A 59-yard touchdown run by Maurice Irby and a 77-yard scoring pass from Mike Lefflbine to Vincenzo Ferraro in the first half helped the St. Lawrence University Football team to a 24-21 win over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Saturday afternoon in a Liberty League game on Weeks Field at Leckonby Stadium in Canton as the Saints celebrate a win on Homecoming and Hall of Fame weekend.
The Saints (5-1 Overall, 3-0 Liberty League) scored 46 seconds into the game as Irby broke free on an off tackle run that he turned up the sideline and raced 59 yards for the longest run in his career. His previous long run was against Merchant Marine in 2013 with a 45-yard carry and his previous high for a rush this season was an 18-yard carry against Rochester last weekend.
After a short RPI (4-2, 2-1) punt, the Saints scored again as Lefflbine connected with his favorite target – tight end Mitch Gallagher with a 17-yard scoring pass and St. Lawrence held a 14-0 lead less than four minutes into the contest.
In the second quarter, the St. Lawrence defense stopped the longest RPI drive of the half forcing a punt from the 39 yard line that traveled just 14 yards giving the Saints possession on their own 25 yard line.
Irby ran for two yards on the first play of the drive and then Lefflbine connected with Ferraro for the 77-yard pass, catch and run. The 77-yard play is the longest since an 80-yard TD run by Ethan Sutton against Merchant Marine in 2010 and the longest pass play since JP Kearney connected with Ryan Cooney for an 87-yard scoring pass play in 2008 against Susquehanna.
St. Lawrence added to its lead with 1:11 left before halftime as Andrew Carvalho kicked a 29-yard field goal and the Saints took a 24-0 lead into the locker room for the halftime intermission.
The second half, however, was a different story.
The Engineers took the initial drive of the half and marched down the field on an 11-play, 83-yard drive that was capped by a Christian Knapp one yard TD run to put RPI on the board.
RPI looked to further trim the lead on its next possession with another long drive as the Engineers moved down the field with a 13-play drive but Alec Dietsch intercepted a pass at the St. Lawrence 8-yard line to stop the threat. The interception was the first of the season thrown by RPI.
The Engineers cut the lead to 10-points in the fourth quarter when RPI took over inside the 40-yard line and moved quickly into the end zone with just two plays with two complete passes including the 25-yard scoring pass to make it a 24-14 game with just less than seven minutes left to play.
The next SLU drive stalled near midfield and a 26-yard punt gave the Engineers the ball on its own 33 yard line with 4:33 left on the clock. After two incomplete passes, a key 31-yard pass completion on third down moved the ball into Saints territory and four plays later, RPI had a first-and-goal from the five yard line.
A pair of incomplete passes and a short three-yard run forced RPI into a fourth-and-goal from the two yard line. Quarterback Jeff Avery completed a pass to Johnny Ramsdell in the back of the end zone for the score trimming the Saints lead to 24-21 with 1:08 left to play.
A failed on-sides kick attempt that went out of bounds allowed St. Lawrence to kneel on the ball twice to run out the clock and secure the victory.
Irby finished with his second consecutive 100-yard day with 106 yards on 12 carries while Lefflbine finished 17-for-27 for 195 yards and two TDs. Gallagher led the receivers with 10 catches and 93 yards while Ferraro added 91 yards on four catches.
Leigh had 10 tackles including six solo to lead the defense and also added two tackles for loss and two pass deflections. Skyler Williamson had nine tackles with two behind the line of scrimmage while James Holley-Grisham, Chyron Brown-Wallace and Dietsch had eight tackles each. Brown-Wallace had two sacks while Dietsch finished with an interception, a pass breakup and two quarterback hurries.
The win over previously unbeaten in Liberty League play RPI couple with a Springfield victory over Hobart leaves the Saints alone at the top of the Liberty League standings. St. Lawrence will face Springfield after a bye week for the Saints as St. Lawrence travels to Springfield Oct. 24 for a 1:30 pm game.