The Wildcats took the lead late in the third quarter and held it for more than half of the final period before succumbing to NCAA Division I St. Thomas 20-7 on Saturday afternoon at the Superior Dome.

The Tommies, which play in the Football Championship Subdivision of smaller schools among college football’s biggest teams, scored twice in the final 6 1/2 minutes to improve to 2-1.

NMU fell to 0-3 in its quest for its first win since 2022, the year before Richardson took over.

It also marked the first time a Division I opponent came to play in the Superior Dome since its opening in 1991.

St. Thomas was known for a high-octane offense but was kept 12 1/2 points under its season average. The Northern defense made three quarterback sacks, two pass breakups and seven tackles for loss, holding the Tommies to just 54 rushing yards in 29 attempts, just under two yards per carry.

That defense was led by Jax Hertel recording a career-best and game-high 14 tackles, seven of them solo, adding in a pass breakup and quarterback hurry as he was in on three tackles for loss including a half sack.

Jake Price had two tackles for loss, one a seven-yard QB sack, while Jaylen Houston, Jacquille Brown and Jhermari Mabry each had one tackle for loss. Mabry’s was a really big tackle — an 18-yard sack.

Mabry also had a forced fumble and blocked kick.

Neither team accumulated 300 yards of offense, St. Thomas holding a narrow 275-262 edge in total yards. NMU had 129 yards rushing and 133 passing, while the Tommies had 221 yards through the air to go with the 54-yard total on the ground.

Northern Michigan University’s Sebastian Boyea catches a pass and gains several yards during a college football game played against St. Thomas at the Superior Dome in Marquette on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

One thing NMU did do was clean up its turnover problems. While the Wildcats fumbled the ball three times, they didn’t lose any of them as there were no turnovers by either side.

There were 11 punts in all, six by Northern, as NMU had five more first downs, 18-13, and about nine more minutes of possession, holding the ball for 34:39.

Individually, Wildcats QB Duke Shovald completed 11 of 19 passes for 133 yards, no touchdowns but also no interceptions.

Sebastian Boyea and Isaac Olson each caught four passes and Menominee native Trevor Theuerkauf three, each of the trio accumulating yardage in the 40s.

On the ground, Jahi Wood had 17 carries for 49 yards, Noah Dobert 14 for 44 yards and Negaunee graduate Nico Lukkarinen seven tries for 24 yards. Marquette product Austin Ridl also saw action with one carry for no yards.

St. Thomas QB Andy Peters completed 13 of 19 for 221 yards and three TDs, Patrick Wagner his top target with three catches for 92 yards. Joseph Koch led Tommies’ rushers with 27 yards in 14 attempts.

Hertel ended the game’s first possession with a 3-yard loss of Koch on third down near midfield as each team’s first time with the ball resulted in no first downs.

But St. Thomas got moving on its second possession, putting together a nine-play, 65-yard drive that ended with Peters’ short pass to Eli Paulson, who ran it in for a 13-yard TD with 6:43 left in the opening quarter. The Tommies tried a 2-point run that failed, leaving them with a tenuous 6-0 lead.

NMU looked to answer immediately and potentially take the lead, but the Wildcats’ even longer drive — it covered 67 yards — faltered deep in St. Thomas territory when Wood was stopped for no gain on 4th-and-1 from the Tommies’ 10-yard line.

While neither offense was completely stymied after that, it was also true that neither was able to move into the other’s territory until the final play from scrimmage of the first half, when Northern took a snap at the St. Thomas 49 before a late punt.

One highlight for the Wildcats’ defense was a pass breakup by Tim Shannon Jr. thrown on a deep Peters pass well into NMU territory about five minutes into the second quarter.

At halftime, Northern had a 112-70 advantage in total yards.

After NMU’s opening possession of the third quarter went three-and-out, St. Thomas went on the march before stalling out at the Wildcats’ 30. It paid off for Northern when Tommies’ kicker Elliot Huether tried a 46-yard field goal that missed to keep it a one-possession game.

That lead would then be erased on NMU’s ensuing possession, a 70-yard scoring drive that began with a Shovald-to-Theuerkauf 33-yard pass and ended with a Wood 5-yard rushing TD with 4:45 left in the third.

Michael Karlen’s key extra-point kick was good to give Northern a 7-6 lead, its first lead since the middle of the third quarter of its season-opening 44-37 home loss to Minnesota State-Moorhead.

The Wildcats tried to pad the lead the next time they had the ball, moving the ball to the St. Thomas 24 early in the fourth quarter before Karlen missed a 41-yard field goal with 11:30 left.

Things looked better when the Tommies went three-and-out on their ensuing possession, and even potential disaster was averted on the punt when the ball changed hands. Dobert muffed the catch at his 40 but Theuerkauf was Johnny-on-the-spot by recovering it eight yards back at the 32.

Unfortunately, NMU couldn’t get a first down, most importantly not melting much time on the clock with its narrow one-point lead.

St. Thomas took over with 8:17 left and Peters engineered the winning drive, completing a pair of passes and running three times to cover 78 yards in barely more than two minutes. After throwing a 24-yard TD to Marc Coy, Peters ran in the 2-pointer to make it 14-7 with 6:10 left.

Northern’s suddenly anemic offense again couldn’t get a first down, and after Karlen’s 54-yard punt, the Tommies again moved it 80 yards, 72 of them on the first play when Peters completed a long pass to Wagner.

Peters also completed a 7-yarder to Wagner for the insurance TD, making it 20-7 after an extra-point miss with 3:04 to go.

Shovald went to the air in an effort to preserve time, completing 5 of 6 passes. But he was also sacked three times before the ball turned over on downs inside St. Thomas territory with 1:18 left.

With Northern out of timeouts, the Tommies just needed a pair of kneel-downs to end it.

Now that the Wildcats have built momentum by remaining competitive in each of their first three games, the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season opens on Saturday with Davenport coming to town for NMU’s Homecoming at 1 p.m. Saturday.

NMU

Score by quarters:

St. Thomas 6 0 0 14 — 20

Northern Michigan 0 0 7 0 — 7

First quarter

ST — Eli Paulson 13 pass from Andy Peters (run failed) 6:43

Second quarter

No scoring

Third quarter

NMU — Jahi Wood 5 run (Michael Karlen kick) 4:45

Fourth quarter

ST — Marc Coy 24 pass from Peters (Peters run) 6:10

ST — Patrick Wagner 7 pass from Peters (kick failed) 3:04

Game statistics

First downs — St. Thomas 13, NMU 18

Total plays-net yards — St. Thomas 48-275, NMU 73-262

Rushes-yards — St. Thomas 29-54 (Joseph Koch 14-27, JaShawn Todd 1-19), NMU 54-129 (Wood 17-49, Noah Dobert 14-44, Nico Lukkarinen 7-24)

Comp-Att-Int-Yards — St. Thomas, Peters 13-19-0, NMU, Duke Shovald 11-19-0

Top receivers — St. Thomas, Wagner 3-92, Todd 3-44; NMU, Sebastian Boyea 4-49, Trevor Theuerkauf 3-43, Isaac Olson 4-41

Punts-average — St. Thomas 5-47.6, NMU 6-42.8

Fumbles-lost — St. Thomas 1-0, NMU 3-0

Penalties-yards — St. Thomas 3-24, NMU 4-25

Time of possession — St. Thomas 25:21, NMU 34:39

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the game

. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.