ADRIAN, Mich. -- The #23 Siena Heights football team recovered from a slow start to steamroll winless Lindenwood-Belleville 41-7 at O'Laughlin Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Tyler Knecht threw three touchdown passes to lead the Saints in the victory.
THE BASICS
Final Score: Siena Heights 41, Lindenwood-Belleville 7
Location: Adrian, Michigan (O'Laughlin Stadium)
Records: Siena Heights (7-2, 3-2 MSFA), Lindenwood-Belleville (0-10, 0-5 MSFA)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The game started with a Saints interception on the second play of the game, but Siena would fail to put points on the boards as Brady Tanguay's field goal attempt would sail wide of the goal post. On the Saints next possession, Jared Jorden lost the ball on a three-yard run play and it was recovered by LU-Belleville.
The first score of the game happened on the next series when Lynx quarterback, Dennis Chester was strip-sacked by Jarrad Whited. Malik Edwards scooped up the ball at the Saints 43-yard line and took it 52 yards before he fumbled at the five-yard line where Whited picked up the ball and rumbled the remaining five yards into the end zone for Siena. The extra point attempt was good to give the Saints the 7-0 lead.
The Siena lead was doubled in the second quarter on a nine-yard touchdown pass from Knecht to DaWan Smith II with 4:33 remaining in the half. Adam Glanders scored on a 29-yard touchdown catch on the next drive to cap a five-play, 42-yard drive to give SHU the 21-0 lead into halftime.
Damon Wright Jr. scored Knecht's final touchdown pass of the game with 10:21 on the clock in the third quarter. Kaleb Jefferson scored his first career touchdown with an 18-yard run that capped a long 11-play, 93-yard drive that started on the Saints seven-yard line and took 5:49 off the clock. The score increased the Saints lead to 34-0.
Jefferson scored again in the opening minute of the fourth quarter on a one-yard run to give SHU the 41-0 lead. Steve Candelari scored the only Lynx touchdown with a 10-yard touchdown reception from Chester with 6:23 left in the fourth quarter.
TOP SAINTS
Offense
• Knecht connected on 18 of his 26 pass attempts for 199 yards.
• Jefferson led the Saint ground game with eight carries for 83 yards and two touchdowns.
• Dahvon Washington tallied 71 yards on 10 carries.
• Smith II and Wright Jr. each had four catches and one touchdown. Smith II totaled 31 yards receiving while Wright Jr. had 29.
• Deontae' Rush and Glanders finished with three catches. Rush had 57 yards and Glanders had 47 and a touchdown.
Defense
• EJ Shaah, Da'Quan Butler, and Nick Stalworth led the SHU defense with six tackles. Stalworth had 1.5 tackles for loss for four yards.
• Malik Edwards and Andrew McGaughy each totaled five tackles. Edwards had half a sack, 2.5 tackles for loss, one fumble recovery, and one pass breakup.
• DeVonte Collins-Anderson and Cohen Canter had four tackles. Collins-Anderson had 1.5 tackles for loss while Canter added a sack and a tackle for loss to his stat line.
Special Teams
• Tanguay missed both of his field goal attempts but was 5/6 in extra points.
• Caleb Meister punted twice for 82 yards. He pinned one inside the 20-yard line.
• Brock Quinlan had seven kickoffs for 402 total yards.
THE OPPOSITION
Offense
• Chester was 17-29 passing for 118 yards and a touchdown.
• Jaquay Owens had 10 carries for 42 yards.
• Candelari had two catches for 58 yards and a touchdown.
Defense
• Avery Andrews led the Lynx with 10 tackles.
• Ga'Von Burks had nine tackles, one for loss.
• Chris Moore totaled six tackles, 0.5 for loss.
Special Teams
• Marvin Biegert was a perfect 1/1 in extra point attempts.
• Andrews had nine punts for 308 yards with a long of 52 yards.
• Burks tallied two kickoffs for 102 yards, an average of 51 yards.
UP NEXT
The Saints will wrap up the 2018 regular season with a home game against #15 Concordia (Mich.) next Saturday, November 10. The game is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. and will be senior day for Siena Heights.