JOLIET, Ill. --- A run of 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, including 14 in the closing five minutes, dashed the University of St. Francis football team's hopes of making noise against NAIA No.9 ranked Marian University (Ind.) on Saturday afternoon as the Knights pulled away late to ruin the Saints' season opener, 40-17, at Joliet Memorial Stadium.

Trailing 14-0 five minutes into the Mid-States Football Association (MSFA) crossover game, the Saints rallied to pull within 23- 17 late in the third quarter on wide receiver Ravon Johnson's 75-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Sam Tumilty. The play marked Tumilty's first scoring pass at the collegiate level. He finished the afternoon completing eight of his 19 attempts for 161 yards with one interception.   

Tumilty also produced the Saints' first score of the contest on a two-yard run to cut the deficit in half, 14-7, with 4:28 remaining in the opening quarter. Angel Mata's 51-yard interception set up the touchdown.

Other than Johnson's score, the next 15 points came between the field goal posts with Marian's Marlon Pomili converting all four of his attempts (40, 27, 23 and 21 yards) and USF's Brian Maday converting his only attempt from 22 yards out.

Marian's final two scores, both touchdowns, came on one-play drives of 32 and 50 yards on back-to-back series.

Marian (2-1) outgained the Saints, 552-223, including 275-62 on the ground, with three different Knights hitting the century mark. Johnny William topped MU's chart with 148 yards on five receptions, two of which went for touchdowns (68 and 32 yards). Daylen Taylor was the top ground-gainer with 142 yards and one score (50 yards) on 20 carries. Tristen Tonte carried 26 times for 116 yards.

Johnson led all players who saw time on the field with his 151 yards of offense, 149 of which came on just four catches. Tumilty accounted for 52 of USF's 62 ground yards and 19 of the team's 33 carries. That included five sacks for losses of 22 yards.

Defensively, brothers Chris Johnson and Michael R. Johnson produced double-digit stops with Chris' 16 leading the way. Michael totaled 11, including one half-sack.

Sidelines
One of the nation's top return men one year ago, Scott Tumilty picked up where he left off with 133 yards on six kickoff returns (22.2 yards per return), including one dash of 40 yards.

Brian Maday had a busy day with his eight punts, two of which went beyond 50 yards, including one for 63 yards. He also had a 51-yard boot.

Maday's counterpart, Taylor Soper, dropped three of his four punts inside the 20-yard line.

Despite getting into the red zone three times on Saturday, Marian failed to come away with a touchdown having to settle for three field goals.

After controlling the ball for nearly ten minutes of the first quarter, the Saints managed to have the ball for just 14:43 of the final three quarters opposite 30:17 for Marian.

The Knights also totaled 24 first downs to USF's seven.  Converting on 10-of-19 third-down plays aided the guests in that category.

Up Next
The Saints head to Michigan for their only other crossover game of the year where they will face Siena Heights University in an 11 am kickoff next Saturday (Sept. 25). Links to live coverage can be found at gofightingsaints.com/coverage. You can also keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on Twitter @USFSaints.