Not only will the Thomas More football team be attempting to win the Saints’ first game of the 2025 season Saturday night at Great Midwest Athletic Conference opponent Findlay in their fourth straight road game to open the season, TMU will be attempting to score its first touchdown of the year.
That’s right, in the first month of the 2025 season, TMU has scored just three times – all field goals – in losses at Division I Southern Illinois (49-3), Dayton (38-0) and Northwood, Mich. (10-6) while being outscored 97-9.
This past Saturday, after falling behind 10-0 in the first quarter, TMU got field goals by redshirt sophomore Jackson Trombley from 20 yards out and then another from senior Luke Iden from 26 yards and that was it in a defensive struggle where the Saints came up short against unbeaten Northwood (3-0) in their first GMAC game.
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Griffin Scalf from Cincinnati Anderson hit on 16 for 31 passing for 195 yards to lead the offense while another redshirt sophomore, Elijah Manning of Louisville Male, totaled nine tackles on defense.
After Saturday’s game against unbeaten Findlay (3-0), the Saints return home to Republic Bank Field for a well-deserved – and perfectly named—Homecoming, Oct. 9, against GMAC opponent – and also winless — Lake Erie in a 7 p.m. game.
Two for the show
The first two Kentucky Barrels have been signed for the 2026 spring season of Arena Football at NKU’s Truist Arena. Start with quarterback Luke Bailey, out of Drake University, where the 6-foot-2, 190-pounder threw for 6,231 yards in his college career with a personal best 63 percent completion mark in 2024 when he led Drake to a conference title and the NCAA FCS playoffs.
“A great character kid,” Barrels head coach Cedric Walker said of the three-sport athlete in high school. “He has great football intelligence and he’s definitely a winner.”
On defense, the Barrels signed 6-foot, 285-pound Malik Malloy out of Lincoln University. “A humble kid,” Walker called him, “looking for an opportunity to showcase his skills. He has great speed to power in the rush and will be a force.”
The Barrels expect to release their AF1 schedule this month with season tickets on sale at the Truist Arena box office or online at am.ticketmaster.com.
Looking ahead to NKU hoops
Just a quick glance here at the November/December out-of-conference schedule and it looks like the NKU men’s basketball team could get off to a pretty strong start before their Horizon Conference schedule gets into full swing. Darrin Horn’s NKU team hosts UC Clermont (Nov. 3), Cumberlands (Nov. 16), Eastern Kentucky (Nov. 24), Wofford (Nov. 26), Boston U. (Nov. 29), Brescia (Dec. 9) and College of Charleston, coached by former Xavier and Louisville head coach and Northern Kentucky resident Chris Mack, Dec. 21.
Not that there won’t be the typical early road challenges against Division I opponents with NKU at Tennessee in Knoxville, Nov. 8, and at East Tennessee, Nov. 12, in Johnson City. NKU also travels to Central Michigan, Nov. 20, and Bellarmine, Dec. 13.
As for the women’s team under Jeff Hans, in his second season after coming over from multiple national championship runs at Thomas More, the Norse will open with an exhibition against Hans’ alma mater, Wilmington, Oct. 30. Four opening road games follow — just like Thomas More football — in a tough challenge for NKU: at Marshall, Nov. 6; at national power Louisville, coached by Highlands’ alum Jeff Walz, Nov. 9; at Ball State, Nov. 12; and at Butler, Nov. 16.
The home opener hosts Toledo, Nov. 19, followed by another road game at Chattanooga, Nov. 22, and then back home for Stetson, Nov. 25, and Drake, Nov. 26. December non-Horizon games have NKU at Ohio State, Dec. 11, and then hosting Bradley, Dec. 21.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.