Red Flash Football Falls Marist 30-22 in Home Opener
LORETTO, Pa. (Sept. 13, 2008) – The Saint Francis football team held Marist College scoreless in the first half, but ended up falling to the Red Foxes 30-22 on Saturday at DeGol Field in Loretto. The Red Flash fall to 0-2 on the season, and are now 3-8 in home openers dating back to 1998.
The team will travel to Pittsburgh next week for its Northeast Conference opener with Duquesne 7 p.m. on Saturday. After three games on the road, the Red Flash will return home to play host to Sacred Heart on October 11 at DeGol Field.
Saint Francis’ first points of the game, and the season, came courtesy of a 25-yard field goal by freshman kicker Zak Campbell (Munhall, Pa./Steel Valley). The Red Flash ate up 8:37 of clock time on 16 plays for 80 yards. Campbell was 1-for-1 on field goals on the day, and 1-for-3 on extra point attempts.
Early in the field goal drive, junior quarterback George Little (Duquesne, Pa./Duquesne) escaped a sack and completed an 8-yard pass to sophomore running back Jude Yearwood (Elkridge, Md./Howard) to bring up 2nd and 2 on the Marist 31.
On Marist’s next possession, quarterback Chris Debowski was sacked by Ryan Shepard (Kittanning, Pa./Kittanning) for a loss of 6 yards on the Red Foxes’ first possession of the second quarter. Shepard had a total of 9 tackles, 3 unassisted, as well as 2.5 tackles-for-loss.
Junior running back Calvin Williams (Cleveland, Ohio/South) scored the Red Flash’s first touchdown of the season on a 45-yard run with eight minutes remaining in the second quarter to put the Flash up 10-0 with Campbell’s extra point. Williams ran for 85 yards on 13 attempts in the contest.
The Red Flash headed for the locker room at half time up by 10, and came out of halftime with another score on a sensational 33-yard touchdown catch by senior wide receiver Antoine Rivera (Willingboro, N.J./Willingboro). The catch was the 100th reception of Rivera’s career. He had five catches for 115 yards and two touchdowns on the day. Campbell’s kick went wide right for his first miss of the season. Rivera’s 15th career TD reception made it 16-0.
However, the Red Flash couldn’t keep the Red Foxes from scoring in the second half. Keith Mitchell scored on a 15 yard run to put 7 points on the board with Kevin Pauly’s extra point with 8:02 left to play in the 3rd quarter.
Rivera would than score his 16th career TD on a 10-yard pass from Little to make it 22-7. But Campbell’s extra point attempt was blocked by Michael Rios and returned for a defensive PAT by Paul Rabito to bring Marist within 22-9. The blocked PAT wound up being a turning point in the game, as the Red Foxes would go on to score 23 unanswered points to secure their first victory of the season at 30-22.
Little finished the day 13-for-20 with 202 yards and 2 touchdowns. His longest toss of the day was a 45-yard completion to Rivera in the third quarter. He was sacked only once by Marist’s defense.
After the blocked PAT, Marist drove 5 plays in 66 yards and completed the drive on a Debowski 9-yard TD pass to James LaMacchia. Pauly converted the PAT to bring the Red Foxes within 22-16 with 14:56 to go in the contest.
On SFU’s ensuing drive, punter Bobby Fuller (Mount Savage, Md./Beall) pulled in a high snap, but was tackled for a loss of 13 yards from the Red Flash’s own 22. The play started Marist at the Saint Francis 9-yard line, and Bo Ehikioya would rush 3 yards for a touchdown just two plays later to give Marist a one point lead over the Flash.
Ehikioya also scored on a 36-yard run in the Red Foxes’ next drive of the game to bring the score to 30-22.
Matthew Parker (Darlington, Pa./Blackhawk) and Siafa Lavala (Silver Springs, Md./Springbook) led the defense with 14 and 12 tackles each.
(Darlington, Pa./Blackhawk) and (Silver Springs, Md./Springbook) led the defense with 14 and 12 tackles each.
For the second straight game, the Red Flash had possession for longer than their opponents. The Flash had the ball for 34:13 minutes. The Red Foxes’ had possession for 25:47.
After starting the season last weekend at VMI 1-of-14 on third down conversions, the Flash were 5-of-11 in their home opener. They totaled 47 offensive plays for 303 yards.