St. Thomas redshirt freshman quarterback Michael Rostberg scored all three of the Tommies’ touchdowns on Saturday at O’Shaughnessy Stadium as St. Thomas improved to 1-2 with a 24-14 victory over Division II Black Hills State.

Just as significantly, the quarterback — and the offense in general — continued to struggle.

Rostberg, making the first start of his career, completed 7 of 22 passes for 72 yards. He was briefly replaced by former starter Tak Tateoka in the third quarter. The Tommies weren’t able to seal the victory until Rostberg ran the ball in from 23 yards out in the closing seconds.

“We did a decidedly poor job at throwing the ball at Level 1 (short passes), when throws were there,” Tommies head coach Glenn Caruso said. “We should have completed four times as many balls.”

Rostberg’s performance left Caruso unsure of who his starter will be for Week 4.

“I don’t know who it is,” Caruso said. “We don’t have a propensity to want one over the other. But the inability of one guy to take that position is precluding some of the growth right now.”

Rostberg knows he needs to be better.

“As a whole, I’ve got to clean a lot of things up,” he said. “I made a lot of mistakes today and I think I can definitely build off this and get better from it. I think I can get to the ball to the receivers quicker. It’s something I tried to put emphasis on, and, today, I didn’t think I really had that.”

Rostberg was not alone in his struggles. Caruso said his offensive line turned in a “below average” performance. The Tommies were held to 49 yards rushing in the first half, and Rostberg was pressured often when he dropped back to pass.

The offense did perform better in the second half, finishing with 144 yards rushing.

“It’s not just how you can play well when the game’s on the line,” Caruso said. “The run game is the core of what you do, and it’s difficult to be fluid when the core is not routinely performing. In hindsight, to be critical of myself, maybe we played with a few too many.

“We played with eight guys on the offensive line; we’re still trying to find out what the right matchup is. We need to get better there.”

Running back Gabe Abel did not play due to injury, and Hope Adebayo was limited to 36 yards on 12 carries due to an injury in the second quarter that kept him out the remainder of the game.

The Tommies turned to freshman Joseph Koch, and he responded with 102 yards on 18 carries. Caruso indicated that Abel and Adebayo will miss the next game, which would move Koch into the starting role.

He impressed his head coach with his debut performance.

“Just for him to hit the hole where he was supposed to, and to hold onto the ball, that’s a win,” Caruso said. “He did a nice job. He’s probably going to be a little sore in the morning, but I think he’d tell you it was worth it.”

The Tommies had excellent field position throughout the first quarter but managed to score only three points. Stephen Shagen connected on a 45-yard field goal on the Tommies’ first possession of the game after they took over on Black Hills State’s 41-yard line following a short punt.

An interception by Grif Wurtz gave the Tommies the ball at the Yellowjackets’ 46-yard line, but they were unable to turn it into points. The same was true after a failed fake punt by the
Yellowjackets gave the Tommies the ball at the Black Hills State 45.

The Yellowjackets took a 7-3 lead early in the second quarter when Cameron Goods took a short pass and raced down the left sideline for a 63-yard touchdown. The Tommies responded with a touchdown on their the next possession to regain the lead.

Rostberg scored on a 1-yard run on a drive that featured a 39-yard pass reception by wide receiver Eli Paulson.

Late in the quarter, a sack that resulted in a fumble and a turnover set the Tommies up at the Yellowjackets’ 1, and Rostberg took it in one play later.

In the end, the Tommies played just well enough to avoid a second loss to a Division II team in the first three weeks of the season.

“I don’t think we ever look at a team and say they’re a D II team and we should kick the crap out of them,” linebacker Ryan Sever said. “We try to reiterate that we are trying to be the best versions of ourselves.

“Having that mentality in the locker room has been crucial to our success, and it was today. Coming into the locker room at half, there’s obvious frustration because of the circumstance. But we’re also concerned with being the best versions of ourselves.”

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