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LORETTO, Pa. – Saint Francis University football prepares to face former Northeast Conference rival Robert Morris on Saturday, Sept. 9 at 6 p.m.
 
Offense
Cole Doyle earned NEC Offensive Player of the Week and Mekhi Workman earned NEC Rookie of the Week in the first voting of the season. Doyle produced his fifth game of at least 200 yards with Saint Francis after he went 14-of-24 with 230 passing yards and one touchdown at Western Michigan. Doyle hit Dawson Snyder for a 77-yard touchdown, which was the longest passing play by Saint Francis since Oct. 16, 2019. Workman tied Casey McKinney and Damon Horton with a game-high four receptions. QuaSean Holmes led the ground attack with nine rushes for 40 yards and one touchdown.
 
Defense
Joe Toepfer produced a career-high 12 total tackles (11 solo) at Western Michigan. Carter Glassmyer, William Middleton and Mercury Swaim all produced eight total tackles (six solo). Middleton was named an NEC Prime Performer after he produced two tackles-for-loss, which tied his entire output from the 2022 season. Swaim produced a forced fumble and Aakeem Snell recorded his first interception with Saint Francis on the first defensive drive of the season. Kerry Galloway and Paul Tangelo recorded one-half sack each.
 
Special Teams
Aidan Cirulli recorded six punts for a 41.2-yard average with a long of 51 in the season-opener. Mac Plummer converted his only field goal attempt of the game from 21 yards. McKinney returned one punt for 14 yards, which raised his career average to 8.6 yards per punt return (third in program history).
 
Last Time Out
Saint Francis fell to FBS opponent Western Michigan in the season-opener 35-17. The Broncos started the game with a 14-0 lead in the second quarter before a Plummer field goal cut the deficit to 14-3. Western Michigan opened a 21-3 lead in the second quarter before Doyle hit Snyder for a 77-yard touchdown and cut the deficit to 21-10. On the second half opening drive, Holmes scored a touchdown and cut the Broncos' lead to 21-17. Western Michigan scored a passing touchdown in the third quarter and rushing touchdown in the fourth to pull away and seal its victory.
 
Scouting Robert Morris
The Colonials opened the 2023 season with a 42-7 loss at Air Force. In the game, Robert Morris produced just 156 total offensive yards on 50 plays, while giving up 469 yards on 59 plays. Quarterback Anthony Chiccitt went 14-of-18 with 99 yards passing and one touchdown, while Noah Robinson led the receiving attack with three catches for 36 yards. Defensively, linebacker Jamar Shegog led the team with 12 total tackles (seven solo), which was twice as many as any other Robert Morris player. Shegog, linebacker Joe Casale and punter George Souders were all named to the 2023 Big South-OVC Preseason Watch List. Robert Morris was selected to finish last (10th-place) in the 2023 Big South-OVC Preseason Coaches Poll.
 
All-Time vs. Robert Morris
Robert Morris holds a 16-9-1 record over Saint Francis since the first meeting in 1994, but Saint Francis holds a 7-3 advantage under head coach Chris Villarrial. The Colonials won the most recent meeting in 2019 in overtime, 20-17, which snapped a seven-game Red Flash winning streak. After a tie began the series in 1994, Robert Morris won 15 of the next 17 meetings between 1995 and 2011.
 
Around the NEC
Duquesne and Central Connecticut are the only NEC to win in week one after playing non-Division I opponents Edinboro and American International, respectively. Saint Francis and LIU both fell to FBS opponents with a 35-17 loss to Western Michigan and a 27-10 loss to Ohio, respectively. Merrimack fell to ranked FCS opponent Holy Cross 42-20 and Stonehill fell to ranked FCS opponent New Hampshire 51-17. Sacred Heart fell to Lafayette 19-14 and Wagner rounded out week one with a 46-16 loss to Fordham.
 
Week Two in the NEC
Wagner travels to Navy and Duquesne travels to West Virginia for week two FBS opponents. Merrimack hosts Lehigh, while Sacred Heart visits Georgetown, Saint Francis visits Robert Morris and LIU visits Bryant. Stonehill visits Central Connecticut for the first conference matchup of the 2023 season. All games are played on Saturday, Sept. 9.
 
Next
Saint Francis takes a trip to Delaware on Saturday, Sept. 16 for a 6 p.m. kickoff. The Red Flash and Blue Hens faced each other in the 2022 FCS Playoffs, which ended in a 56-17 Delaware win.