The Falcon football team dropped a 27-3 game at St. Thomas University on Saturday afternoon.

A talented Falcon offense was stymied for most of the afternoon by a strong St. Thomas defense. The Falcons rushed for 165 yards and finished with 252 yards of total offense. The St. Thomas offense used a balanced attack rushing for 171 yards and passing for 178. UST rushed for one touchdown and scored three with its passing game.

After a scoreless first quarter the Falcons scored the game's first points in the second quarter. The Falcons put together a dominating series running 18 plays and going 83 yards and took 9:44 off the clock. UWRF converter four third-down situations to keep the drive alive. One of those conversions was an 11-yard pass completion from quarterback Ryan Luessenheide (New Hope, MN, Cooper) to wide receiver Joe Ganske (Shakopee, MN, Shakopee) on a third-and-10 play from the UST 39 yard line. Later the Falcons had a first-and-10 at the UST 13. Three running plays netted nine yards before the Falcons, facing a fourth-and-one, kicked the field goal. Chad Blair (Oakdale, MN, Tartan) kicked the 21-yard field goal to give the Falcons a 3-0 lead with 8:02 left in the first half.

The Falcons defense had played well in limiting UST to no points, but the Tommie offense got untracked after the Falcon points.

UST got on the scoreboard when Greg Morse completed an 18-yard touchdown pass to Nick Gleisner. With the extra point UST took the lead with 4:30 to play in the half. UST drove 73 yard sin seven plays and took 3:31 off the clock. A big play in the drive was a 34-yard pass completion from Morse to Ricky Margarit.

The Falcons took the ensuing kickoff but turned the ball over on the third play of the drive. A fumble was recovered by UST's Willy Baregi at the Falcon 34 with 3:23 to play in the half. UST Colin Tobin carried the ball four times in the drive for 31 yards. But it was Dakota Tracey who scored the touchdown from 1-yard out with 40 seconds to play in the half.

The Falcons took the second half kick off and turned the ball over on downs near midfield after trying to pick up a first down on a fake punt play.

UST took control of the ball at its 45 and scored three plays later on an 8-yard pass from Tracy to Logan Marks. On the first play of the drive Tracy and Fritz Waldvogel combined on a 33-yard pass play to put the ball at the UWRF 22.The point after kick attempt fail and St. Thomas led, 20-3, with 10:41 to play in the third quarter.

There was no more scoring in the third quarter. The Falcons drove to the UST 34 before turning the ball over on downs.

Midway through the final quarter the Falcons werre forced to punt and St. Thomas scored on its possession. Tracy and Margarit combined on a 30-yard pass completion that gave the Tommies a first down at the Falcon eight. Three plays later Tracy hit Marks for a 4-yard touchdown play to end the scoring.

The Falcons got another strong running back from halfback Taylor Edwards (Janesville, Parker). He rushed for 108 yards - going over the 100-yard mark for the second time this season. Luessenheide was 11-19 passing for 18 yards. He was sacked twice. John Wahlstrom (Hastings, MN, Hastings) led the Falcons with five receptions for 47 yards while Ganske had four catches for 30 yards.

Lee Spohn (Albany, MN, Albany) led the Falcon defense with eight solo and nine total tackles. Brady Luebke (Mayer, MN, Mayer-Lutheran) had six solo and seven total tackles. Keith Lofgren (Esko, MN, Fond du Lac CC) and Matt Guertin (Mounds View, MN, Irondale) combined for the only tackle for loss for the Falcon defense.

The Falcons, now 0-2 overall, will open its home season on Saturday when they host Trine, Ind., University at 1 p.m., at Ramer Field.

Box Score