For the third time in the last four years, the St. Lawrence University football team enters week two of the season with a 1-0 record after downing SUNY Morrisville 28-0 last week in the season opener. The Saints will look to improve to 2-0 as the Cadets from Norwich University come to Canton for the second consecutive home game.
St. Lawrence is coming off a win in the first week while Norwich enters with a 0-1 record after falling to Rensselaer, 31-17, last weekend.
The Series: St. Lawrence leads the overall series 31-29 after winning a 42-28 game last year in Vermont. The visiting team has won each of the last nine meetings. The last home victory was in 2006 when the Saints scored a 17-13 victory at Leckonby Stadium. St. Lawrence held a 17-7 lead with less than two minutes to play in the game but Norwich scored late and recovered an on-sides kick giving the Cadets one last chance to score.
After a pass completion and a SLU penalty, Jordan Burger sacked the Norwich QB and the SLU defense made a tackle behind the line of scrimmage to bring up a long third down attempt. The Cadets threw an incomplete pass and then Jerred Jones intercepted a long pass on the SLU 13-yard line to end the threat.
Last Year: St. Lawrence jumped ahead 28-0 in the first half and pushed ahead 35-0 in the third quarter. Norwich scored late in the third quarter and added 14 points in the fourth before falling 42-28.
James Holley-Grisham returned a punt 75 yards for a TD and Jayson Leigh added a 25-yard interception return for TD for the Saints. Jake Gnieser led the running attack with 77 yards and Mitch Gallagher had eight catches for 66 yards and a TD. Chyron Brown-Wallace had six tackles and 2 ½ sacks while Alec Dietsch led the defense with nine tackles.
Last Week: Liberty League Defensive Player of the Week Skyler Williamson made 14 tackles including three for loss and broke up a pass to lead the Saints to a 28-0 shutout victory over SUNY Morrisville. Sean Richardson made his first career start at quarterback and completed 20 of 31 passes for 299 yards and also ran for 45 yards while Vincenzo Ferraro led the team with eight catches and 151 yards.
Norwich took an early lead against Rensselaer with a 30-yard field goal before surrendering the next 24 straight points. The Cadets scored twice in the third quarter to make it close but the Engineers scored the only TD in the fourth quarter to seal the victory. Philippe Bazinet was 21-for-41 for 180 yards and a TD but threw three interceptions. Patrick Brown ran for 119 yards on 19 carries while Tyler Oppelt had eight tackles and a pass breakup for the defense.
And the Winner is: Skyler Williamson was named the Liberty League defensive player of the week and Sean Richardson earned weekly honor roll status from the league. The team weekly award winners were Williamson on defense, Richardson on offense, the kickoff team on special teams, Pat Vandermark for scout team defense and Nick Carzo for scout team offense.
The Last Time: There were some updates from last week to the last time accomplishments for the Saints. Jayson Leigh's interception return for a TD was the first since Isreal Squires returned one 60 yards against Union last season. The 28-0 shutout victory was the first since a 20-0 win over Rochester last year. Vincenzo Ferraro's 151-yard receiving day was the most since he accumulated 185 yards on 13 catches against Mount Union last year. Sean Richardson's 299-yard passing day was just shy of the last 300-yard day but it surpassed Mike Lefflbine's 349-yard day against Endicott last year as the last 250-yard passing performance. And finally, Williamson topped his own 10+ tackle day. He had 11 against Mount Union last year before his 14 last week.
Streaks Continue: The Saints intercepted three passes in the season-opening win to continue a streak of 11 straight games with at least one interception for the Saint defense. The St. Lawrence defense has picked off at least one pass in 20 of the last 21 games. The Saints also sacked the Morrisville quarterback four times last weekend. The defense has recorded at least one sack in 12 of the last 13 games (five straight) and 18 of the last 21 games.
Game Ball for Coach Puckhaber: The team captains presented the game ball from last weekend to head coach Dan Puckhaber as he posted his first career victory. He was the first head coach at St. Lawrence to win his first game since 1969 when Ted Stratford beat Colby to open his nine-year career. Puckhaber and Stratford are the only two head coaches in St. Lawrence history to post wins in their first game at the helm.