Fighting Saints suffer second consecutive Homecoming loss

Sam Tumilty looks downfield for an open reciever against Lawrence Tech. Photo: Rose Mwaro, USF Athletics

For the second consecutive year, the Fighting Saints football program suffered a heartbreaking homecoming loss on Saturday. The No. 23-ranked University of St. Francis had its share of opportunities in the opening half before letting the game slip away in the third quarter to No. 6-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University. The Wildcats of Indiana Wesleyan inevitably would ruin the Fighting Saints’ homecoming with a 38-3 win in the Mid-States Football Association crossover battle at Joliet Memorial Stadium. 

Indian Wesleyan was up 14-3 at halftime, but the visitors went on to score a monstrous 24 points in the third quarter while shutting out USF for the entirety of the second half. The Wildcats put up 174 yards of offense in the third quarter while holding the Fighting Saints to just 60 yards throughout the entire second half. 

Despite making its way into Wildcat territory five times throughout the opening half, USF was only able to come away with three points. Saturday marked the first contest since the COVID spring season of 2020 that USF was unable to reach the end zone. 

Indiana Wesleyan (4-1) got to the end zone twice across their six offensive drives in the first half while failing to get first downs on the other four. The first of the two scoring drives was a 17-play drive that took up the first 7 minutes and 24 seconds of the game. The second of the two drives was much quicker, as the Wildcats drove 80 yards downfield in just 1 minute and 2 seconds before the end of the first half. 

USF (3-1) capitalized on their first scoring opportunity with Adrian Guerrero making a career-best 42 yard field goal with 57 seconds remaining in the first quarter. USF failed to capitalize on multiple opportunities to score for the rest of the half. After driving 33 yards to the Indiana Wesleyan 12-yard line, Adrian Guerrero failed to make his second field goal attempt from 29 yards. USF then failed to capitalize on great field position provided by a fumble recovery by Matthew Perry. 

Despite USF going into Saturday as the NAIA’s third-highest scoring offense, Indiana Wesleyan held the fighting Saints to just 233 yards of total offense. Quarterback Sam Tumilty managed to generate 209 yards through the air, but the Fighting Saints were unable to create an effective rushing attack against the Wildcats’ exceptional defensive line. Tumilty led all USF rushers with just 27 yards. 

USF was led in receiving yardage by Dezzion Jordan with 77 yards on four receptions and Joey Tumilty with 49 yards on five receptions. Despite Gavin Day’s inefficiency on the ground, he managed to log 6 receptions for 33 yards.  

USF proved unable to hold off the rushing attack of Indiana Wesleyan, as Ryan Whitwell had a huge game on the ground. He had a season-high 31 carries for 145 yards with nine yard and six yard touchdown carries. 

Indiana Wesleyan quarterback Kyle Antoine completed 15 of his 20 pass attempts for 182 yards and two touchdowns. Both touchdowns went to the Wildcats’ lead receiver on the day, Isaac Smith. Smith finished the contest with six receptions for 94 yards with the touchdowns coming from eight and 41 yards. 

The Fighting Saints’ defensive efforts were led by Scott Tumilty, Perry, and Allen Richards. Tumilty led the way with 13 tackles while Perry and Richards each had 11 throughout the game. 

The defensive efforts of Indiana Wesleyan overwhelmed the Fightings Saints’ offense. The Wildcats achieved five sacks in the contest coming at the hands of Clayton Mosher, Deven Arevalo, Anthony Cheesebourough, Garrett Hathaway, and Ethan Dutra.  

Going into Saturday’s contest, the Wildcats had only forced two fumbles in their first four games. In Saturday’s game, Deven Arevalo, Luke Bays, and Terry Sylvester all had one forced fumble. Clayton Mosher also added a 42-yard pick six to his already impressive defensive statline. 

The Fighting Saints’ next contest will take place October 5 as they travel to Siena Heights University in Adrian, Michigan to take on the Saints. Coverage can be found on 88.7 WCSF-FM and by streaming the game on wcsf.streamon.fm and the Fighting Saints YouTube channel.