Now that the streak of shutouts is over, the St. Lawrence University football team is focused on remaining undefeated and not having a letdown against any of the remaining Liberty League opponents on the schedule. The Saints (4-0 overall, 1-0 Liberty League) will seek a 5-0 start to the season with a matchup against the always challenging Springfield College Pride.
Springfield enters the game at just 2-2 overall (1-0 Liberty League) but have won the last two games after starting the season with a pair of losses. The Pride is fresh off a 28-23 win over WPI to start the Liberty League schedule. The two early-season losses were to Western New England (also receiving votes in the latest AFCA poll) and St. John Fisher (No. 14 in this week's D3football.com poll).
Last Year
St. Lawrence broke open a close game with a pair of scores just before halftime as Andrew Carvalho kicked a 21-yard field goal and Mitch Gallagher scored on an 18-yard pass play with 15 seconds left in the half to give the Saints a 24-14 lead. Leondre Simmon scored a TD early in the third quarter for a 31-14 lead and the Saints cruised to the 38-21 win. Mike Lefflbine was 21-for-37 for 220 yards and four touchdowns, Maurice Irby gained 65 yards on the ground and Vincenzo Ferraro had five catches for 71 yards. The St. Lawrence defense limited Springfield to 1-for-6 passing and picked off a pair of passes and Ryan Byrne led the Saints with 12 tackles. James Holley-Grisham had seven stops, forced a fumble and picked off a pass. He also had three punt returns for 96 yards including a 52-yarder. Springfield quarterback Jake Eglintine rushed for 184 yards and three scores for the Pride.
Last Week
Sean Richardson had his best career game with 249 yards passing on 24-for-40 throwing and also ran for 97 yards as the Saints downed Rensselaer 20-14 in the Liberty League opener. Rodrick Payne also had nearly 100 yards rushing with a 92-yard effort and Mitch Gallagher caught 12 passes for 85 yards breaking the school record for career receptions in the process. Holley-Grisham was among the defensive leaders with seven tackles and also had a pair of interceptions.
WPI led Springfield 17-0 at the half before the Pride scored 14 points in each of the final two quarters to score the 28-23 come-from-behind win. Springfield QB Chad Shade had 164 yards running and was 2-for-3 for 76 yards through the air. Kenny Calaj led a balanced defense with eight tackles and a sack.
The Series
The St. Lawrence win last year evened the all-time series between the two schools at 2-2 with the Saints winning each of the last two meetings. The Saints have outscored the Pride 59-28 over the past two seasons.
Interception Streak
The Saints continued its impressive streak with at least one interception in each of the last 14 consecutive games and 24 of the last 25 contests. The only game in the last three years that the SLU defense did not record an interception was the 2015 season opener at Morrisville.
Three Saints brought home weekly hardware with recognition for their accomplishments against Rensselaer. James Holley-Grisham was named the Liberty League Defensive Player of the Week with seven tackles and a pair of interceptions. Mitch Gallagher and Austen Lauricella earned national honors with recognition from D3football.com and spots on the Team of the Week. Gallagher was the tight end selection with 12 catches and 85 yards including the school-record breaking career receptions total. Lauricella was cited as the punter of the week as he nailed a pair of kicks at the one-yard line for the Saints.
Punt Return records situation
James Holley-Grisham will undoubtedly be the all-time career leader in punt returns and punt return yardage for the Saints before end of the year. The only question is when. According to the records on file that have survived the years, Holley-Grisham will break both records in the next game or two. He needs three returns to tie the existing school record of 52 returns by Mike O'Donnell '07 and 14 yards to tie the school record of 746 yards set by Mitch Brown '78. The problem is that the 1977 statistics for Brown's senior year are incomplete which would raise Brown's totals. An intense search is underway for those statistics.
Cracking the Century Mark
Kicker Andrew Carvalho moved past the century mark for kicking PATs in the Rensselaer game. With 84 conversion kicks in his first three seasons and 16 heading into the RPI game, the two successful kicks against the Engineers give him 102 for his career. The school record, set by the same Mitch Brown who holds the punt return marks, is 111 career kicks. Carvalho is also on a current streak of 40 consecutive kicks for the Saints.