Sept. 13, 2003

Final Stats

FAIRFIELD, CT - The Sacred Heart University football team spotted St. Francis University 12 points on Saturday, thanks to two mistakes on special teams, but then ripped off 37 unanswered points and got some stellar play from the defense to defeat the Red Flash 37-12 in a Northeast Conference battle Saturday afternoon.

SHU senior Pete Athans (Ocean, NJ) fumbled a punt after the Pioneers stopped the Red Flash on their first possession. The fumble was recovered by Luke Palko for St. Francis at the SHU 30. Seven plays later, Palko caught a two-yard TD pass from freshman QB Anthony Doria to put the Red Flash up 6-0.

The Pioneers blocked the extra point attempt, but on the ensuing kickoff Athans fumbled the ball again. This time Delancey Callahan recovered it for St. Francis at the Pioneer 33. Freshman tailback Todd Harris punched it in from the one-yard with 6:22 left in the first to give the Red Flash a 12-0 lead.

The Sacred Heart offense finally got on the field after the second touchdown, but sputtered and punted after three plays. The Pioneers didn't get their first first down until a minute remained in the first quarter.

It wasn't the offense, but the defense that finally put Sacred Heart on the scoreboard. Senior Ron St. Juste (Stamford, CT) picked off a Doria pass and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown to close the gap to 12-7. Doria would throw four picks in the game, two by St. Juste and two by senior corner Brian Pawlowski (Branchburg, NJ).

After forcing the Red Flash to punt on their next turn, the SHU offense finally began to click. Starting a drive at their own 39, the Pioneers opened with a 24-yard run by junior tailback Jason Healy to the St. Francis 37. QB Joe Kroells (Burbank, CA) then hit senior Steve Clayton for ten yards, and again two plays later for six yards. Kroells finished the drive himself by bootlegging down the right side for 16 yards and a TD to put the Pioneers up 13-12 with 7:05 left in the half.

The secondary stepped in again for the Pioneers when Pawlowski picked off Doria on the next St. Francis drive and gave the Pioneers the ball on the opponent 21. After a running play gained no yards, Kroells dropped back on the second and tossed a 21-yard scoring strike to Marlon Ward (Revere, MA) to give SHU a 20-12 lead it would take into the locker room at intermission.

Sacred Heart effectively put the Red Flash away when it scored on the first possession of the second half. Kroells led an eight-play, 73-yard drive that was finished off by senior running back Jason Bonadies with a 14-yard run to the left corner of the endzone.

The Red Flash got nothing going on its first possession of the half and punted. Kroells again led the Pioneers down the field, scoring himself on a rollout right for a seven-yard TD on the ninth play of the drive with 5:34 to go in the third.

After the first quarter of the game, the Red Flash managed just 80 yards of total offense, while Sacred Heart would roll up over 300 in the span.

"When we got down with those two mistakes early I didn't sense any panic on our team," said SHU head coach Bill Lacey. "I was very proud of the way we rallied and made some huge plays on defense."