"Who Is Saint Francis?" by Lorenzo Jerome (Sunrise, Fla./J.P. Taravella)

My junior year, we were leading 14-0 at Duquesne at the end of the first quarter.  Things were finally starting to click for Saint Francis football. 
 
We had already clinched a winning record, the first at Saint Francis since 1992.  It was a much different feeling than my first two years.  Those years, we had talented players, we were close to getting over the hump but didn't know how to win yet.  My junior year, we were a closer team and it felt like we put it together and we began to believe we could be NEC champions.
 
But Duquesne didn't blink, they came back and beat us, 30-20.  Walking off that field, knowing that season was over and we fell short of that NEC title was one of the worst things I've ever experienced.
 
I never wanted to lose again, that feeling stuck in my mind for the whole offseason after that.  That really drove my motivation for that offseason, to beat Duquesne, bring home that first NEC title to SFU and leave our legacy on this program. 
 
It was never about me, we had a lot of talented players returning and knew it would take our entire team to get that ring, but I wanted to do everything I could to make sure I was ready for a season where we had to get that championship.
 
So I got off social media, completely ignored it for the entire summer.  For a college kid, that's not the easiest thing to do and it was tough for the first few weeks, but as the weeks went on I started to realize I didn't need social media.  When you get off social media, no one is paying attention to you and they forget about you, it let me put my entire focus on that offseason. 
 
We were pretty pumped going into the season opener at Montana.  One of the top programs in the FCS, a ranked team and it was a night game, so we were playing under the lights on that big stage. 
 
It was a fun game. Montana had a great crowd, a great atmosphere. Their fans were talking a lot of trash, like "Who is Saint Francis?" We wanted to show that we play tough, physical football at Saint Francis and in the Northeast Conference.
 
We came out and gave them a little shock early in that game.  I think we played harder and more physical than they expected.  We went into halftime with a 10-6 lead, against one of the top teams in the country, and we knew we could play with them.  Montana scored on its opening drive of the third quarter, but we came right back and scored.  We showed we weren't going to back down, that's not who Saint Francis football is right now.  Montana came back and won that game, but we still took a lot of confidence from that game.
 
That game just made us hungrier.  I saw that in the rest of our team, we knew we could be part of something big.  I saw it in my coaches, Coach V [Head Coach Chris Villarrial], Marco [Defensive Coordinator Marco Pecora], Bishop [Defensive Backs Coach Bishop Neal] and the rest of the staff.
 
The next week, at Towson, was when we really started to come together as a team.  On the field, we competed well again, almost pulling off the win.
 
But it was the pregame speech that inspired the rest of our season.  Before every game, Coach White [Offensive Line Coach Brian White] gives a speech before our pregame meal.  His speeches always have a great message and gives us something to focus on mentally as we get ready for game time. 
 
However, that week, Coach Wright [Receivers Coach Brian Wright] gave the speech.  He told a story of a guy who had fallen off a boat and another guy who had thrown him a rope and helped to pull him up to safety.  The morale of the story was, "Who will hold the rope for you? Who would you trust to hold the rope?"
 
We really rallied around that message.  It was all about trusting each other and holding each other, and ourselves, accountable for the success of the team.  If everyone could trust each other and all pull the rope the same way, we could really have a special season.
 
That became our rallying cry. We broke every huddle, every practice, every game with "Hold The Rope". 
 
We finished the non-conference portion of our schedule with a 2-3 record.  We competed well in every game, but knew we still needed to come closer as a team to accomplish our goals in conference play.
 
We came out in the conference opener at Robert Morris and dominated defensively.  They only had 108 yards, we had eight sacks and four interceptions.  We got a big road win to start conference play.
 
The next week, against Bryant, I think sent a statement to the rest of the conference.  Bryant is a really good team, always one of the top in the conference, and we won 38-3 on our field.  I think that really gave us a lot of confidence and showed everyone that we were for real.
 
The following week was the one we'd been waiting for, Duquesne.  We knew if we wanted to win the conference, we had to win that game and they've always been one of our bigger rivals in the NEC. 
 
It was a tough game, just as we expected.  It was two really good teams, under the lights, on ESPN3.  It was one of the best atmospheres I've seen at DeGol Field.
 
Early in the third quarter, I was returning a kickoff.  I made a cut and then someone hit my knee.  After that play, I got up and tried to go back in the game, but the doctor said, "You have plenty more days to play football."  At that point, I knew I was out of the game and I did everything I could to cheer on my team.
 
I told the guys, "I'm out, you have to come together and become one." It was always bigger than me.  I just wanted to win and we had to keep our foot on the pedal.  I told Zack Drayer (Hershey, Pa./Hershey) and Marcus Bagley (Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights) to 'take that rock and put it in the end zone'. They did just that.  We got that win and felt like no one could touch us after that. 
 
Sitting out the next few games was a humbling experience and I needed that.  I was on my high horse and thought I was all that, but God took it away from me for a little bit and gave it back to me. It was frustrating, because I knew my team needed me, but they held their own.
 
A couple weeks later, we beat CCSU and got to raise that NEC Trophy.  I was crying because we really did it, we finally got there.  Everything we worked for in the offseason, in camp, the season up to that point, we got that championship and made our mark, left our legacy. 
 
A week later, we saw our name on the screen during the FCS Selection Show and found out we would be playing Villanova in the First Round of the FCS Playoffs.  It was a great feeling to see our name among the best teams in the country.  When I saw "Villanova", I knew I had to get as healthy as possible for that game. 
 
I was at about 75% for that game, but nothing was going to stop me from playing.  We were a little overwhelmed in the first half, didn't play Saint Francis football.  The second half, I knew the team needed me and I felt like I took control of the game.  I just kept my mouth shut and played football, my teammates followed.  It was a great experience for us to play on that stage and I think next time Saint Francis is on that stage, they'll be ready as soon as that ball is kicked off.
 
A few weeks later, I accepted an invitation to the NFLPA Bowl.  I wanted to go there and show that the NEC has good talent and that SFU is for real.  We play physical football here and I wanted to show no matter where you play, you can make it.
 
When we arrived in L.A., no one really knew who I was except Montana quarterback Brady Gustafson (I picked him off twice at Montana).   They were asking me where my school was and, again, "Who is Saint Francis?" But when we got into practice, they saw I could play and they respected me.  The coaches were all saying, "We need more guys from Saint Francis here."
 
I then got the invitation to the Senior Bowl.  I was really excited to go, because it's the best players in the nation, it's the highest level of competition.  They saw I was a smart kid and a fast learner, I picked everything up pretty quickly and the coaches there were proud of me.
 
Then, I got the invitation to the NFL Combine.  It was amazing, that's been my dream since I was six years old.  I trained my butt off.  Because of the all-star games, I really only had two weeks to train, so it was non-stop.  When I got to Indianapolis, everyone knew who I was and it was fun to be with all of the guys there.
 
I'm happy that I could help show the NFL where Loretto is.  We have a lot of talented players here, guys like Kamron Lewis (Fresno, Calif./Edison), Delondo Boyd (Indian Head, Md./Henry E. Lackey), Malik Duncan (Cleveland, Ohio/Cleveland Central Catholic) and many others.  I know those guys will keep working hard for it. 
 
Now it's time as players, coaches, a university and football alumni that we all "Hold The Rope" for this program to keep it rising to a level where no one ever has to ask, "Who is Saint Francis?"