LORETTO, Pa. (Oct. 18, 2008) – It was a game of dropped balls and missed opportunities for the Saint Francis football team, as they fell to the Wagner Seahawks on Saturday afternoon at DeGol Field in Loretto.

However, linebacker Scott Lewis (South Fork, PA/Bishop McCourt) (South Fork, Pa./Bishop McCort) missed no opportunity for the Red Flash, setting a new career high in tackles with 23. Lewis, who was ranked 12th in the nation in total tackles as of last week, was one short of his season high at half time. He returned from the locker room and shattered his previous career high of 18, set at 2007 at Central Connecticut. His performance today puts him in a three-way tie for third place in record books in most tackles in a game. Lewis is also in a three-way tie for most tackles in a single game by any player in the FCS this season.

The Flash struck first, scoring with 14:11 left to play in the second quarter. The Flash were able to pick up the first down on three consecutive plays, bringing them into Wagner territory on the drive which started with 4:43 left in the first quarter. Quarterback George Little (Duquesne, Pa./Duquesne) (Duquesne, Pa./Duquesne) threw a 23-yard pass to tight end Ryan Zarnich (Rochester, Pa./Rochester Area) (Rochester, Pa./Rochester Area) to bring up first and 10 on at the Seahawks 25 yard line. Calvin Williams (Cleveland, Ohio/South High School) (Cleveland, Ohio/South), Jude Yearwood (Elkridge, Md./Howard) (Elkridge, Md./Howard) and Little rushed for a combined 12 yards on the next few plays, setting up 1 yard pass into the end zone from Little to wide receiver Omar Winston (Cleveland, Ohio/Cleveland South) (Cleveland, Ohio/South) to put the Flash ahead 6-0. Zak Campbell (Munhall, Pa./Steel Valley)'s (Munhall, Pa./Steel Valley) kick would make the score 7-0.

Neither team would score on the next 7 possessions. Wagner quarterback Matt Abbey was sacked twice in the second half. Dan Hindman (Elizabeth, Pa. /Elizabeth Forward) (Elizabeth, Pa./Elizabeth Forward) sacked Abbey for a loss of 6 yards with 1:34 seconds to go in the half. Russel Fisher (Kailua, Hawaii/Mid-Pac Institute) (Kailua, Hawaii/Mid Pac Institute) also got Abbey for a loss of 13 in the last play before the end of the half.

The Seahawks fought back in the third quarter, coming out of the locker room to score on their first possession. Kyle Trueblood returned Bobby Fuller (Mount Savage, Md/Beall)'s (Mount Savage, Md./Beall) 37 yards to the Saint Francis 37 yard line. Abbey drove the Seahawks up the field with completions of 13 and 15 yards to Lon Woods and Tyrone Collins, bringing Wagner to the SFU 15. An 18-yard rush by Shane Smith brought up 1st and goal at the 1-yard line, where Abbey rushed into the end zone for the score. Eric Ortiz's point after tied the game at 7-7.

SFU couldn't make anything happen on their ensuing drive. Little was sacked for a 16-yard loss, and the Flash brought in Fuller to punt from his own 3-yard line. The 29-yard punt gave the Seahawks great field positioning, starting them off at the SFU 32 yard line. But after failing to convert on third down, Ortiz missed a 45-yard field goal attempt wide right to give the Flash their ball back at their own 28-yard line with the score still at 7-7.

The Flash's Siafa Lavala (Silver Spring, Md./Springbrook) (Silver Spring, Md./Springbrook) made a great play with a little over a minute to go in the third quarter, blocking Kyle Muir's punt and recovering it at the SFU 46. However, incompletions and a slew of dropped passes left SFU at it's own 46, forcing another Fuller punt.

Consecutive rushes by Shane Smith on the Seahawk's drive brought Wagner to it's own 22 yard line. Ryan Middleton then fumbled the ball at the Wagner 17, where it was picked up by the Flash's Ryan Shepard (Kittanning, Pa./Kittanning) (Kittanning, Pa./Kittanning). Little threw a 19-yard completion to Zarnich to give SFU the lead once again. Campbell's kick was blocked by Franz Placide to leave score at 13-7.

The Seahawks would come back at the Flash in the beginning of the fourth quarter, driving from their own 32-yard line to the Saint Francis 21, where Ortiz made a 38-yard field goal with 12:06 remaining in the game to bring the score to 13-10.

Consecutive rushes by Yearwood and Williams brought the Red Flash into Seahawk territory. But a fumble by Williams, recovered by Wagner, would end SFU's drive and give the ball back to the Seahawks at their own 32-yard line.

The Seahawks went 3-and-out on the ensuing drive. The Flash got the ball back, but the Wagner defense would them to their own 27-yard line, where Little would be sacked for a loss of 20 yards by Julian Stanford. A personal foul penalty brought the line of scrimmage back to the SFU 3 yard line, where Fuller punted 40 yards to 44. Trueblood returned the punt 11 yards to the SFU 33. A single play would bring the Seahawks into the end zone, with Abbey making a 33-yard toss to Collins for 6 points. Ortiz's point after gave the Seahawks a 17-13 lead with 7:14 left in the game.

The team would trade drives with neither reaching the end zone for the rest of the game. Backup quarterback Colton Sipe (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) replaced little under center, but dropped passes by left him 0-for-4.

Lewis led the defense with 23 tackles, including 2 tackles for loss. Matthew Parker (Darlington, PA/Blackhawk) (Darlington, Pa./Blackhawk) had 11 tackles, 2 TFL, 2 quarterback hurries, a sack and a pass deflection, while Brent Sanders (Pasadena, MD/Severna Park) (Pasadena, Md./Severna Park) was also in the double digits with 10 tackles, and had a pass deflection as well. Fisher had 2 tackles, a quarterback hurry, a pass deflection and a sack for a loss of 13 yards.

Williams led the rushing with 43 yards on 12 carries, followed by Yearwood, who had 7 attempts for 27 yards. Zarnich led the receivers with 49 yards on 3 catches with one touchdown. Winston, who also had a touchdown, also had 3 receptions for a total of 30 yards. Little was 8-of-23 for 87 yards. Fuller punted 11 times for a total of 453 yards, averaging 41.2 yards per punt. His longest punt of the day was 53 yards. He also handled kickoff duties, kicking 3 times for a total of 163 yards with an average of 54.3 yards per kick.

The Red Flash had 9 first downs to the Seahawks 16, and a total of 149 offensive yards to Wagner's 274. The Flash were penalized 5 times for 38 yards, while the Seahawks were not penalized at all. SFU converted on only 1 of 13 third downs and 1 of 2 fourth downs.

The team will travel to New York next week for a match up with the defending Northeast Conference champions Albany at 4 PM on Saturday.