Marist football bows to St. Thomas, falls into tie for first place

PHOTOS: Marist football hosts St. Thomas

It's a painful time for reflection for Marist football.

The Red Foxes had an opportunity to stretch their lead in the Pioneer Football League but ended up struggling in a 35-13 setback to St. Thomas at Tenney Stadium on Saturday, October 24.

Now Marist (4-4) is mired in a four-way tie for first place, with the visiting Tommies (6-2) joining the Red Foxes, Butler and Dayton at 3-1.

Leading 7-0 after one quarter, Marist gave up 21 second-quarter points to St. Thomas to head into half trailing 21-10. Following a scoreless third, the Tommies posted a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter to keep the Red Foxes at bay.

"Disappointed with the result,'' said Marist head coach Mike Willis. "Anytime you see the scoreboard light up this way, you first have to examine what you could have done differently with your players. ... My impression is that we played very hard. We'll evaluate our effort first, and then our technique.''

In a matchup of one of the top offenses in the PFL in St. Thomas and one of the top defenses in Marist, the Tommies won decisively. St. Thomas amassed 429 yards of offense, with 190 through the air on 17-for-25 passing by freshman QB Nick Peipert and 12 more yards by Pierce McCrary. The tall Peipert often got the Tommies out of trouble with his 18 carries and 85 yards.

Marist was held to 57 yards rushing, and starting QB Sonny Mannino was 13-for-25 for 193 yards, throwing a first-quarter 22-yard score to Jayden Taylor (five grabs, 91 yards). Luke Stenson booted field goals of 36 yards in the second quarter and 45 in the fourth.

St. Thomas produced five touchdowns on nine full drives. Marist was forced to punt three times, fumbled the ball away twice and Mannino was picked once (he was also sacked three times). The Tommies held the ball for nearly 39 minutes.

Marist's Jace Williamson and Chase Hatton each had 10 tackles, with eight coming from Tyrell Powell, Kade Wermer and Naheem Ridore. There were no sacks.

Marist is 0-6 against St. Thomas, coming off a 45-0 loss in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2025.

Marist heads to San Diego for a 4 p.m. contest on October 31. The Red Foxes close with Morehead State on Nov. 7, Butler on Nov. 14 and Davidson on the road on Nov. 21.