Cedar City, UT - The Saint Mary's College football team (4-5) was defeated by Southern Utah (4-4) by a final score of 44-14. Saint Mary's turned the ball over six times, four fumbles and two interceptions, in the game and Thunderbird quarterback Matt Cannon rushed for 218 yards and three touchdowns to lead the top-rated rushing offense in I-AA to 461 total rushing yards.
Saint Mary's totaled 308 total yards in the game as sophomore slot back Jeff Brown led the way with 133 yards of total offense. He tallied 81 yards receiving on three catches and added 52 yards rushing on 11 carries. Quarterback Gus Papanikolas was 8-for-17 for 155 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions, he also rushed for 42 yards. Andre Coleman scored both Gael touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving, with four receptions for 70 yards and six carries for 18 yards.
Southern Utah opened the scoring on their third drive of the game with a 27-yard field goal by David Pretzer, capping a 12-play, 46-yard drive. A roughing the kicker penalty on the Gaels extended the drive, when Pretzer missed a 35-yard field goal earlier in the drive. The first quarter would finish with the Thunderbirds leading 3-0.
Pretzer would extend the lead to 6-0 with a 39-yard field goal at the 11:58 mark of the second quarter. Two plays into the ensuing Saint Mary's drive, the exchange from Papanikolas to Eric Billeci was fumbled giving the ball to SUU at the Saint Mary's 14-yard line. The Thunderbirds scored two plays later to increase the lead to 13-0. Following a punt by the Gaels, Cannon capped a 9-play, 63-yard drive with a 20-yard run off the right side. Following a fumble by Rod Madsen, Saint Mary's drove 48 yards in 35 seconds when Papanikolas hit Coleman for a 34-yard touchdown pass with 1:17 remaining in the first half to cut the lead to 20-7 at the intermission.
On the opening drive of the second half, Saint Mary's drove to the SUU 20-yard line before Papanikolas' pass was picked off in the end zone. Cannon would make the turnover stand up as he scored on a 67-yard run two plays later. Coleman answered on the next Gael possession with a two-yard run, capping a 13-play, 65-yard drive, cutting the lead to 27-14. A 20-yard completion from Papanikolas to Coleman on a fourth and 10 play from the Southern Utah 27-yardline highlighted the drive. On the next SUU possession, Cannon pulled off another long touchdown run an 89-yard scamper. Clay Denton added 25-yard touchdown, following a Gael turnover, to open the lead to 40-14 at the end of the third quarter.
Pretzer added his third field goal of the game, a 28-yard field goal, to extend the Thunderbird lead to 43-14 early in the fourth quarter, to end the scoring. Following a Weston Borba interception, Saint Mary's drove 58 yards to the Southern Utah three-yard line before its fourth fumble of the game.
Saint Mary's returns home for its final two games of the season. They will host Towson University on Saturday, November 4 and Drake University on November 11. Kickoff for both games is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at Saint Mary's Stadium.
