DEERFIELD, Ill. --- Scoring on four of its first five possessions of the game, including three times by Sam Tumilty, the University of St. Francis football team gained its second win in a row with a 42-21 Mid-States Football Association Midwest League victory over Trinity International University on Saturday afternoon.

Tumilty capped his trifecta of touchdowns with a 67-yard run to put the Saints on top 28-7 with just over three minutes to play in the second quarter. It was one of several big plays on the day for the freshman quarterback, who rushed 23 times for 250 yards and completed another 7-of-14 passes for 59 yards and one touchdown.

The 42 points were the most since scoring 49 in a 15-point victory over Missouri Baptist University back on Nov. 2, 2019. The Saints (2-2, 2-0 MSFA) also just missed hitting the 500-yard plateau in total offense finishing at 492.

Four-hundred thirty-three (433) of those yards came on the ground in 58 of USF's 74 offensive plays, which was the most rushing yards for the program since Sept. 17, 2011 when that team rushed for 479 yards on 50 carries in a 69-3 rout of Olivet Nazarene University.

Nine different St. Francis players had a role in Saturday's effort with Wendell Newton and Kemond Cohran also contributing touchdowns. Newton finished with 58 yards on just nine carries, while Cohran totaled 31 yards on only five attempts, including his nine-yard touchdown. In between those two individuals was Perre' Barbarin with 48 yards on ten carries.

Offensive coordinator Matt McCarthy's unit went right to work from the first snap, taking the opening kickoff and driving down the field 68 yards on 12 plays, including Tumilty converting a fourth-and-11 play to Liam Eldridge. It was one of three catches on the day for Eldridge, who supplied the only receiving touchdown on a 21-yard pass play to close out the scoring for the Saints 75 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Tumilty's only mistake of the day came on USF's second possession when he threw his lone interception. He more than made up for it on the Saints' next three scoring drives.  Tumilty rushed for 61 of the 75 yards on St. Francis' next drive, which ended with his seven-yard plunge on the 12th play of the series.

The next time down the field, it was all Tumilty and Newton. The two combined for all 93 yards of the seven-play scoring drive. Tumilty had runs of 25 and 29 yards with Newton being called on for the other five plays and 39 yards capped off by his 12-yard touchdown.

Defensively, the Saints just missed pulling off their third straight second-half shutout. Trinity International (2-4, 0-2) broke the string with 2:30 left to play in the fourth quarter. 

While USF's offense was piling up its yardage on the ground, its defense was holding Trinity International to just 48 rushing yards on 25 carries. The majority of Trinity International's yardage came through the air (228), but still left the Trojans 216 yards behind the Saints, 492-276.

USF also put up 26 first downs (21 on the ground) to Trinity International's 17.

Keying USF's defense was Oshikhai Ebikhumi, who authored three sacks and added another tackle for loss as part of his five-tackle day. As a team, the Saints recorded five sacks.

SIDELINES
USF averaged 6.6 yards per play on the day highlighted by its 7.5 yards-per-carry average.

The Saints had a very healthy conversion rate on third and fourth down, making good on 10 of their 14 attempts, including 9-of-13 on third down.

The two teams combined for 17 penalties and 194 yards.

Coming into the game, the Saints had a total of 45 points and 399 rushing yards through their first three contests combined.

Up Next
The Saints are back home to face first-year league member Judson University in a 1 pm kickoff at Joliet Memorial Stadium.

Live coverage can be found at gofightingsaints.com/coverage. You can also keep up with all things USF on Twitter @USFSaints.