SFU Football nearly pulled off a comeback for the ages against Duquesne on Oct. 21, falling 38-35 to the Dukes.
After trailing by 24 with 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Saint Francis had a touchdown explosion, scoring 21 straight points. The team came within a missed field goal of forcing overtime in the game’s final seconds.
Duquesne scored the first 10 points of the game before Saint Francis responded, scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run by Mason Imbt that was set up by a 43-yard Cole Doyle completion to Jake Bruno.
After that score, Duquesne grabbed control of the game when Dukes QB Darius Perrantes threw two perfect deep-ball touchdowns, one for 29 yards to Darryl Powell and another a 69-yard bomb to Joey Isabella.
A botched snap by the Red Flash on a punt attempt just before the end of the half resulted in another Duquesne TD, this one a scoop and score by Tim Lowery to make the score 31-7 at the half.
The third quarter saw Saint Francis mount a drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock. The 14th and final play of the drive saw SFU running back Jordan Jackson pound it in from a yard away to put Saint Francis back in the game, 31-13.
The Dukes’ Taj Butts answered the Flash drive with a 4-yard TD run to make the score 38-14 in favor of Duquesne with 12 minutes remaining. It looked like the game was over.
It wasn’t.
Saint Francis scored a quick touchdown on another Imbt 1-yard touchdown run and then blocked a punt attempt, one that was scooped up by Trey McLeer for a 40-yard touchdown. It was the first blocked punt for a touchdown for SFU since November 2021.
Saint Francis then got the ball back and scored another quick touchdown when Doyle threw his 11th touchdown pass of the season to Jayden Ivory from 3 yards out.
Saint Francis then recovered a perfectly executed onside kick.
Following a run by Doyle and a personal foul on Duquesne, SFU missed on a 45-yard file goal attempt with seconds to play.
Saint Francis (2-5, 2-2 NEC) will look to bounce back this weekend in its Homecoming Game against Merrimack. Kickoff against the Warriors is at 1 p.m. on Oct. 28 and the game can be viewed on NEC FrontRow.
