GAME INFORMATION
Saturday, Oct. 14 • 12 pm CT
Busey Bank Field at Joliet Memorial Stadium
Joliet, Ill.

Series History
Overall: St. Francis leads 2-0
First: at St. Francis 34, Judson 0 (10/16/21)
Last: St. Francis 45, at Judson 16 (10/15/22)
Streak: St. Francis has won the only two meetings between the two schools.
 
The Two Coaches
USF: Joe Curry
Alma Mater: USF 2001
Career: 61-59 (12th year)
at USF: 61-59 (12th year)

JU: Quintin Demps
Alma Mater: University of Texas El Paso
Career: 0-5 (1st year)
At JU: 0-5 (1st year)


TOP STORYLINES
• Of its five games this season, Judson has squared off against three of the nation's best in NAIA No. 5 Marian University (Ind.), No. 10 Concordia University (Mich.) and No. 13 Saint Xavier University.

• The Saints have dropped each of their last two games with the opposition scoring 28 points and delivering their game-winning touchdowns on their final offensive series.

• USF's defense has yielded the fourth-fewest points per game (13.7) in the NAIA, while Judson has managed to score no more than 14 points in any one contest and an average of 8.0 points per outing.

• Joey Tumilty has produced 70-plus yard touchdown receptions in each of the last two contests and ranks 12th in the nation in receiving yards per game (93.3).
 
• One of the Tumilty brothers has scored a touchdown in 25 straight St. Francis games.

GAME NOTES

THE HEAD COACH: Joe Curry is in his 12th season as the Saints' head coach, which makes him the longest serving coach in school history.  He has surpassed program founder Gordie Gillespie, who served as the head coach for eight seasons, and his own coach, Mike Slovick.  Slovick served the program from 1994 through 2004.  Curry is also the winningest coach in the program with 61 victories and second in winning percentage (.508).  Gillespie maintains the top spot in winning percentage at .593.

ABOUT JUDSON: The Eagles have played one of the toughest schedules at the NAIA level with three of their five contests thus far having come against ranked foes in NAIA #5 Marian University (Ind.), #10 Concordia University (Mich.) and #13 Saint Xavier University.  Facing that challenging slate has resulted in an imbalance of offensive and defensive numbers with the majority of statistics ranking in the lower ten percent of the NAIA.  Offensively, Judson has produced just 8.0 points per game and no more than 14 points in any one contest.  The Eagles have also been limited to 228.4 yards per game, including just 92.6 yards per contest on the ground.  Defensively, the Eagles have yielded 53.6 points and 524.8 yards per outing with nearly identical passing and rushing numbers in the 262.0-yard neighborhood.  Judson has used a two-quarterback system with both Aydan Edwards (18-of-40, 213 yards, 2 TDs, 3 int.) and John Odom (14-for-32, 151 yards, 1 TD, 1 int.) seeing time.  Their main targets have been Anthony Cathcart (25 recp., 295 yards, 1 TD) and Grant Alexander (11 recp., 141 yards, 2 TDs).  Brandon Mackey is the man to key in on out of the backfield with his team-leading 77 carries going for 392 yards with two touchdowns.  He has also caught ten passes for 65 yards.  Defensively, linebacker Jay Callentine and safety Bryce Heerey lead the club in tackles with 25.  Callentine also has a pair of sacks.  Nose tackle Josh Mason adds another 22 tackles, including a team-best 2.5 sacks.  On special teams, the Eagles have relied on multiple players, including having used four different punters.  Ian Wiggan is first on the depth chart this week with his 30.6 average.  Donovan Olvera and Darryl Hale each have a pair of PATs kicking.  Nine players have returned kicks with Negil Bruce's nine (13.0 avg.) leading the way.  Jeremiah Malone is the punt returner (7.5 avg.).  Judson is a minus-seven in the takeaway department.         

HIGH NOON START: Saturday's contest will be the only 12 pm start at home this season.  The adjustment is to accommodate for three St. Francis events going on at the Stadium including USF's women's and men's soccer teams playing at 5 and 7:30 pm.  The Saints are 1-0 in noon kickoffs this year with the victory coming against Taylor University.

ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN: The setback to Roosevelt dropped USF out of the NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll for the first time in 2023.  The Saints are five votes short of the No. 25 spot.

UNLUCKY 28: In each of USF's two losses this season, the opposition has scored 28 points with both Saint Xavier's and Roosevelt's game-winning touchdown drives coming on their final possessions.

DEFENSE, DEFENSE: USF's defensive unit continues to shine, ranking tied for fourth in the nation in points allowed (13.7 avg.), ninth in passing yards allowed per contest (145.0) and 13th in total yards allowed per game (267.0).

FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME: After denying the opposition from reaching the end zone in the first quarter in each of its first five games, St. Francis yielded its first touchdown in the opening frame against Roosevelt.

ADDING TO ITS MARGIN: With its two second-quarter touchdowns last week, the Saints have now outscored the opposition 59-24 in the quarter before halftime.

THE GOOD WITH THE BAD: While USF's defense is one of the stingiest in allowing third-down conversions (25.9 pct., 21-of-81), opponents have converted at nearly a 50 percent clip on fourth down (47.1 pct., 8-of-17), including 2-for-2 last weekend.

SOARING HIGHER AND HIGHER: After establishing a season-high in receptions three weeks ago and receiving yards two Saturdays ago, Joey Tumilty eclipsed both of those marks against Roosevelt with his eight catches for 196 yards.  In his last three games, where he has had no less than 99 yards receiving, Tumilty has averaged 6.7 catches and 143.3 yards receiving per game.  For the year, he is averaging 93.3 yards per game, which ranks him 12th in the nation.   

70 GOING ONCE, GOING TWICE: Joey Tumilty has authored 70-plus yard touchdowns in each of his last two games.  His 73-yarder against Saint Xavier was the longest pass play of the year two weeks ago with last week's touchdown covering 70 yards.

I RECOGNIZE THAT NAME: With Joey Tumilty's second quarter touchdown, the family reign continued with a member of the Tumilty clan having now contributed at least one touchdown to the Saints' scoring column in 25 straight games.

PASSING FANCY: St. Francis ranks 15th in the nation in passing yards per completion (14.5) courtesy of Sam Tumilty, who is also the 15th-best player in passing efficiency at 150.4.

SOMETHING ABOUT THE SECOND WEEKEND IN OCTOBER: Each of the past two seasons, Sam Tumilty has authored the biggest passing games of his three-year career on the second Saturday in October.  Against Roosevelt, he completed 24 of his 44 pass attempts for 375 yards, all of which were were career-high numbers.  His previous-best marks of 16 completions in 25 attempts for 259 yards came versus Trinity International University on Oct. 8 last year.

PERFECT PATs: The Saints are a perfect 22-for-22 on PATs this year courtesy of Brian Maday's foot.  Maday himself is perfect on each of his last 25 attempts going back to last season.  A total of 24 of the 94 teams playing NAIA football have not missed a point-after touchdown this season.

THAT WENT HOW FAR?: Maday's 43-yard field goal to give the Saints a 24-21 lead with just over three minutes remaining against Roosevelt was the third-longest kick of his career.

DOING IT ALL: Besides leading the team in tackles with 36, Kemon Reese came up big on special teams last week when he blocked a punt and returned it 25 yards to set up Maday's field goal.  It was the first punt block of the season for the Saints.

THAT'S A FIRST DOWN: USF has been the benefactor of 14 first downs via penalty this season, the 18th-most in the NAIA this year.

OTHER NOTABLE RANKINGS: Scott Tumilty ranks 16th in the nation in kick return yards (24.7), while Jalen Cooper is tied for 11th with his three interceptions.    

TUMILTY CHART TOPPERS, TAKE ONE: The Tumilty brothers man the top three spots on the Saints' all-purpose yardage charts.  Joey Tumilty is atop the list with his 613 yards, followed by Scott Tumilty at 474 and Sam Tumilty at 358.

TUMILTY CHART TOPPERS, TAKE TWO: Other Tumilty brother chart numbers to follow include:

Total Touchdowns – Career
T-1. 38 – Brandon Ruffin (2016-19)
T-1. 38 – Sam Tumilty (2021-23)

Total Points – Career
1. 234 – John Larsen (1987-89)
2. 229 – Brandon Ruffin (2016-19)
3. 228 – Sam Tumilty (2021-23)

Kick Return Yards – Career
1. 1,754 – Elliot Allen (2010-13)
2. 1,603 – Scott Tumilty (2020-23)

FOR THE RECORD: The Saints are 169-227 all time, 140-168 in day games and 88-101 at home.