St. Lawrence University senior quarterback Mike Lefflbine threw one touchdown and ran for another, while the Saints secondary allowed only one completion and made three interceptions, leading the football team to an impressive 21-7 win over Springfield in front of 1,321 fans at the 2014 Homecoming Game in Canton, NY on Saturday.

St. Lawrence improves to 6-1 overall and remains tied atop the Liberty League standings with nationally-ranked Hobart at 4-0. Meanwhile, Springfield falls to 5-3 (3-2) after struggling to get their offense rolling against the Liberty League's top-ranked defense.

"I can't tell you how proud I am of this team. They took great advantage of the bye week by preparing tirelessly for a tough Springfield team," said Saints head coach Mark Raymond, whose team is now 9-2 in its last 11 Liberty League games. "It was fun watching a group compete how they did today. To whole squad deserves an enormous amount of credit for the victory."

Springfield entered Saturday's game averaging over 40 points per game, 467 yards of offense and 381 rushing yards. The Saints held the Pride to a season-low seven points, 206 yards total and 159 yards on the ground. Quarterback Jonathan Marrero ran for 58 yards and a touchdown for the visitors, but was only 1-for-7 passing with the three costly interceptions.

Junior Leondre Simmon had two of the interceptions, while James Holley-Grisham made another in the red zone to end a Springfield drive. Alec Dietsch closed with a team-high 10 tackles for the home team, while Max Nacewicz finished with 13 tackles to lead all defenders. Mitch Gallagher was the game's leading receiver, making eight catches for 97 yards and a score for St. Lawrence.

Springfield had the better of the play in the first quarter, as they had back-to-back threatening drives. However, Marrero was picked off by Holley-Grisham at the Saints' 9-yard line on one drive, then was intercepted on the next drive by Simmon at the home team's 11 to keep the game scoreless through one quarter.

St. Lawrence used the momentum from Simmon's interception and went 89 yards in 15 plays covering 7:01 to take the 7-0 lead. Lefflbine picked apart the Pride defense with key completions to Gallagher, Simmon and Chris Shannon to get into Springfield territory. Zane Fish would cap the drive, stepping in for Lefflbine and connecting with Gallagher for a 6-yard strike at 3:20 of the second quarter for the 6-0 lead. Andrew Carvalho added the point after.

The Pride looked to respond on its next drive, reaching the St. Lawrence 14-yard line. However, the drive stalled there and the visitors turned it over on downs after a big pass break up by Evan Lapice, as he drilled Blake Joppy to knock the ball away and get the Saints offense back on the field. Despite the poor field position at the 14, Lefflbine orchestrated a 10-play, 86 yard drive that he capped off with an athletic touchdown run of 29 yards to help push the advantage to 14-0 with 1:03 left in the half. The Greenwich, CT native was pressured out of the pocket, but made two defenders miss in the middle of the field and ran through the Pride secondary for his longest touchdown run at St. Lawrence. Carvalho added the extra point.

St. Lawrence wasted little time in pushing the lead to 21-0 in the third quarter, scoring only 2:58 into the second half for the three-score lead. After a 28-yard completion to Vincenzo Ferraro got the team to the Springfield 29-yard line, Lefflbine found Gallagher down to the 14. On 3rd-and-4 from the 8-yard line, Lefflbine found Matt Gardiner on a beautiful play call that left the tight end wide open in the back-corner of the end zone for the 20-0 lead. Carvalho's extra point made it 21-0.

Springfield would try to make it a game thanks to a 7-play, 56-yard touchdown drive late in the third quarter, capped by a 2-yard rushing touchdown by Marrero. Nick Pydeski's extra point was good, giving the Pride life with 1:35 left in the third. However, the St. Lawrence defense was punishing in the fourth quarter, allowing Springfield to run only eight plays for four yards, with the game being put away by Simmon's second interception in Pride territory. The Saints ran out the clock with a 10-play drive that covered the final 7:11 of regulation, as they put their stamp on the first win over Springfield in program history.

The Saints will look to stay unbeaten in conference play next weekend in Worcester, MA when they meet the WPI Engineers at noon.