Big day Saturday in Crestview Hills as Thomas More won a football/men’s basketball double-header in a big way starting with a great finish for Saints football season with a 43-10 Mid-South Conference romp over the University of the Cumberlands.
Quarterback Blaine Espinosa tied a program record with five passing touchdowns, throwing for 254 yards and running for 23 and a touchdown. That equaled Justin Post’s five in a 2019 game against Kentucky Christian.
But it wasn’t just on offense where the Saints excelled, allowing just 24 offensive yards offensively to Cumberlands, recording another school record for least amount of yards by an opponent. That breaks a 29-year-old record of 48 yards against Franklin in 1993.
Both halves started with Espinosa-to-Roques Dowdy TD passes – the first from 27 yards out, the second from 30. For Dowdy, it was his second three-touchdown game this season as he caught seven passes for 97 yards.
Freddie Johnson also had a big receiving day, catching four passes for 70 yards and a 42-yard TD score while Craig Wills caught five passes for 57 yards and a touchdown.
Maleek Jarrett rushed for 80 yards on 23 carries, a season high for him.
On defense, Del Thomas’ nine tackles (five solo, four assists) were a team high with three tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. Ross Halverstadt added seven tackles (three solo, four assists). Isaac Abdon had six tackles (four solo, two assists) with an interception.
To add to the defensive honors, TMU had nine tackles for loss tying a season-high from the Duquesne game.
One final note, TMU reminds us: The next time we see Saints football in action, they will be a member of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and the NCAA’s Div. II.
NO. 2 TMU MEN 3-0 AFTER 25-POINT ROMP OVER KENT STATE-TUSCAWARAS
The final score was 87-62 as the Saints improved to 3-0 with a Saturday romp over Kent State-Tuscawaras in the Connor Classic.
Sophomore Wyatt Vieth, a St. Henry grad, got things going with a three-point shot at the 19:31 mark and stayed after it, leading NAIA No. 2 TMU with 21 points with 15 of those coming in the first half. Reid Jolly, out of Campbell County High, followed with 14 points and three rebounds.
Jacob Jones also scored 14 points while Casey George and Noah Pack each had 11 points while Pack had a team-high nine rebounds.
TMU shot a sizzling 57.6% (19-33) from the field in the second half but that didn’t match the 61 percent in the first half (17 of 26).
The TMU men move into MSC play Thursday against Cumberlands (Ky.) in a 7:30 game at the Connor Convocation Center.
TMU WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL OUSTED IN MSC QUARTERS
Bethel ended the TMU women’s volleyball season with a 3-2 win Thursday in Bowling Green in the MSC Tournament quarterfinals. The scores were 25-21, 21-25, 26-24, 19-25, 15-12.
In their final collegiate match, and the final MSC appearance ever as the Saints move to the Great Midwest Conference next year, Sawyer Lorentz and Ally Albrinck finished at the top of their games. Sawyer and Ally each had 12 kills each while Sawyer posted the second-best mark of her season.
Sam McClanahan had 43 assists to finish her season with 1,045, the ninth-best single-season mark in program history. Asia Ferrando had 14 digs for a season total of 566, ninth-best in program history.
TMU finishes 17-12 on the season.