Mid States
[Football] Bees close out home schedule with 17-7 Senior Day victory
St. Ambrose stayed with its recent recipe for success, leaning on its defense and running game to pick up a 17-7 Senior Day victory over St. Francis (Ill.) at Brady Street Stadium Saturday afternoon.The Bee defense allowed just two drives of more than 32 yards and seven total points. It was the third time in four games SAU has surrendered a single touchdown.St. Ambrose had two sacks among its 15 tackles for loss, with Bernard Buhake registering three tackles behind the line of scrimmage and Jaxson Nelson coming up with two. Nelson also intercepted a pass, one of two turnovers forced by the Bees.The first turnover ended the Saints' opening drive of the game. St. Francis (3-7, 2-3 MSFA) marched 74 yards after blocking a 24-yard Tom Gillen field goal attempt to get to the SAU 19-yard line. But Jeremiah Jackson Sr. ended the threat, forcing a fumble that Liam Kelly recovered.From there, the SAU defense dominated the rest of the half. After gaining 74 yards on their 12-play opening drive, the Saints had -16 yards over their next 14 plays, giving them 58 yards of total offense in the first half.The Bee offense did just enough to capitalize.All six first-half SAU possessions advanced into USF territory, four of those entered the red zone, but the Bees were able to only come away with 10 points.Gillen kicked a 20-yard field goal to give St. Ambrose a 3-0 lead with 4:13 left in the half, and three minutes later, Declan McDonald connected with Matthew Coovert on a 14-yard touchdown pass to put the lead at 10-0 at the half.St. Francis made things interesting with a touchdown midway through the third quarter to pull to within 10-7. But that was all the Bees would allow and the offense tacked on a touchdown in the opening minute of the fourth. Brandon Baalman, who finished with 101 rushing yards on 19 carries, broke free for a 43-yard run, and two plays later, McDonald found Vince Vignali in the back corner of the end zone on a four-yard strike to up the lead to 17-7. Video below courtesy SAUtvUSF never threatened in the fourth.Behind Baalman, the Bees finished with 192 yards on the ground. McDonald complemented the rushing attack by completing 12 passes for 110 yards and the two touchdowns. Coovert caught six of those passes for 71 yards and a score. Blake Wittman hauled in two passes for 19 total yards.Jackson (12), Buhake (11) and Ryan Zitkus (10) all recorded double-digit tackles. Ethan Miebach was in on six tackles.Before the game, St. Ambrose recognized its 15 seniors – Christopher Collier, Matthew Coovert, Braxton Criss, Collin Etherton, Michael Fettkether, Zach Gadbury, Vybert Greene Jr., Kobie Hoover, Jeremiah Jackson Sr., Sam Kabureck, Jake Osterberger, Dillon Valdez, Vince Vignali, Darnell Wilson and Ryan Zitkus – playing at home for the final time. SAU (4-4, 4-1 MSFA) will close out the regular season at Robert Morris next Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.