Wildcats remain winless after road setback
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ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Despite the best efforts of players like receiver Wilson Ptacek, Northern Michigan University wasn't able to keep up with St. Thomas during their interdivisional college football game played Saturday afternoon in Minnesota.
This matchup of NCAA Division I FCS St. Thomas against Division II NMU went all the bigger school's way as the Tommies prevailed 56-14.
Ptacek scored both of the Wildcats' touchdowns on catches of 30 and 27 yards as he finished with three receptions for 60 yards.
When he caught his first TD, along with Sawyer McLinden's extra-point kick, he pulled Northern (0-3) within 15-7 with just a handful of seconds left in the opening quarter.
But by the time he made his second scoring reception late in the third, St. Thomas (2-1) had already built a 35-7 lead.
While the Tommies held a fairly decisive edge in total yards, 496-343, it was the Wildcats' three lost fumbles that really doomed them. Each team made one interception, so NMU lost the turnover battle 4-1.
Sophomore All-American back Noah Dobert also had a big day for Northern, gaining 142 yards on the ground in 27 attempts, a 5.3-yard average, the vast majority of NMU's 169-yard rushing total.
The Wildcats balanced that almost equally with 174 yards through the air by quarterbacks Liam Oczkowski and Duke Shovald. Oczkowski completed 11 of 17 for 137 yards, one TD and one pickoff, while Shovald was 2 of 8 for 37 yards and the other TD.
While Ptacek had NMU's most receiving yards, Menominee product Trevor Theuerkauf had the most catches with five for 40 yards. Additionally, Sebastian Boyea had three snags for 32 yards.
St. Thomas was efficient through the air for 311 yards, completing 60% on 18 of 30 with three TDs and one interception. Nicholas Peipert threw the large majority of passes, going 15 of 27 for 270 yards, two TDs and the pick. Jack Wallace, though, was a perfect 3 for 3 for 41 yards and a score.
Gabriel Abel, Noah Long and Joseph Koch led a balanced rushing attack by the Tommies, each with rushing totals between 40 and 44 yards, though it was Abel who scored three rushing TDs.
Similarly, St. Thomas had balance from its receivers, with three catching between 50 and 70 yards, led by Pierce McCrary with 69 yards in three catches.
On defense for the Wildcats, GLIAC First Team returnee Jax Hertel made his team's interception while leading the team with five solo and seven total tackles.
Teammate Damarcus Chappell made just two tackles, but each was for a loss, including the team's only QB sack for six yards. Northern's Will Graffin and Markiss Nelson also had a tackle for a loss.
St. Thomas' big defensive wrecker was Evan Tyler, who had a forced fumble, fumble recovery, QB sack and two tackles for a loss.
The Tommies got off to a good start, scoring on each of their first two possessions, punching it in from 14 yards out by Abel just over four minutes in, then scoring on a 26-yard pass from Peipert to Stefano Giovannelli with 8:02 left in the opening quarter.
Trouble was only beginning for the Wildcats, as on their next possession, Oczkowski was intercepted in the St. Thomas end zone for a touchback.
However, the Northern defense stiffened and forced a punt on that Tommies' possession.
After St. Thomas made its first punt, Dobert got NMU's ensuing possession off to a good start by rushing right for 20 yards nearly to midfield on the first play.
Theuerkauf caught a short pass immediately after that to get the Wildcats past midfield, then Dobert ran it four straight times to the Tommies' 30. That's when on the seventh play of the drive, Ptacek went down the right side and caught a pass right near the goal line from Shovald for NMU's first points with nine seconds left in the period.
On the first play of the second quarter following the kickoff, Hertel picked off Peipert at the St. Thomas 27, setting Northern up to possibly tie the game.
Unfortunately, the rest of the first half went downhill for Northern.
Three plays into NMU getting the ball back on the interception, Dobert fumbled the ball away, and after the teams traded punts, the Tommies ground out a long, nine-play drive capped by Abel's 4-yard TD run up the middle to make it 22-7 with 6:01 left in the half.
Before the clock reached halftime, St. Thomas scored three more times, though two of them were field goals of 33 and 50 yards, to make it 35-7 at the break.
After the second quarter dominance by the Tommies, NMU put together a nine-play possession off the second-half kickoff before a Oczkowski pass fell incomplete on fourth down to stop the drive at the St. Thomas 29.
Though Northern later scored the only points of the quarter on a Ptacek's 27-yard TD reception from Oczkowski, the Wildcats still faced a three-TD deficit entering the final period.
That quickly became a four-TD shortage when Abel ran in his third score of the day from 8 yards out on the first play of the fourth.
Two more TDs followed for the final margin.
NMU tries to get in the win column for the first time in head coach Matt Janus' reign when the Wildcats host their homecoming game against Davenport at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Superior Dome. Though the Panthers and Northern are members of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, this will be considered a nonleague game as they'll play again in Grand Rapids later in the season for their conference encounter.
After taking off the following Saturday -- Sept. 26 -- Northern remains home to host defending national champion Ferris State in the Wildcats' GLIAC opener at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3.
St. Thomas 56, NMU 14
Saturday at St. Paul, Minn.
Score by quarters:
Northern Michigan 7 0 7 0 -- 14
St. Thomas 15 20 0 21 -- 56
First quarter
ST -- Gabriel Abel 14 run (Ben Hoiland kick) 10:52
ST -- Stefano Giovannelli 26 pass from Nicholas Peipert (Noah Long run) 8:02
NMU -- Wilson Ptacek 30 pass from Duke Shovald (Sawyer McLinden kick) 0:09
Second quarter
ST -- Abel 4 run (Hoiland kick) 6:01
ST -- Peipert 9 run (Hoiland kick) 4:48
ST -- Hoiland 33 FG 2:28
ST -- Hoiland 50 FG 0:42
Third quarter
NMU -- Ptacek 27 pass from Liam Oczkowski (McLinden kick) 2:30
Fourth quarter
ST -- Abel 8 run (Aidan Macke kick) 14:54
ST -- Quentin Cobb-Butler 32 pass from Peipert (Macke kick) 10:22
ST -- Owen Lyons 17 pass from Jack Wallace (Hoiland kick) 5:40
Game statistics
First downs -- NMU 18, St. Thomas 27
Total plays-net yards -- NMU 68-343, St. Thomas 70-496
Rushes-yards -- NMU 43-169 (Noah Dobert 27-142, Noah Hofmann 10-20), St. Thomas 40-185 (Abel 8-44, Noah Long 9-44, Joseph Koch 6-40)
Comp-Att-Int-Yards -- NMU 13-25-1-174 (Oczkowski 11-17-1-137, Shovald 2-8-0-37), St. Thomas 18-30-1 (Peipert 15-27-1-270, Wallace 3-3-0-41)
Top receivers -- NMU, Ptacek 3-60, Trevor Theuerkauf 5-40, Sebastian Boyea 3-32, Isaac Olson 1-18; St. Thomas, Pierce McCrary 3-69, Eli Paulson 5-64, Cobb-Butler 3-50, Mordecai Ford 2-33
Punts-average -- NMU 6-34.2, St. Thomas 3-44.7
Fumbles-lost -- NMU 3-3, St. Thomas 0-0
Penalties-yards -- NMU 7-50, St. Thomas 9-84
Time of possession -- NMU 31:51, St. Thomas 28:09
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Northern Michigan University's Wilson Ptacek leaps to make one of his two touchdown catches, this one over St. Thomas defender Preston Franklin, during their college football game played in St. Paul, Minn., on Saturday. (Photo courtesy NMU)