Defense plays important role in first win of season
Torero football manages to overcome newly Division I St. Thomas
Mari Olson / Sports Editor / The USD Vista
The University of San Diego football team found its first win of the season on Saturday, Oct. 2, beating the St. Thomas University Tommies 27-24. This was the first time the two teams have played each other.
The USD coaching staff made a few offensive changes coming into the game, most notably starting graduate student and backup quarterback, Judd Erickson, over their usual starting quarterback, graduate student, Mason Randall. Head coach, Dale Lindsey, explained his choice to change their starter.
“We were 0-4. Mason hadn’t exactly resembled Bart Starr. We thought we’d give somebody else a chance, bring some life to the program,” Lindsey said.
The Toreros got off to a good start, with Erickson passing for 80 yards and one touchdown in the first quarter.
The points were scored by redshirt junior wide receiver, Christian Brown, who caught a 6-yard pass from Erickson in the endzone. The extra point was converted by junior kicker, Brandon Eickert, to put the Toreros up 7-0 with just under six minutes left.
The Tommies were able to tie the game at 7 just before the end of the first quarter with a pick-six off a pass by Erickson.
St. Thomas continued their advance in the second quarter, scoring again with less than nine minutes left in the first half to put the Tommies up 7-14.
The Toreros were able to tie the game, however, with senior safety, Hunter Nichols, making a good kickoff return to set up USD’s second touchdown of the game. Redshirt junior wide receiver, Michael Carner, caught a pass from Erickson to make the score 14-14.
Nichols had two interceptions in two minutes to end the first half.
The Tommies started off the second half with a bang, scoring a field goal with 10:15 left in the third quarter to put them up 14-17.
Erickson threw another pick- six less than a minute later, and the extra point kick was good to put the Tommies up ten points, at 14-24.
The Torero defense stepped it up in the third quarter, making a huge stop essentially at USD’s goal line to deny another touchdown to the Tommies.
Redshirt sophomore and defensive tackle, Will Buck, got his first sack of the game to give possession back to USD.
USD’s coaching staff made a second quarterback change at that point, bringing Randall back in place of Erickson.
Randall played the first few minutes following his return like his life depended on it, completing three passes in a row to freshman wide receiver, Ja’seem Reed, and to Carner. The Toreros advanced far enough up the field to put themselves within field goal range, and Eickert converted a field goal attempt to bring USD back into the game at 17-24.
The defense once again rose to the occasion after another turnover, with senior linebacker, Kama Kamaka, forcing a fumble from the St. Thomas offense. Kamaka scooped the ball and ran into the endzone for the Toreros’ third touchdown of the evening, tying the game once again at 24 after Eickert made the extra point kick.
Kamaka knew his touchdown was important to the team.
“I put it on myself to score the touchdown,” Kamaka said. “It was huge for our momentum.”
The Tommies couldn’t get back into it after Kamaka’s touchdown, and the Torero defense didn’t let anything slip through the cracks.
The USD offense continued to try to make something happen. Graduate student running back, Terrence Smith, made a 63-yard run with six minutes to go in the game to put the ball firmly in the Tommies’ territory.
After making it to the St. Thomas 13 yard line and on a fourth down, the Toreros went for a field goal. Eickert’s attempt was good, and the Toreros went up for the first time since the first quarter, putting the score at 27-24.
The defense rounded out the game with a few more impressive plays.
Buck got two more sacks on the St. Thomas quarterback, and sophomore linebacker, Jagger Pagano, added in one sack of his own late in the fourth quarter.
USD held out for the win, with a final score of 27-24. Lindsey was happy with the result, but not with the game.
“If there’s an ugly way to win, that’s what that was,” Lindsey said. “We made it extremely difficult for ourselves.”
Lindsey was reaonably happy with his defense’s performance.
“They played extremely well under bad circumstances. That’s how they should play,” Lindsey said.
Lindsey was still optimistic about the rest of the season.
“It feels a hell of a lot better than those four losses,” Lindsey said.
The Toreros play Butler University away on Saturday, Oct. 9, and then will return to Torero Stadium for their homecoming game against Drake University the following Saturday, Oct. 16. Butler is 2-3 overall and 0-2 in Pioneer Football League (PFL) play. USD is 1-1 in the PFL.