The football team dropped a heartbreaking 27-20 decision to Central Connecticut State at DeGol Field on Sept. 14 in the team’s first Northeast Conference game of the season.
Saint Francis (1-2, 0-1 NEC) was riding a wave of momentum entering the home-opener after beating an FBS team for the first time in school history on Sept. 7 (23-17 SFU win at Kent State).
“We came out a little flat,” said Red Flash head coach Chris Villarrial. “This is football. We will dust ourselves off and get back to the drawing board.”
The Flash made several mistakes early in the game that allowed the Blue Devils to get two field goals within the first five minutes of action to go up 6-0.
The lead was short-lived, however. SFU redshirt freshman DaMario Crawford took the kickoff following CCSU’s second field goal and raced 94 yards for his first collegiate touchdown.
The first half was tough sledding for the young SFU offense – the team ran only 22 plays compared to 44 for the Blue Devils, but SFU trailed by just six (20-14) at the intermission thanks to another big play – a 97-yard scoring run by DeMarcus McElroy in the second quarter.
Mistakes, however, continued to plague SFU throughout the game. The Flash finished the afternoon with three fumbles (one lost) and an interception.
“We had too many fumbles,” said Villarrial.
The last giveaway of the game proved the most costly for SFU. With the score tied at 20, a fumble by the McElroy late in the fourth quarter was recovered by CCSU junior defensive back Kimal Clark, who returned it 10 yards for the go-ahead score for the Blue Devils.
Earlier in the fourth quarter, SFU had tied the game at 20 on a similar play. A fumble by CCSU quarterback Brady Olson was recovered by SFU redshirt freshman Fran Brown Jr. in the endzone for the Flash’s third TD on the afternoon.
SFU kicker Mac Plummer, the FCS National Special Teams Player-of-the-Week following the Kent State game, had a rough afternoon versus Central Connecticut. Plummer was 2-3 on extra point tries and 0-1 on field goal attempts.
Saint Francis and Central Connecticut State had an almost equal amount of possession time, with the Red Flash at 29:30 compared to 30:30 for the Blue Devils.
SFU starting quarterback Jeff Hoenstine finished the game 12 for 16 with 112 yards and an interception.
“We don’t have long to pout about this,” Villarrial said. “No one is going to feel sorry for you – it’s part of the game.”
The Red Flash have a tough matchup coming up this weekend when the team travels to Eastern Michigan for a 2 p.m. kickoff against the Eagles on Sept. 21. The game will be streamed on ESPN-Plus.
“They played at a higher level than us today,” Villarrial said.
“I am going to have to do a better job at making sure we are prepared.”
