BOURBONNAIS, Ill. --- A 93-yard punt return for a touchdown by Jalen Dunnigan with just over two minutes to play ruined University of St. Francis' bid at an upset of NAIA No. 25-ranked Olivet Nazarene University on Saturday afternoon as the hosts escaped with a 31-27 Mid-States Football Association Midwest League victory at Ward Field.
 

The win kept Olivet Nazarene's record perfect on the season both overall (5-0) and in league play (3-0), while the Saints fell to 0-4 overall and 0-2 in MSFA action with the difference in all four setbacks being one score.
 

The loss also overshadowed a pair of highlight-reel moments for two Saints, including one record-setting effort. That came from placekicker Brian Maday (FR/Orland Park, Ill.), whose 49-yard field goal to close the first half broke the previous USF mark of 48 yards held by three former Saints. It also capped off a quick 10-point unanswered run to pull St. Francis to within 24-20 after trailing by as many as 14 points. Just 50 seconds earlier, USF starting quarterback Joey Passo (FR/Plainfield, Ill.) (12-of-23, 191 yards, 3 TD. 1 int.) connected with Liam Eldridge (JR/San Clemente, Calif.) (5 recp., 52 yards) from 10 yards out with Maday adding the PAT.
 

Olivet Nazarene, which scored on each of its first four offensive possessions of the contest (3 touchdowns, one field goal) to build an initial 24-10 lead, threatened each of its first three times down the field after halftime, as well, only to be stymied by Scott Tumilty (Villa Park, Ill.) each time. The freshman safety picked off ONU quarterback David Hutton (18-of-30, 205 yards, 1 TD) three times in a row with two coming in the St. Francis end zone and the other one at the USF 10. He also tied for top team honors in tackles with nine, including one-half for a loss.
 

St. Francis also had a scoring opportunity thwarted by an end zone interception to open the second half, but Passo made up for that miscue midway through the fourth quarter. Connecting on a short pass out of the backfield with Kemond Cohran (JR/Los Angeles, Calif.), the latter turned it into a 52-yard touchdown to give the Saints their second lead of the day (27-24) with 7:50 remaining in the contest.
 

USF's defense produced a three-and-out series on Olivet Nazarene's next possession, giving the ball back to the Saints with 5:40 to play. USF's offense was able to register a pair of first downs in its attempt to run out the clock after that, but Olivet Nazarene had all three of its timeouts remaining and used them and a stop to set up the dramatic finish.  
 

Head coach Joe Curry's team had one last chance with just under two minutes to play starting at its own 41-yard line, but went four-and-out on its final possession.
 

The Saints produced a season-high 309 yards of offense in the contest with Perre' Barbarin (SR/New Orleans, La.) leading the ground attack with his 12 carries going for 70 yards, or 5.8 yards per carry. Ravon Johnson (GR/Bolingbrook, Ill.), who scored the Saints' first touchdown on a nifty 12-yard reception just after ONU opened the game with its scoring drive, had the highest reception output for the guests with his 62 yards coming on four catches. He also ran the ball in on the two-point conversion to give USF its other lead of the day at 8-7.
 

For Olivet Nazarene, which totaled 381 yards of offense, Aaje Grayson rushed for a game-high 121 yards on 21 carries and accounted for two of ONU's four touchdowns. The other two came from Dunnigan on the punt return and a five-yard pass from Hutton as part of a six-catch, 105-yard receiving day. 
 

Interestingly enough, Dunnigan also accounted for two of USF's points when he ended up in the end zone for a safety attempting to break free from a trio of Saint tacklers on a second-quarter punt return to force a 10-10 tie.
 

Olivet Nazarene's other points came on a Bryce DeGuira 25-yard field goal just before the safety.
 

USF linebacker Chris Johnson (JR/Hillside, Ill.) tied Tumilty for team-high tackling honors with nine stops of his own.
 

The loss closed out a three-game road trip for the Saints, who return home next Saturday (March 20) when they play host to Trinity International University. Kickoff for the MSFA Midwest League contest is set for 1 pm.