BOX SCORE LORETTO, Pa. – Running back Khairi Dickson (Cleveland, Ohio/Cleveland Central Catholic) rushed for 187 yards and a touchdown and the Saint Francis football team set a school record with its eighth consecutive game of scoring 21-plus points, but the Bryant Bulldogs defeated the Red Flash, 42-27, Saturday afternoon at DeGol Field.
 
After falling behind 21-0 in last week's NEC opener at Wagner, the Flash again dug itself an early hole. Bryant went 82 yards on four plays on the game's opening possession in just 1:42. Bryant quarterback Dalton Easton found Keenan Thompson from 33 yards out for the score and a 7-0 lead.
 
The Flash responded on its first drive. Quarterback Zack Drayer (Hershey, Pa./Hershey ) went 4-for-5 on the drive with completions to Franklyn Williamson (Bowie, Md./Bishop McNamara), Anthony Abeid (Youngstown, Ohio/Youngstown Christian), Terell Smith (West Haverstraw, N.Y./North Rockland) and William Martin (Burlington, N.J./Burlington Twp. ). The pass to Martin put the Flash inside the Bryant 40 where the drive eventually stalled. Kicker Lance Geesey (Harrisburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) came on to split the uprights on a 52-yard field goal, the longest make in Saint Francis history. Geesey now owns four of the six longest made field goals in school history, with today's kick as his first from beyond 50 yards.
 
Drayer was stripped on the Flash's next possession to give Bryant the ball at the SFU 43. Easton threw his second touchdown pass to cap the drive, hitting John Lavin from 19 yards out to make it 14-3 with 3:45 to play in the first. But Saint Francis responded. Sophomore Lorenzo Jerome (Sunrise, Fla./J.P. Taravella) returned the punt on Bryant next possession 52 yards for a Saint Francis touchdown. A huge block by Capri Thompson (Clairton, Pa./Clairton) on the return sprung Jerome for the score. It was 14-10 with 14:38 remaining in the first half.
 
Bryant pulled away on its next two possessions. Easton threw his third and fourth touchdown passes. He hit Jose Dapadua from 22 yards out to make it 21-10 with 12:08 left in the half, and he found Chad Ward for a 10-yard score with 6:25 remaining. Down 28-10, Saint Francis needed a splash play. Semo Sila (Honolulu, Hawaii /Farrington) chased Easton down from behind to force a fumble. Solomon Leaeno (Kapolei, Hawaii/James Campbell) recovered at the Bryant 25 with just 1:09 left. The ensuing drive resulted in a 20-yard field goal from Geesey to make it 28-13 heading into the half.
 
The teams traded punts throughout the third quarter until Bryant drove inside the Flash 5 with less than three minutes remaining in the quarter. On second and goal, Jerome intercepted Easton in the end zone and returned the ball to the 19. It all came back, however, on an SFU roughing the passer penalty.
Given new life at the SFU 2, Leaeno took the game into his hands. Hobbling on a bad ankle, Leaeno made tackles on rush attempts on first and second down, and he broke up a pass in the end zone on third down. Settling for a short field goal attempt to extend its lead to three scores, Bryant ended up with nothing. Lorenzo Coscarelli (Millstone Township, N.J./Red Bank Catholic) broke through the middle of the line to block the 20-yard attempt. DaQuan Minter (Johnstown, Pa./Greater Johnstown) scooped it up and returned it to the Bryant 40. Another flag against the Flash stunted the return to the SFU 29.
 
It didn't matter. One play and 71 yards later, Dickson was in the end zone. The Walter Payton Award watch list member used his speed to blow past the second level of defenders, and he threw in some strength and balance along the way to shrug off several tacklers on his way to pay dirt on the final play of the third quarter to make it 28-20.
 
Dickson, who led the FCS in rushing coming into the weekend, now has 1,228 yards in the team's first seven games. He's vaulted himself into fourth place on the school's single season rush list and is just 391 yards behind Kyle Harbridge (Easton, Pa./Easton Area)'s school-record 1,619 yards from last year. He's also just 22 yards away from breaking into the top five on the school's career rushing list.
 
In the fourth, Easton threw his fifth touchdown pass and Ricardo McCray rushed for a seven-yard score to extend the Bryant lead to 42-20. Drayer hit Smith for a 23-yard touchdown in the final minute to finish off the scoring. Drayer was 14-of-24 for 154 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. Smith, Martin and Dickson all had three receptions as six Red Flash players made catches.
 
Jerome led the defense with 10 tackles to go along with his called back interception and his punt return touchdown. Leaeno had nine stops, and Bishop Neal (Clairton, Pa./Clairton) had seven tackles.
 
The Flash will head to Sacred Heart next weekend for an ESPN3 internet broadcast. Kickoff next Saturday is set for 1:00 p.m.