Sept. 27: St. Lawrence University quarterback Mike Lefflbine threw for 326 yards and four touchdowns, Leondre Simmon caught two touchdown passes and had an interception while Chyron Brown-Wallace had 3.5 sacks, leading the Saints to a come-from-behind 28-20 victory over Union College at Leckonby Stadium in front of over 2,400 people during the University's "Family Weekend."
The Saints scored 21 unanswered points to earn the win and improve to 3-1 and 1-0 in the Liberty League. The back-to-back wins over Union (won 30-20 in 2013) are the first consecutive St. Lawrence wins over the Dutchmen since the 1962 and 1963 seasons. Union (0-3) was led by Darnel Thomas' 138 yards on the ground, his fifth career 100+ yard rushing game.
"That was a great way to start Liberty League play, and I thought we showed tremendous toughness today," said St. Lawrence head coach Mark Raymond. "We got several outstanding performances on both sides of the ball and made great plays at critical times."
Simmon had a career-day receiving with 72 yards on four catches, while Mitch Gallagher added a touchdown and 78 yards through the air. Rookie Vincenzo Ferraro also had a career day with five grabs for 82 yards and his first collegiate touchdown for St. Lawrence, which outgained Union 397-298 in total yardage thanks to an offensive line that kept Lefflbine off the turf the entire game. Though Union had chances down the stretch, interceptions by James Holley-Grisham and Simmon and back-to-back sacks by Brown-Wallace clinched the game for the Saints.
St. Lawrence held a 7-0 lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to Ferraro's first touchdown, a 33-yard strike from Lefflbine midway through the opening period. However, Union would take a 13-7 lead into halftime thanks to consecutive touchdown drives. Thomas would score from 1-yard out to cap a 44-yard drive to tie it with 12:15 to go in the second quarter, then following a three-and-out from the Saints, quarterback Connor Eck found Andrew Baker for a 59-yard score to give the visitors the 13-7 lead. However, a blocked extra point would keep it a six point game, and Union's ensuing drive stalled at in St. Lawrence territory thanks to a sack by Alec Dietsch.
A 58-yard rush on Union's first drive of the second half by Thomas set up a 1-yard rushing touchdown by Eck, seemingly giving the Dutchmen control up 20-7 after the extra point was converted by David Pope. However, Lefflbine was just getting started. He pulled his team closer with a 46-yard strike to Simmon for a touchdown with 5:00 left in the third, as Simmon pulled the ball away from a Union defender and walked into the end zone to pull the Saints within six, 20-14, after Andrew Carvalho's extra point.
Though St. Lawrence trailed in the fourth quarter, the defense wreaked havoc in the Union backfield with Nick Barclay, Dillon Knight, Dillon Estridge and Brown-Wallace consistently applying pressure. Their play allowed Lefflbine to help the home team reclaim the lead, as he found Gallagher from a 23-yard touchdown, with the Malone, NY native using one hand to corral the pass and tie the score at 20-20 before Carvalho's extra point was good for the 21-20 lead.
A Union three-and-out was followed by a 23-yard punt return by Holley-Grisham that gave the offense a short field. Lefflbine capitalized, completing 4-of-5 passes including a 6-yard scoring throw to Simmon, who dove and hit the pile on for the insurance score. Carvalho's extra point made it 28-20 with 6:50 to play.
The Dutchmen would have three more possessions in the game, but Eck was intercepted twice and then was sacked on third and fourth down on his team's final drive by Brown-Wallace, allowing the Saints' sideline to erupt celebrating the conference win.
Jayson Leigh and Dietch finished with 13 and 10 tackles respectively to lead St. Lawrence, which finished with 7.0 sacks and 13.0 tackles for a loss. Union's defense was led by Jake LaRovera's 12 tackles including 1.5 tackles for a loss, though he was ejected in the fourth quarter. Brian Alebiosu added five tackles and two pass break-ups.
St. Lawrence will be out to snap another streak next weekend when it travels to Rochester, NY to take on the University of Rochester on Saturday, October 4 at 1:00pm. The Saints, who snapped a 14-game losing skid to Rochester last season, have not defeated the Yellowjackets in Rochester since the 1997 season.