JOLIET, Ill. --- Sam Tumilty ran an efficient offense scoring four times himself and directing four touchdown drives that required just nine plays total in a dominating 34-10 Mid-States Football Association Midwest League win over St. Ambrose University on the turf of Busey Bank Field at Joliet Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon. 

The victory kept the Saints (5-2, 4-0 MSFA) perfect in conference play and extended their winning streak to five games.  Saint Xavier University is the only other remaining unbeaten in the MSFA Midwest League.

Four of USF's five touchdown drives took one, five, two and one play to get into the end zone.

Scott Tumilty's 37-yard punt return set up his younger brother's first score of the day from 22 yards out on the only play of that drive with just over five minutes remaining in the opening quarter.

USF's third touchdown, which came just eight seconds before halftime to build the Saints' lead up to 20-3, was the longest of the short drives, covering 75 yards in only five plays.  Sam Tumilty had the biggest play on a 31-yard run just before finding Dezzion Jordan in the end zone for an eight-yard touchdown.

In the third quarter, the Saints put up 14 points in just seven seconds.  Angel Mata set up the first score with his dazzling 49-yard return of an interception.  Sam Tumilty followed two plays later with a ten-yard scoring run.

Then, on the ensuing kickoff, Jason Hartsfield recovered a fumble and Tumilty went untouched into the end zone from 28 yards out one play later.

Tumilty's other touchdown came with 3:01 remaining in the second quarter on a one-yard run to cap off a 12-play, 85-yard march down the field and put the Saints up 13-0.

St. Ambrose gained its points on a 48-yard field goal from Joe Namio in between USF's two touchdowns in the second quarter and a touchdown with 21 seconds remaining in the contest.

Sam Tumilty accounted for better than 75 percent of USF's ground attack with his season-high 197 yards on 26 carries.  Keenan Hailey added another 56 yards on 15 carries to account for all but one of the team's other 57 yards as part of a 254-yard rushing afternoon.

Through the air, Tumilty was 11-of-23 for 135 yards with the one touchdown.  Jordan was his favorite target with five catches for 74 yards. Hartsfield provided another 33 yards on three receptions.

Defensively, the Saints thwarted a high-powered offense for the second week in a row.  St. Ambrose came into the affair averaging 33.7 points per game and had delivered 400-plus yards of offense in each of its last three contests.  The Fighting Bees also had the 17th-best rushing offense in the nation (178.2 yards per game) with two players averaging five-plus yards per carry.

On Saturday, USF's defense held its opponent to 90 yards or less rushing for the second straight week with St. Ambrose gaining 90 yards on 30 carries.  Kaden King, one of the individuals to average five yards per rush, totaled just 63 yards in his 21 attempts (3.0 avg.).

SAU quarterback Tom Casey also boasted 17 touchdowns against just two interceptions entering the game, but was picked off twice. 

All in all, it resulted in the Fighting Bees managing just 291 yards of offense.

Michael R. Johnson had another big game along the interior defensive line as did T.J. Neal from his outside linebacker slot.  Both players finished with seven tackles with Neal recording 1.5 sacks among his 2.5 tackles for loss.

Johnson was all over the statistical charts with one-half sack, 2.5 tackles for loss, one interception, one pass breakup and one quarterback hurry.

Notes: In the past two games against St. Ambrose, Sam Tumilty has recorded nine rushing touchdowns, including a school-record five one year ago when he rushed 28 times for 211 yards in a 34-10 victory … Between their five total returns (punt/kickoff/interception) on Saturday, the Saints amassed 145 yards.  Scott Tumilty accounted for 96 of those yards, including 59 on a kickoff return and the other 37 on the punt return … Mata and Johnson both extended streaks to five games.  Mata has one interception in each of those contests, while Johnson has at least one-half sack … Opponents are just 3-of-17 on fourth-down plays this year after St. Ambrose went 1-for-5 on Saturday … Brian Maday's perfect mark on PATs ended at 19 on Saturday with a miss in his first attempt.  He started a new string right after that with success on each of his next four tries …. The Saint are on the road next Saturday when they head to Bourbonnais, Ill. to face Olivet Nazarene University.  Kickoff is set for 1 pm.

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