St. Thomas Academy was clicking in all phases in the first half Saturday, as it is known to do this time of year.
The Cadets won their eighth straight section playoff football game, topping Apple Valley 55-19 in the Class 5A, Section 3 semifinals in Mendota Heights.
St. Thomas Academy has never lost a section football game under head coach Dan O’Brien. The combined score from those eight victories is 339-39.
The top-seeded Cadets will host sixth-seeded Two Rivers in the section title game Friday.
How does a program put together that type of consistency?
O’Brien credited the support of the alumni and the school, his coaching staff and the work those members put into the program and, of course, the players.
“Those are, I think, the ingredients that get that thing done,” he said.
And it helps to have Love Adebayo, too.
The running back has been at St. Thomas Academy for four of O’Brien’s five seasons, and he’s been a staple of the Cadets’ run-heavy offense. On Saturday, he put his name in the program’s record books.
Adebayo scored three times, with the second touchdown making the running back the program’s all-time scoring leader. The four-year varsity contributor now has 318 career points. Adebayo ran the ball 15 times for 113 yards Saturday, while his backfield mate Savion Hart recorded 15 carries for 147 yards and another three scores.
“He’s a great kid,” O’Brien said of Adebayo. “He works hard, and there isn’t anybody that deserves that more than he does.”
Adebayo wasn’t aware of the record until informed of his proximity to it Friday.
“It just means that the last four years, we’ve had really good coaching, really good linemen to let me go to the places I want to be at the Academy,” he said. “It just means the world to me that I have something at the Academy.”
But those types of feats, the back noted, aren’t his goals right now.
“It’s just to win a championship,” he said.
The Cadets (9-0) took another step in that direction Saturday.
The first half was all St. Thomas Academy, which led 35-6 at the break. The offense executed its patented running game to near perfection. Much of St. Thomas Academy’s first-half offense was set up by field position.
The special-teams unit blocked three kicks — two punts, one of which was recovered by Bennett Kotok in the end zone for a touchdown, and an extra point.
The defense forced eight straight Apple Valley incompletions to open the game. The Cadets’ pass rush brought Eagles quarterback Jackson Thornburgh down for 12 sacks in the game. O’Brien noted his defensive line causes problems for opponents.
“Just because of the speed,” he said. “We’re not the biggest, but we do play fast, and we do play hard.”
It all was a recipe for a game that appeared to be heading toward running time in the final frame. But Apple Valley seized a drop of momentum via a successful onside kick to open the third quarter, and built off that. Thornburgh started finding receivers over the middle of the field for big chunk plays.
The Eagles (4-6) scored the first 13 points of the second half to pull the game within two scores before St. Thomas Academy regained its footing in the fourth quarter.
“Everybody was playing for our seniors tonight, and I feel like we fought hard. It was a tough L, but we fought hard,” said junior receiver Noah Mergerson, who tallied four catches for 112 yards and two scores and is one of a number of gamebreakers returning for the Eagles next fall. “We’re a team with heart, and we’ve got courage, every single one of us. Every white jersey fought as hard as they could for this W.”
