Bethel (8-1) with three incentives for a victory: a share of the the league championship with St. John's; extend a program streak of eight or more wins to 11 seasons; and stay in contention for an NCAA at-large playoff bid.
St. Thomas had only one turnover and was not sacked, while it recorded five sacks of its own on defense. Tommy Dolan completed 13-of-18 passes for 197 yards and no interceptions while convertign 9-of14 on third and fourth down.
The Tommies have scored 23 touchdowns in their last 10 quarters of play.