GAME INFORMATION
Saturday, Oct. 15 • 1 pm CT
Millennium Field / Streamwood High School
Streamwood, Ill.

Series History
Overall: St. Francis leads 1-0
First: at St. Francis 34, Judson 0 (10/16/21)
Last: at St. Francis 34, Judson 0 (10/16/21)
Streak: St. Francis has won the only meeting between the two schools.

The Two Coaches
USF: Joe Curry
Alma Mater: USF 2001
Career: 53-56 (11th year)
at USF: 53-56 (11th year)

JU: Dan Paplaczyk
Alma Mater: Lewis University 2019
Career: 5-11 (2nd year)
At JU: 5-11 (2nd year)

TOP STORYLINES
• During their current three-game winning streak, the Saints have increased their point production each week.
 
• USF will face one of its toughest tests of the season against the rush.  Judson's Brandon Mackey is the second-leading rusher in the NAIA with his 149.8 yards-per-game average.  As a team, the Eagles rank 15th in the nation averaging 4.8 yards per carry and 182.6 yards per game.  The St. Francis defense allows just 100.8 yards per game.
 
• The Saints have opened each of their last two games with kickoff returns of 35-plus yards resulting in opening-drive touchdowns.

• Opposing offenses are just 1-for-9 on fourth downs against USF's defense.

GAME NOTES
THE HEAD COACH: Joe Curry is in his 11th season as the Saints' head coach, which ties him as the longest serving coach in school history.  He has surpassed program founder Gordie Gillespie, who served as the head coach for eight seasons, and is now tied with Mike Slovick.  Slovick served the program from 1994 through 2004 and mentored Curry at one time.  Curry is also the winningest coach in the program with 53 victories and second in winning percentage (.486).  Gillespie maintains the top spot in winning percentage at .593.

ABOUT JUDSON: After rushing for just 161 yards in their first two games, the Eagles have relied heavily on that part of their offense over the past three weeks.  During that time, Judson has averaged just over 250 yards per game riding the feet of Brandon Mackey.  The 5-6 sophomore runningback averages 149.8 yards per contest on the ground to rank second in the nation with his 89 carries netting 749 yards.  He has also scored six of the team's seven rushing touchdowns.  Numbers like those have resulted in the Eagles boasting the 15th-best rushing attack in the NAIA in terms of yards per carry (4.8) and yards per game (182.6).  Through the air, Christian Miller is at the helm.  The sophomore quarterback has completed 53 of his 112 attempts (.473) for 527 yards with five touchdowns against five interceptions.  His main two threats are O'Vauntay Vickers (35 recp., 334 yards, 2 TD) and Alex Siebens (16-186-3).  The pair have accounted for five of the team's six touchdown receptions.  Defensively, Mitrez Rawls tops the team leaderboard in total tackles (41), while Jontrell Mitchell has his hands in on all aspects of the unit.  Besides his 37 tackles, the senior outside linebacker has three sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss, two pass breakups, one interception and one fumble recovery.  In terms of special teams play, the Eagles have used no fewer than six different punters with Trey Sayers (34.6 avg.) and Tomaz Colino (31.2) performing the majority of the duties.  Colino is also the team's placekicker and has converted 3-of-4 field goals and 7-of-8 PATs.  Nine different players have also returned kickoffs with Dakari Ferguson (5-82), Jayleen Lemon (4-65) and Mackey (4-82) handling the most.  Judson has had its best scoring numbers over the past two weeks, putting up 22 points each time to lift its overall scoring average to 15.6 points per game.  However, the Eagles have also yielded their most points during that same two-week span (64 and 58) to put the opponents' scoring average at 51.2 points per game.  Judson has not given up less than 31 points in any of its five games.

THE RECIPE FOR QUICK LEADS: In each of the last two weeks, the Saints have opened the game with long kickoff returns to set up first-drive touchdowns.  Two weeks ago, James Williams had a 38-yard return to set up a 13-play, 55-yard touchdown march.  Last week, it was Scott Tumilty's 36-yard return serving as the precursor to an 11-play, 56-yard scoring drive.

RANKING AMONG THE BEST: Tumilty's runback kept the Saints in the race for the best return average.  They currently sit in the No. 7 spot in the NAIA with their 25.6-yard return average.  Individually, Tumilty ranks 16th in the nation with his 26.6-yard average.

RED ZONE ALERT! HERE WE COME: Going a perfect 4-for-4 with touchdowns in the red zone last week, USF's 71 percent success rate (10 touchdowns in 14 red-zone chances) places it 14th in NAIA football.  

ONE ISN'T THE LONELIEST NUMBER AFTER ALL: Four of USF's five touchdowns last Saturday were one-yard runs, two by Sam Tumilty and one each for Keenan Hailey and James Zilinger.  For the latter two, it was their first touchdowns at St. Francis.  Tumilty leads the squad with five touchdowns on the ground.

SEASON-HIGH SATURDAY: Season-high numbers were the story of the day for the Saints last week as they reached their top marks in multiple categories, including total yardage (479), passing yardage (303), rushing yardage (176), pass completions (19) and yards per carry (3.9).  That resulted in a season-best 39 points.  USF's total offense was 144 yards better than its previous high set in Week #1.  Coming into the game, the Saints had accrued 404 passing yards on the season before Saturday's 303-yard outburst.

UPPING THE ANTE: The Saints have increased their scoring output in each of the last four weeks going from seven points in Week 2 to 19 points in Week 3, 28 points in Week 4 and topping it off with 39 points on Saturday.

NUMBER BOOSTERS: Among the Saints who helped pump up Saturday's numbers were Dezzion Jordan and De'Whon Gavin.  Jordan hit triple figures in receiving yards for the first time in his USF career with 100 yards on five catches.  Gavin, meanwhile, averaged better than 25 yards per catch with his three going for 76 yards.

TEN YARDS GUARANTEED: It is almost a lock that the Saints are going to average ten yards per catch in 2022.  Of the ten players to have recorded receptions this year, eight have averaged at least ten yards per catch.  Leading the way is Jordan at 16.3 yards per reception courtesy of his 64-yard touchdown last week.  Liam Eldridge, who has the most catches (12), averages 10.9.

HE CAN KICK, HE CAN PUNT AND HE CAN RUN, TOO: Brian Maday registered his first rush of the season on Saturday on a fake punt and picked up 12 yards.  However, it wasn't the longest run of his career.  That came last year when he had a run of 14 yards.

ANOTHER SEASON BEST: Maday also recorded his longest field goal of the season on Saturday when he closed the first half with his 42-yard boot.  He also remains perfect on PATs with 13 in as many attempts.

F STANDS FOR FRIDDLE AND FUMBLE RECOVERY: Jake Friddle set up Maday's field goal by recovering a fumble on a Judson punt return.  It was his first fumble recovery as a Saint.

SACK STROCCHIA: Pat Strocchia had the best game of his brief career as a Saint on Saturday.  In just his fifth game wearing the brown & gold, the freshman defensive lineman recorded 1.5 sacks among his six total tackles.  Both numbers led the team.  Michael R. Johnson shared the honor for most tackles with six.  He also recorded a sack to give him at least one-half sack in each of his last three games.

BACK ATOP THE PACK: After leading the team with four interceptions one year ago, Angel Mata returned to the top spot in 2022 with his third interception of the season last week.  That ties him with Nick Mabutas.

DENIED: The Saints just missed out on registering their first shutout of the season on Saturday when Cameron Jones caught a 65-yard touchdown pass from Liam Mickle with just over ten minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

FOURTH-DOWN SHUTDOWN: Through the first five games of the season, USF's defense has allowed the opposition to convert just one fourth-down play in nine attempts.  On the other side of the ball, the Saints are 9-for-16 on fourth down.

OTHER NUMBERS: St. Francis has allowed just over 100 yards rushing per game this year. 

FOR THE RECORD: The Saints are 161-224 all time, 132-166 in day games and 77-124 on the road.