Early on, a pair of private high school rivals playing inside a stadium of another area private school engaged in a bit of a feeling out process. Rain fell from the sky and pummeled the turf in the opening quarter. Two lightning delays even occurred in the first half.
And when rain occurs on the gridiron, the ground game is most certainly in play. Furthermore, in a season opener that featured St. Thomas Aquinas and St. James Academy, two teams that lost star running backs -- Tank Young (Northwest Missouri State) and LaJames White (Air Force), respectively -- to graduation, it was clear the team that could run the ball most effectively and clamp down on defense would gain the edge.
Ultimately, the edge went to the Saints.
Aquinas ran the rock for a whopping 391 rushing yards on its way to a 28-7 Eastern Kansas League and season-opening victory over St. James at Dixon Doll Stadium on the campus of Bishop Miege, the Thunder's home stadium.
Saints running back Sean Carroll rolled up 214 rushing yards and one touchdown on 26 carries. Quarterback Maxwell Ford mixed in 19 rushing attempts for 73 yards and a pair of TDs. Jeremiah Penny tallied four rushes for 55 yards and the game’s opening score, a 15-yard run late in the first quarter.
Overall, Aquinas out-rushed St. James 391-8.
“A lot of times Sean Carroll had to run over guys, and he did just that,” Aquinas coach Randy Dreiling said. “If anybody has seen (former NFL fullback) Larry Csonka run, that's what he reminds me of. He tries to run people over, just pure brute force.”
“(Maxwell) ran the ball really well, much like Sean, which gave us another dimension. That’s how we’re really supposed to go with our offense, so that was great to see.”
Two plays after Penny’s game-opening touchdown, first-year St. James quarterback Jackson House found John Niesen deep for a 73-yard touchdown connection to knot the score at 7-apiece with just under two minutes left in the first.
But then Aquinas went to work on the ground, ultimately putting exclamation marks on sustained drives. Ford, the Saints’ quarterback, scored on a 1-yard plunge, and Carroll scored his lone touchdown on a 7-yard rush, which gave Aquinas an eventual 21-7 halftime advantage.
The Saints’ defense continued to stifle the Thunder’s young offensive attack in the second half, and Ford added his second 1-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring.
“I really liked our fight coming out,” Thunder coach Tom Radke said. “I liked how we were attacking the ball. But we didn’t do a good job executing. … I think we had about six dropped passes. We tried to have our passing game set up our run game, but they put some pressure on us, and we didn’t execute well enough.”
In his debut under center, House, the Thunder’s signal-caller, went 13-for-28 for 150 yards with a touchdown pass and an interception. Niesen caught four passes for 94 yards and a score, while Tyler Claiborne hauled in five for 39 yards. Tiave Watts, St. James’ new lead back, had six rushing attempts for 12 yards, caught one pass, and had 36 yards on three kick returns.
The Thunder returns to EKL action next Friday at Blue Valley, while the Saints host a St. Louis opponent in Lutheran North.
