By Dan Weber NKyTribune sports reporter
With another G-MAC win to build on, a 36-28 come-from-behind victory that earned them the Bourbon Barrel Trophy and a 3-1 league record (4-2 overall) at Kentucky Wesleyan in Owensboro, Thomas More’s football Saints move on to Findlay, Ohio, Saturday (12 noon) to face the University of Findlay.
Del Thomas, leading the Saints’ defense. (TMU Athletics photo)
Down 28-16 early in the third quarter, TMU would go on to score the game’s final 20 points for the win. The Saints were playing from behind from the get-go, down 7-0 after the first quarter and 14-0 early in the second. But come back they did in both halves.
Thomas More got on the board with six minutes left in the first half as redshirt sophomore Jaden Hall (Springfield Shawnee) scored on a 12-yard run, closing it to 14-6. TMU scored again on a Rae’Von Vaden (Louisville Moore) 79-yard TD pass to freshman Evan Brown (Lexington Christian) to close it to 14-13.
Both teams would score again before halftime, with Brooks Curran (Mason, Ohio) hitting on a 49-yard field goal for a 16-14 lead before a Wesleyan 25-yard TD pass with 11 seconds to go in the half for a 21-16 KWC lead that the Panthers lengthened to 28-16 with a TD pass to start the second half.
TMU got closer with a Vaden TD pass to Mike Kirch (Cincinnati Elder)to make it 28-23. That’s when TMU’s Luke Iden (Taylor Mill/Scott) hit a 37-yard field goal to close it to 28-26 at the end of three quarters.
TMU quarterback Rae’Von Vaden leaders Saints to a 4-2 record. (TMU Athletics photo)
Then another Iden field goal, the Saints’ third of the game, gave TMU a 29-28 lead it would hold for good with 12:28 left. Defender Del Thomas (Fairfield, Ohio) would give TMU its final margin with a 38-yard scoop and score on a KWC fumble for the 36-28 margin.
Vaden finished with 14 of 19 passing for 242 yards and two TDs while rushing for another 45 yards. Hall would add 151 yards and a TD. And Brown would finish with 145 receiving yards and a TD.
Thomas would lead the defense with his six tackles and the fumble recovery and TD. DB Colton Sandhas (Cincinnati Elder) added three tackles and an interception.
GAME STATISTICS
TMU KWC
Total Yards 455 395
Pass Yards 242 344
Rushing Yards 213 51
Penalty Yards 10-98 11-107
1st Downs 21 20
3rd Downs 5-13 5-13
4th Downs 0-0 1-2
In other sports action for TMU:
• WOMEN’S SOCCER: The Saints’ women’s soccer team lost to national No. 1 Ashland University, 3-0, Saturday to fall to 2-7-2 and 2-5-1 in the G-MAC.
Sophomore Lauren Laake (Cincinnati/Mount Notre Dame), freshman Andela Popovic (Belgrade, Serbia/Belgrade HS), junior Amy Bos (Nijmegen, Netherlands Mondial College Nijmegen) and sophomore Shaylynn Bentley (Montreal, Canada Vanier College Union University) all had one shot.
Sophomore Emma Fluit (Komoka, Ontario/Medway) recorded one shot on goal. Graduate student Sydney Rhodes (Lebanon, Ohio/Kings) had three shots with one on goal.
UP NEXT: TMU returns to action Wednesday in Newberry, SC, against Newberry at 12 Noon.
• MEN’S GOLF: The TMU men’s golf team finished its season over the weekend at the Mercyhurst Laker Fall Invitational with a 12th-place finish on a score of 633 (315-318).
Adam Owens (Cold Spring/Bishop Brossart) and first-year Nathan Resing (Park Hills/Covington Catholic) tied for 32nd to lead TMU with scores of 155 (78- 77). Senior Dakota Finn (Union/Boone County) followed with a 156 (81-75) to tie for 41st. Sophomore Ben Epplen (Fort Mitchell/ Beechwood) tied for 70h with a 167 (79- 88). Sophomore Connor Albrinck (Hebron/St. Henry) rounded out the group with a 170 (82-88) to tie for 77th.
