The Saints traveled to Bryn Athyn, PA on Saturday to take on a 6-0 Academy of the New Church team. The Lions received the opening kick and capitalized on their first possession of the game, making the score 7-0 before the Saints had possession of the ball. On the ensuing kick off, Micah Turpin ’19 caught the kick at his own 16 yard line, found a hole, burst through it, pulled away from the Lions kickoff team, and took the return back for a touchdown to cut the lead to 7-6. The Lions were able to answer that touchdown as they put together another touchdown drive on their second possession to make the score 14-6. The Saints offense took the field for the first time in the game and put together a very formidable drive themselves, traveling all the way to the Lions' three-yard line before they were stopped on fourth down and turned the ball back over to the Lions. The Lions were able to capitalize quickly with their possession and extended their lead to 21-6 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter produced no points until the last 49 seconds. The Lions scored another touchdown making the score 28-7 with 49 seconds left to go in the half. On the kickoff they attempted an onside kick and recovered, and converted that opportunity the very next play to extend their lead to 35-6. However, the Saints got the ball back on their own 45 yard line with 20 seconds to go in the half. They were able to put together a three-play drive, all plays that featured passes from Arthur Potter ’19 to Adrian Watts ’20. On first down Watts took a screen pass and cut across the field for a pick-up of 19 yards to get to the Lions' 36 yard line. After another quick pass to Watts, the Saints had time for one last play with two seconds left on the clock. Potter dropped back to pass and heaved a Hail Mary to the endzone where Watts went up into a crowd of both Lions and Saints players and came down with the pass to cut the lead to 35-12 at halftime.
The scoring in the second half slowed down as both teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter, to make the score 41-18 after three quarters. The Saints put up a valiant effort in the fourth quarter to climb back into the game with another touchdown, but ultimately feel short by a final score of 44-24.
Turpin continued his personal tear as of late, rushing 24 times for 100 yard and 2 touchdowns, while also returning the aforementioned kickoff for a third touchdown in the game. Watts hauled in 10 passes for 114 yards and one touchdown, and keeps his streak alive of scoring at least one touchdown in every game this year. Potter completed 14 of 20 passes for 146 yards and one touchdown and one interception. Watts also led the defense with eight total tackles, while Brandon Graves ’22 and Theo Jaffe ’19 each recorded two sacks on the day.
The Saints' next game is Saturday at 3:00 p.m. at Tower Hill; this will be the teams first conference game of the season.