St. Francis prevails in double overtime
By David Allen For Sun-Times Media September 15, 2012 10:48PM
Updated: October 17, 2012 6:34AM
The University of St. Francis looked bound to make things difficult Saturday night at Olivet Nazarene.
The No. 17 Saints couldn’t score after long drives and were repeatedly forced to make goal-line stands. But they made enough plays for a much-needed 19-16 double-overtime victory.
“That’s been the way of our season. We don’t make things easy on ourselves,” said St. Francis coach Joe Curry, whose team is 2-2 after winning its Mid-States Football Association Midwest opener.
The Saints moved the ball throughout but didn’t get into the end zone until a 4-yard E.J. White TD pass to Dustin Greenwell with 1:20 left in the game produced a 9-9 after the Saints missed the extra-point attempt.
“That’s the way we’ve been this year,” Curry said. “We move the ball from the 20 to the 20 probably better than any team in the country.”
White, who threw for 225 yards and had a TD pass for the 24th consecutive game, threw a 17-yard score to Elliot Allen in the first overtime, but winless ONU scored after converting a fourth-and-16.
Sean Murray kicked the game-winning 18-yard field goal after ONU missed a 28-yard field-goal try.
St. Francis dodged early bullets when ONU drove inside the Saints 5 on its first two drives but had just one field goal despite 110 yards. Two other drives inside the St. Francis 10 produced nothing.
Brandon Salemi recovered an ONU fumble at the St. Francis 1 that freshman Nick Collofello forced.
ONU drove to the St. Francis 4 on its next possession but had to settle for a field goal after a third-down tackle for loss by freshman Jamal Graham.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our defense,” Curry said.
