It looked like a 1-4 start was inevitable for the SFU football team, which was trailing by two scores midway through the fourth quarter at Delaware State last weekend.
But by the end of the game, it was the Red Flash who won by double digits (28-17).
It was all thanks to three straight SFU touchdown drives in a five-minute span. The first drive covered 94 yards on 13 plays and was capped off by a Jeff Hoenstine one-yard touchdown pass to Gavin Thomson, followed by a trick play two-point conversion.
On the conversion attempt, Adrian Mejia found an open Thomson in the end zone to cut the Delaware State lead to three (17-14) with 5:38 left.
The Red Flash would then recover a 30-yard pooch kickoff that couldn’t have been executed more perfectly to get the ball back. From that point on, it was the Markell Holman show.
Holman, a sophomore running back out of Philadelphia, ran for 111 of his season-high 182 rushing yards on the last two drives of the game for Saint Francis. He capped both drives with TDs and had every single yard for his team on the last two drives.
“It was really electrifying,” Holman said. “I’ve got to give credit to my O-line and the defense. They kept us in the game and we fed off of their energy.”
Saint Francis’ defense continued to dominate at Delaware State, holding the Hornets to only 17 points and allowing them to convert on only four of 14 third-down attempts.
“We’ve just got to buy into the system,” said Holman about SFU’s run-first mentality. “Saint Francis has historically been a rushing school and we just have to keep doing what we are coached to do.
“When we do that, we can have games like this every week.”
The transfer from Lackawanna College earned NEC Prime Performer honors for his effort. Holman’s 182 yards was the most for a Saint Francis running back in a game since 2016.
Hoenstine earned his second NEC Rookie-of-the-Week award after throwing for 117 yards and two touchdowns.
SFU will host western Pennsylvania rival Duquesne this Saturday, Oct. 12. Kickoff at DeGol Field is at noon and the game can be viewed on ESPN+.
