It took six hours on a bus, but St. Thomas More recorded its first football playoff win Thursday night since 2020.

The Cavaliers used explosive plays to fuel a 40-13 win over Groton in the opening round of the Class 11B playoffs, STM’s first postseason victory since it defeated Redfield four years ago.

“It was awesome. It was a long road trip and you always are curious about how your players are going to respond to the road trip. Are they going to get off the bus? I think this is our first playoff win in 5 years, 4 or 5 years,” said Cavalier head coach Austin Hagen. “We challenge the guys, how are we going to respond to the adversity we were going to see in this game, undoubtedly, and I thought they did a good job to get things rolling.”

A slow start for the Tigers, and a couple missed opportunities hampered the hosts during the contest.

The Groton defense came up big early forcing a turnover just after the Tigers turned the ball over on offense.

“You got to try to set the tone early in a game like this. I think it just kind of builds your confidence a little bit. Well, we didn’t do that right off the bat,” said Groton coach Shaun Wanner. “We kept them out of the end zone right away after we turned it over and we got a pick in the endzone.”

St. Thomas More scored shortly after the interception on its first play of the drive, a 54-yard touchdown run from Dawson Inhofer, his first of three on the night. Following a punt from the Tigers on the next drive, Groton senior Korbin Kucker stripped the ball from Graydon Juve near midfield on the second play of the second quarter.

“I just knew we had to make plays. … They’re a powerhouse, they’re good and I knew someone had to do something. I got the opportunity to, and I made it happen, and I was just hyped in the moment that I got the strip and got the fumble recovery,” Kucker said. “It’s one of those things where you stand up and look at everyone like you’re the big dog, but yeah, it felt really good.”

The Tigers failed to get a first down, and on the next drive, STM’s Noah Wald found Broeden Sales for a 32-yard pass to put the Cavaliers up 13-0.

“Broeden is a great football player for us. We usually are a pretty balanced team, and we usually throw the ball really well. With the defense that they showed us, we knew it was going to be a challenge,” said Hagen. “But … those opportunities do come and it’s just about how you capitalize when you get those opportunities.”

Those were the only two scores of the first half. Coming out of halftime, the Tigers knew they needed a stop and a score, but Inhofer rushed for his second touchdown of the night on the first play of the second half, a 57-yard run.

“Well, they came out and scored right away on us, and we talked about that. We can’t give up a touchdown right out of the gate,” said Wanner. “We had to go try to get 14-7 somewhere in the third quarter, make a play. We were this close on a couple of passes, long passes, that were just right there in our fingertips.”

Juve found the end zone on a 4-yard rushing touchdown following a Tiger punt to push the margin to 27-0 with 6:15 remaining in the third quarter.

Kucker kick started the Groton offense on the following drive, opening with a 38-yard run to the Cavalier 24-yard line.

“I knew we couldn’t throw the ball because they were bringing a lot of guys and their guys are a lot bigger than us, so I knew if we couldn’t throw it, we were going to have to do something on our feet,” Kucker said. “I have two stud running backs in the backfield with me and I knew when I seen that gap, I had to go and I turned it up a notch and ran for what I could before that corner met me. From there on, it was kind of like let’s go, let’s get in here, let’s go get a touchdown.”

The Tigers found themselves at the 32-yard line on a 4th and 17. Kucker threw the ball up to Teylor Diegel who almost came down with the catch, but a defensive pass interference gave the Tigers another shot. Christian Ehresmann ran the ball four straight times to get the Tigers their first score of the night.

“Our senior group is a good group. A lot of those have been 3-year starters,” Wanner said. “Christian Ehresmann has been a 4-year starter for us, so they know that expectation.”

STM responded with another TD of its own as Josh Elder, scored on a 8-yard rush with just under eight minutes remaining in the game. The Cavaliers quickly scored again when Elder intercepted a pass and Juve followed that up with a 48-yard rushing touchdown for a 40-6 advantage with 6:54 left.

It was the Cavaliers’ fourth touchdown of more than 30 yards, and third touchdown on the ground of more than 45 yards.

“It’s huge for us to have those plays and we have a great room of running backs, and when the O-Line does a job like that, you can have three different backs tote the rock, it makes my job easy calling those plays,” said Hagen. “We know those plays will come. Just keep at it, doing the little things right and eventually, you’re going to have one of those big plays.”

On Groton’s final drive of the game, Kucker found Ehresmann for his second touchdown of the night on a 20-yard pass over the middle that caught Ehresmann in stride.

“It was one of those things, it was the last of the last. That’ll be the last high school touchdown pass that I throw. That one was special,” said Kucker. “He was wide open, and I knew I had to deliver a ball obviously and I did. It was just bittersweet to throw a touchdown one last time.”

Groton capped its season with a 6-3 record. The Cavaliers, 7-2, will head to the quarterfinals for a rematch against Mount Vernon-Plankinton, who they lost to in the second game of the year 36-30.

St. Thomas More (7-2) 7 7 13 13 40

Groton (6-3) 0 0 6 7 – 13

STM – Dawson Inhofer 54 run (Broeden Sales kick).

STM – Sales 32 pass from Noah Wald (Sales kick).

STM – Inhofer 57 run (Sales kick).

STM – Grayden Juve 4 run (Sales kick).

G – Christian Ehresmann 1 run.

STM – Josh Elder 13 run.

STM – Juve 49 run (Sales kick).

G – Ehresmann 20 pass from Korbin Kucker (Joao Nunes kick).

OFFENSE: St. Thomas More, rushing 34-333 (Inhofer 7-168, Juve 12-100, Elder 6-24), passing 6-11-2 for 87 (Wald 6-11-2 for 87), receiving (Sales 3-42, Reeve Ross 2-31, Ryan Neugebauer 1-11, Elder 1-8), 19 first downs; Groton, rushing 33-98 (Kucker 18-53, Ehresmann 11-41), passing 6-16-1 for 68 (Kucker 6-16-1 for 68), receiving (Keegan Tracy 3-40, Ehresmann 1-20, Ryder Johnson 1-8), 14 first downs

DEFENSE: St. Thomas More, Joseph Giacometto 13 tackles, Elder 6 tackles 1 int, Brody Lee 4 tackles, Sales 4 tackles; Groton, Ehresmann 9 tackles, Kucker 8 tackles 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery, Brevin Fliehs 6 tackles, Teylor Diegel 2 interceptions.