DAVENPORT, Iowa --- A record-tying performance from Sam Tumilty and near-perfection for three-plus quarters by its defense enabled the University of St. Francis football team to maintain its lock on sole possession of first place in the Mid-States Football Association Midwest League with its 35-14 victory over St. Ambrose University on Saturday afternoon.

Tumilty tied single-game school records for most rushing touchdowns, most total touchdowns and most points scored with his five touchdowns and 30 points on the day. The touchdowns came on runs of 1, 19, 45, 3 and 23 yards before his day concluded early in the fourth quarter. 

Each of the three records were initially set by Vic Pierzchalski back on Sept. 16, 1989 in the Saints' 39-28 victory over Saint Joseph's College (Ind.).

USF's other five points came from Brian Maday on point-after touchdowns. Maday also booted three of his four punts inside the 20-yard line and had a 14-yard run on a fake punt that set up St. Francis' longest touchdown drive of the day. That one – an 18-play, 98-yard march that took up just over five minutes of the clock – put the Saints up 28-0 midway through the third quarter.

Three of USF's other scores were also drives of 50 yards or longer.

Tumilty finished the afternoon with his second 200-yard rushing performance of the season, gaining 211 yards on a season-high 28 carries. He also threw for 162 yards on 14-of-23 passing with ten of those completions and 114 of those yards going to Ravon Johnson.

James Zilinger and Perre' Barbarin were among nine Saints contributing to the team's overall 327 yards on the ground, or an average of 5.7 yards per carry.

Defensively, the Saints (4-2, 4-0 MSFA) extended their scoreless streak from the previous week's shutout with three more zeros through the first three quarters on Saturday before yielding a pair of touchdowns in the closing quarter. The first 47 minutes were dominating by USF's defense as it limited St. Ambrose to just 51 yards on 25 plays with two first downs through the first two quarters and just three series of three-and-outs in the third quarter. Up until the Bees took possession of the ball with 13:09 to play in the fourth quarter, they had amassed only 86 yards on 34 plays with the two first downs.

In the fourth quarter, St. Ambrose (3-5, 2-2) more than doubled most of those numbers – 23 plays for 177 yards with scoring drives of 86 and 80 yards - to make the final counts more respectable. Nonetheless, the Saints still outgained the hosts 489-263 with a 37:04-22:56 time of possession advantage. USF got off 80 plays to just 58 for the Bees. 

Among those numbers, USF's defense limited St. Ambrose starting quarterback Tom Casey to just three completions in 14 attempts for 12 yards with one interception. That pick came from Angel Mata at the St. Francis eight-yard line in one of St. Ambrose's few scoring opportunities. It happened just after the Saints scored their first touchdown of the game midway through the first quarter. Mata added two other pass breakups to go along with five tackles on the day as part of his overall numbers.

Michael Whitney led USF's defense with seven tackles. He was also one of six Saints to record a tackle for loss. Chris Johnson was next in line with six solo tackles, including one sack.

Terrance Nicholson added another five tackles – one for loss – to the cause.

SIDELINES
The 489 yards of total offense were just three short of USF's season-high effort of 492 set against Trinity International two weeks earlier.

The Saints were 5-of-6 on fourth down Saturday to improve to 6-of-10 in said plays on the season.

St. Ambrose came into the contest leading the NAIA in sacks, but failed to get to Tumilty on Saturday.

With the victory, head coach Joe Curry joined program founder Gordie Gillespie as the winningest coach in St. Francis history. Both have now won 48 games. Curry is in his tenth season at the helm. Gillespie won his 48 games between 1986 and 1993.

Up Next
The Saints host defending MSFA Midwest League champion Olivet Nazarene University next Saturday (Oct. 30) at Joliet Memorial Stadium. The 1 pm kickoff is a rematch of last year's near-upset of the Tigers, which used a late 97-yard kickoff return to prevail 31-27.

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