CHICAGO, Ill. --- NAIA No. 22-ranked Saint Xavier University scored on each of its first three possessions to build an early 17-0 advantage and the University of St. Francis football team could never recover in an eventual 44-28 setback in Mid-States Football Association Midwest League play Saturday afternoon at Bruce R. Deaton Memorial Field.
The 17 points came in the first 14 minutes of the contest, including one touchdown set up by Josh Hettiger's 30-yard interception return from midfield. The Saints (2-7, 0-3 MSFA) made Saint Xavier (7-3, 4-0) work for that score, denying the Cougars on three straight plays inside the one-yard line before Vance McShane muscled his way into the end zone for a 10-0 lead.
Conversions on a pair of fourth-down pass plays by Saints quarterback Don Butkus (Dyer, Ind./Mount Carmel) midway through the second quarter finally stopped Saint Xavier's string of unanswered points, the latter going to senior running back Jordon Smith (DeWitt, Mich./Lansing Catholic), who found the end zone from five yards out to cut the deficit to 17-7.
A penalty on the ensuing kickoff forced Saint Xavier into its worst field position of the day only to have the Cougars come up with their third touchdown to cap an 18-play, 91-yard march with one minute remaining in the half. Saint Xavier twice converted on both third and fourth down to extend the drive, which wound up being the story of the day. For the afternoon, the Cougars converted a combined 60.9 percent of the time, going 11-for-20 on third down and a perfect 3-for-3 on fourth down.
St. Francis again got the deficit down to ten points (24-14) early in the third quarter five plays after linebacker Mason DeLong (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) picked off a pass inside the Saint Xavier 20-yard line. Butkus made the Cougars pay for the mistake with his first of two rushing touchdowns on the afternoon on a one-yard quarterback sneak.
But again, Saint Xavier was quick to match USF's points on the board with quarterback Justin Hunniford's second of three touchdowns through the air, connecting with Elliott Pipkin on another third-down play from two yards out. Hunniford finished his day completing 32-of-47 pass attempts for 296 yards with six different receivers catching at least three passes. Harold Davis led the way with seven catches for 70 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown late in the first quarter.
The second and third field goals of the contest for Mike Iturbe (46, 34 and 21 yards) followed to put the game out of reach at 37-14 with just over 10 minutes to play. Iturbe also converted on each of his five point-after touchdowns to finish with 14 points on the day.
The Saints did get two scores in the closing 7:24, one on a Brandon Ruffin (Peoria, Ill./Peoria) 50-yard pass play and the other on an eight-yard Butkus run with 41 seconds remaining. Those were sandwiched around the Cougars' fifth touchdown of the game.
Butkus threw for 240 yards on 20-of-40 passing, but also had three interceptions. Coming into the contest, he had thrown only three picks against 15 touchdown passes in eight games.
Senior tight end Matt Brachmann (Elmhurst, Ill./Montini Catholic) was Butkus' favorite target with seven catches for 71 yards. Ruffin had one more yard (72) on four catches.
The Saints, who close out the home season next week against Robert Morris University Illinois at 1 p.m., were limited to 71 yards on the ground.
