SFU Thumps Merrimack for 11th Straight Win in Home-Opener

Finish. It’s been the motto preached by the Red Flash football team and coaches all offseason. 

The team started slow last Saturday, finding itself down, 14-13, to visiting Merrimack with a little under one minute remaining in the first half. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Jason Brown then led a quick three-play, 68-yard scoring drive, finding Brandon Lisenby for a 19-yard touchdown to take a 20-14 lead going into halftime. 

From that drive on, it was all SFU. Saint Francis (2-1) outscored Merrimack, 29-0 after trailing early en route to a dominating 42-14 victory in the 2019 home-opener. In both of Saint Francis’ wins this season, the team has trailed late in the second quarter before coming from behind for victories. This win was also the team’s 11th consecutive victory in home-openers.

Running the ball is an area Saint Francis struggled mightily in its first two contests, posting just 147 rushing yards on 60 runs against Lehigh and James Madison. Led by backs Avery Milliner and Chris Wells against Merrimack, however, the Flash posted a season-high 150 rushing yards. 

“They’re (SFU’s offensive line) young,” said head coach Chris Villarrial. “We’ve got some young guys up front, but the more time we can get in the meeting room with them and the more we get those guys playing time, it’s going be a good thing.” 

A sight every Saint Francis fan is used to seeing in recent years is a dominant defense. A sight SFU fans are not used to seeing is their All-American do-it-all safety Nick Rinella on the sideline instead of the field. 

Rinella did not play Saturday, nor did fellow starting safety Jake Heiple. Yet without two of their leaders in the secondary, SFU still received another outstanding performance from the unit on Saturday, limiting Merrimack (1-2) to 274 total yards and pitching a shutout in the second half. 

Gio Vonne Sanders delivered a strong performance in Rinella and Heiple’s absence, making his first two career interceptions in the game.

“When we’re firing on all cylinders, it’s hard for teams to score on us, run or pass,” said Sanders, a redshirt sophomore who transferred to SFU from Pitt prior to last season. “Our defensive linemen work very hard to set us up for opportunities to intercept the ball.” 

When the second half opened, everything that could go wrong for Merrimack did. The Flash got a quick three-and-out and then drove down on their first drive and scored to make it 28-14. Three plays later, redshirt freshman Terrell Smith picked off Warriors quarterback Christian Carter’s pass for his first career interception.

Saint Francis dominated the time of possession (36 minutes to 24 minutes) and converted on 46 percent of its third-down conversions. 

SFU stays at home this weekend, hosting Columbia University on Saturday at 1 p.m. The last times these two teams met was in 2016 when SFU beat Columbia, 13-9. This week’s game will be Columbia’s season-opener.