Hose look to stay in running for Pioneer Football League title - and get important win

St. PAUL, Minn. – Playing in a stadium that they haven’t seen in the four-year Steve Englehart era, the Presbyterian College football team aims to stay in the mix for a Pioneer Football League title in the penultimate game of the 2025 regular season tomorrow.

The Blue Hose will traverse to Minnesota on Saturday to meet a red-hot St. Thomas foe, with kickoff tabbed for 2:00 eastern time. A live stream of the action can be viewed on Midco Sports Plus.

Presbyterian needs a victory over the Tommies to keep their postseason aspirations intact, pursuing their first win over St. Thomas in what will be their third attempt.

The next victory for Englehart will be his 20^th at PC and the 90^th of his 15-year career. Should the Scotsmen beat both St. Thomas and Marist the following week, they’ll secure the third double-digit win season in program history.

GAMEDAY CENTRAL

WHO: Presbyterian (8-2, 4-2) at St. Thomas (7-3, 5-2)

WHERE: O’Shaughnessy Stadium (St. Paul, Minn.)

WHEN: Saturday, November 15 | 2:00 PM EST

FOLLOW THE ACTION

WATCH: Midco Sports Plus

LIVE STATS: SideArm

X (FORMERLY TWITTER): @BlueHoseFB

GAME NOTES: Presbyterian Notes | St. Thomas Notes | PFL Weekly Report

MINISCULE IN MINNESOTA

• In 113 seasons of Presbyterian football, the Blue Hose have played just one game in the state of Minnesota (2021). They'll make their second flight to St. Thomas since joining the Pioneer Football League and thus becoming conference mates with the Tommies.
• The campuses of PC and St. Thomas are located over 1,100 miles away from one another (approximately a 17-hour drive). That's the second-furthest distance in relation to Clinton of any of the 10 PFL opponents (only San Diego is a longer trip).
• Temperatures in Minnesota appear to resemble what PC is accustomed to in mid-November (sunny with a high around the mid-50's). This is in stark contrast to Presby's only other visit to St. Thomas four years ago, a game that dipped down to the 30's.

OPPONENT PROFILE

• One of the most consistent programs in the PFL since jumping to the FCS level four years ago from Division III, St. Thomas makes a convincing case for being the hottest team in the league right now.
• The Tommies started with an uncharacteristic 0-2 record in conference play, falling to Butler and San Diego by a combined 10 points.
• However, they've won their last five meetings since then to get in position for a possible PFL trophy.
• St. Thomas handed Drake their first PFL loss of the season in a 20-13 nail-biter last weekend, keeping the Bulldogs out of the end zone over the entire second half and pulling out a hard-fought W in Iowa.
• Quarterback Andy Peters has twice been named the Pioneer League Offensive Player of the Week this fall, tossing 17 touchdowns next to only three picks and nearing 2,000 passing yards.
• Glenn Caruso is the longest-tenured head coach of the 11 PFL institutions, winning an impressive 82 percent of his games over a period of 18 years.
• St. Thomas were technically the 2022 conference champions back in Englehart's first year at PC, but were denied a chance to go to the FCS Playoffs since they were still in the five-year transition phase that is required of D-I imports.
• The Tommies have vanquished their last five challengers by an average of 35 points. This will be their PFL finale, trying perhaps not to look ahead to a date with #1 North Dakota State on November 22.

RACE FOR THE PFL TITLE

• PC's quest for a Pioneer Football League championship took a major impediment last weekend in a stunning upset at Davidson. However, Drake's seven-point loss to St. Thomas on that same day keeps the Blue Hose in contention for their first conference title of the Division I era.
• Two objectives must be met in order for Presbyterian to gain at least a share of the PFL Championship:

- Win the remaining two games of the regular season (at St. Thomas and again versus Marist on Senior Day).

- Drake must lose at least one of their two remaining games (at Dayton and versus Morehead State).

• Tiebreaker scenarios are likely to enter the equation this season, with four two-loss teams currently behind Drake in the conference standings.
• One of the most unpredictable conferences in the country, the PFL has three teams with an active winning streak of at least three games entering the penultimate Saturday of the regular season.
• The Pioneer Football League has declared a regular-season champion every year since 1993. There have been co-champs on 10 occasions, most recently in 2021 between Davidson and San Diego.

RANKINGS SAGA

• The Scotsmen saw their six-week streak of being in the top 25 end unexpectedly at Davidson last Saturday, a 14-13 setback in the annual Carolina Border Clash.
• PC's visit to Minnesota is the first time since September 20 that they are unranked in both the AFCA Coaches Poll and the Stats Perform FCS Poll, getting into both lists for the first time ever two months ago.
• Coach Englehart's unit became the first team from the Pioneer Football League since 2009 to be ranked in both polls simultaneously for six weeks in a row.
• Prior to PC's first loss of the year at Dayton (ending an 11-game winning streak overall and a seven-game conference winning streak), they were sitting at #16 in the AFCA Coaches Poll.
• No team from the PFL had reached that high in the AFCA rankings over the previous 16 years. PC is the fourth team from the Pioneer League to be ranked in both polls at the same time (along with San Diego, Dayton, and Jacksonville).

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Presbyterian College football team snapped a St. Thomas five-game winning streak on Saturday afternoon, prevailing by a 23-9 count to keep their dreams of a PFL championship intact.

PC's defense – statistically one of the best in America all throughout 2025 – frustrated St. Thomas to just 179 yards of total offense, by far a season-low. The Tommies never touched the end zone outside of a 3^rd-quarter pick six.

In St. Thomas' own backyard, the Blue Hose routinely shut down an offense that was averaging 46 points per game in their last five appearances prior to Saturday.

Win number 90 in the career of head coach Steve Englehart (his 20^th W while directing the Blue Hose), the Scotsmen now need just one more to become the third team in school history with double-digit wins.

The combination of a Drake loss to Morehead State and a PC victory over Marist at Bailey Memorial Stadium next weekend would give the Blue Hose a share of the Pioneer Football League regular-season title.

FINAL SCORE: Presbyterian, 23 – St. Thomas, 9

RECORDS: Presbyterian (9-2, 5-2) – St. Thomas (7-4, 5-3)

LOCATION: O'Shaughnessy Stadium (St. Paul, Minn.)

BLOCKADE IN BLUE

• With just over five minutes until halftime, St. Thomas had elected for six rushes and were pushed backward 17 yards. They did not get back in the positive until their last drive of the 2^nd quarter and ran for a mere 35 yards over the course of the game.
• - Field position was the Tommies' only hope against a Blue Hose team that had just exited the national polls after six straight weeks in the top 25, limited to only 56 total yards after the first half.

- The home side was stonewalled in both of their 4^th-down gambles while the Scotsmen also forced two interceptions and a fumble. PC registered nine tackles-for-a-loss and four sacks, only letting St. Thomas cross past the 50 on three drives.

THIRD-DOWN CONUNDRUM

- Presbyterian entered this pivotal PFL meeting with the second-best third-down defense in all of FCS. Opponents were converting just 29 percent of the time against them (43-for-146). Only Lamar had a lower mark.

- The Tommies felt that wrath on a day where they never found an offensive touchdown, successfully passing the line to gain on five of their 12 third-down snaps.

- Defensive coordinator Dan Owen's crew only conceded 12 first downs all day while watching the PC offense move the chains 22 times themselves.

NOTABLES

- The 4^th quarter played out perfectly for coach Englehart's gang, leading by just one approaching the last 15 minutes but maintaining that slim advantage by allowing just 38 total yards in that period.

- PC put the game out of reach by going on a 13-play touchdown drive that devoured over seven minutes of clock, turning a one-score game into a 14-point final differential.

- The Blue Hose ran the ball 49 times out of 73 offensive plays, playing keep-away in the later stages. Sophomore Justin Montgomery saw a career-high 22 carries.

- Quarterback Collin Hurst recorded his 12^th consecutive game with at least one touchdown pass after sitting out the Davidson game due to injury, completing 17-of-24 throws for 237 yards and two scores.

- B.J. Atkins led the receiving corps with a personal-high 83 yards, while senior Cincere Gill made a miraculous return to the field after an ACL tear just three weeks ago.

- Caleb Francis and Zeb Stroup each landed a diving interception off of Tommies signal-caller Andy Peters (a player who had just three picks all year going in). That's the 10^th career INT for Francis, extending the program's D-I record.

- Linebacker Michael Torres now has three sacks in the last two matchups, logging eight tackles in the cold temperature to lead the team. Senior Christian Ohagwu had a hand in 2.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage.

HOW IT HAPPENED – FIRST HALF

- St. Thomas' struggles were apparent right from the get-go, starting their first set at the PC 22 because of a botched punt but having zero points to show for it. Presby pushed the Tommies back 10 yards to force a long field goal that was wide of the target.

- The Blue Hose ran 13 plays after the missed kick to get on the board first, chewing up over five minutes to set up Jett Jackson for a career-high-tying 42-yard field goal.

- PC's 3-0 lead was boosted up to 10 points at the 13:28 stamp of the 2^nd quarter, finishing a 77-yard drive with a touchdown pass to tailback Zach Switzer. That's his 13^th score of the semester and his fourth as a receiver.

- The next series for St. Thomas literally went nowhere, stopped on a run at the line of scrimmage and then tossing two incompletions in a row.

- Getting the ball back via punt, the Blue Hose tried to add to their lead on another FG but this one was blocked and recovered by holder Peter Lipscombe.

- However, the Tommies couldn't capitalize on that potential momentum-swing thanks to a failed 4^th-and-9 call that only managed seven yards.

- That confirmed a first-half shutout for the blue and garnet, the seventh time this year that they've held their opponent to under seven points in the first two quarters.

HOW IT HAPPENED – SECOND HALF

- St. Thomas finally created their first points of the day on a 34-yard field goal, taking 14 plays and nearly six minutes to do so and shortening the deficit to seven.

- Both teams exchanged turnovers at the midway point of the 3^rd, with Francis' pick being answered by a PC fumble three snaps later.

- Stroup vacuumed another interception just two minutes after that, only for Presbyterian to fall on the wrong side of a 36-yard pick-six with 48 seconds to go in the quarter.

- A crucial moment followed that defensive score, as St. Thomas tried to surprise Presby with a fake PAT that was snuffed out immediately by Boyce Bankhead. Thus, PC stayed ahead 10-9 going into the final frame.

- Three-time all-conference member Dominic Kibby gave the Blue Hose some much-needed separation with a 31-yard touchdown sprint on a pass from Hurst, the 20^th receiving TD of his career to further tighten his vice grip on the school record.

- With the lead now sitting at eight and the board still reading 11 minutes, the Tommies were able to advance to the PC 24 but that's as far as they got.

- Another 4^th-down disaster from St. Thomas would balloon the Blue Hose's win probability, as Ohagwu and Malek Horlback chased down Peters for a loss of 16.

- Then came the aforementioned game-icing drive, lasting all the way to the 1:57 mark where tight end Nathan Levicki rammed his way past the pylon from two yards out.

- Near midfield with just under 90 seconds left, Dalton Epps blasted Peters one more time for a fumble that Malik Lewis fell on top of. Hurst then knelt down to finalize the gritty win.

UP NEXT

- Presbyterian will search for their first 10-win season since 2005 and their first undefeated home record since 2007 next weekend, hosting Marist for the finale at 1:00 on ESPN+.

- As stated above, a Pioneer League title will be a possibility for the Blue Hose in the event of a Drake defeat, denoting the final home game for over 30 special PC seniors.

- The Red Foxes were victorious against Davidson by a score of 37-10 in Poughkeepsie, moving their record to 5-4. Presby came to Marist 12 months ago and walked away with a one-sided 42-23 result.