COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - From his vantage point, Josh Bungum '16 didn't get a good view.
 
So the then-Saint John's sophomore wide receiver actually thought St. Thomas kicker Paul Graupner's 32-yard field goal attempt was good.
 
It was only after he was mauled by the sea of red flooding onto the field 10 years ago at O'Shaughnessy Stadium in St. Paul that he realized the kick had sailed wide left, preserving a 20-18 upset for SJU in Gary Fasching's third game as the Johnnies' head coach.
 
"I didn't realize he'd missed until I was drilled by our student section and got knocked over," recalls Bungum, now an SJU assistant coach, of the victory on Sept. 21, 2013. 
 
"That was quite a celebration. It was a pretty memorable day."
 
Indeed, for while SJU had defeated the Tommies 12 seasons in a row from 1998 to 2009, head coach Glenn Caruso had led his team to three-straight victories in the rivalry -- in 2010, '11 and in John Gagliardi's final season as head coach in 2012.
 
St. Thomas entered the 2013 game 2-0 and ranked No. 2 in the nation in Division III. The Tommies had won three consecutive MIAC titles, as well as 36 straight regular-season games, 27 MIAC games in a row and 18 straight games at home.
 
SJU, meanwhile, was coming off a 5-5 season, though the Johnnies had won at Wisconsin-River Falls 17-14 on a 40-yard field goal by Alexi Johnson '17 in the final seconds of Fasching's first game as head coach, and had beaten Wisconsin-Eau Claire 17-14 in the rain in Collegeville the week before.
 
"They'd had some really good teams, and we were coming off kind of a tough season the year before," Bungum recalls. "So I'm guessing there probably weren't a lot of people who thought we'd be able to go down there and beat them."
 
Fasching, in fact, played up his team's underdog status when he addressed the players after practice the day before.
 
"I usually don't remember many of my pregame talks," Fasching said. "But I remember that one. I talked about upsets. I brought up (North Carolina) State beating Houston (in the 1983 NCAA men's basketball championship game) and a few others. 

"Our guys had been really focused in practice that week. And my point was that other people may not have believed we were going to win that game. But our players and coaches believed we could and that's what mattered."
 
The Tommies jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first quarter, but SJU cut the gap to one point after quarterback Connor Bruns '14 scored on a 1-yard run in the second. Then, with 24 seconds to go before halftime, running back Sam Sura '16 put the Johnnies up 14-8 with a 2-yard touchdown run.  
 
The South St. Paul graduate, who would go on to become the leading rusher in program history, finished with 25 carries for 88 yards in his first collegiate start.
 
Graupner, though, hit a field goal to end the first half and make it 14-11.
 
Johnson kicked a 27-yard field goal in the third quarter, but a St. Thomas touchdown then put the Tommies in front, 18-17. Johnson hit a 34-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, only to have St. Thomas advance to the Johnnies' 11 on the final drive, bringing up 3rd-and-3 with time winding down.
 
With a timeout to burn, quarterback Matt O'Connell took a knee for a loss of four yards, putting the ball on the right hash instead of in the middle of the field. Graupner's attempt then missed, setting off bedlam among the SJU faithful.
 
"It was a big win for us," said Bungum, who finished the day with 12 catches for 104 yards. "I think that game helped springboard our program back to where we needed to be."
 
SJU finished 7-3, but the following year the Johnnies won their first MIAC title since 2009 and began a program-record streak of eight consecutive NCAA Division III playoff appearances.
 
"Every game is a big game and every win is important," Fasching added. "But that win was definitely meaningful considering we were trying to get back to the top of the conference. And to beat St. Thomas on their home field and stop all of their streaks was especially enjoyable."
 
25 years ago (1998) – Senior Dan Simmons led the way with a first-place finish, and SJU cross country runners swept the top six places overall, as the Johnnies won the SJU Invitational on Sept. 19 in Collegeville.
 
50 years ago (1963) – The Record reported Bob Johnson, a captain in the ROTC program at SJU and a standout baseball player, signed for a $2,000 bonus with the Boston Red Sox.