The St. Lawrence University football team rushed for three touchdowns including two from Paul Wonka, while the Saints defense didn't allow a point in the final 44:28 of regulation as the home team defeated Morrisville State by the score of 31-14 at Leckonby Stadium on Saturday. The win avenges a 28-23 loss to the Mustangs last season, as Alec Dietsch finished with a team-high 10 tackles including 2.0 for a loss and an interception.

St. Lawrence improves to 2-1 on the year, as it held the Mustangs to 253 yards of offense, well below their season average of 584. Meanwhile, Morrisville State falls for the first time this season and drops to 2-1, as the Mustangs struggled in the second half, being outscored 17-0 and held to a mere nine yards of offense. It is the seventh straight opponent that St. Lawrence has held to 17 points or fewer at Leckonby Stadium.

St. Lawrence finished with a 380-253 advantage in total yardage, with Maurice Irby leading the way with 85 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries. Wonka added 53 yards on 16 rushes with the two scores, while Morrisville State's Cristian Pena finished with 56 yards and two touchdowns. Mike Lefflbine was 18-of-31 passing for St. Lawrence for 183 yards and a touchdown pass, outdueling Lemar Johnson, who was 17-of-30 for 123 yards and an interception. Though Johnson rushed for 115 yards gained, he was sacked five times and struggled to find any success in the second half.

Mitch Gallagher and Matt Gardiner were solid targets in the passing game for the Scarlet and Brown, as they each caught seven passes for a total of 148 yards with Gallagher catching the lone touchdown toss of the day. Morrisville State's receiving corps was led by Josh Powell's 33 yards, well shy of his average this season (118.5 yards/game).

Defensively, the Saints owned the line of scrimmage throughout most of the game, with pressure being brought by Chyron Brown-Wallace, Nick Barclay, Dillon Knight, Michael LaRusso and Grant Brightman. The Saints totaled 10 tackles for a loss in the game and hurried Johnson five times on top of the five sacks. Delroy Young was all over the field for the Mustangs, finishing with a game-high 11 tackles.

Morrisville State was impressive early on as they took a 7-0 lead by going 80 yards in 11 plays on its first drive of the game. Johnson was 4-for-6 on the drive and ran for 33 yards, setting up a 1-yard score from Pena only 6:35 into the contest. Though St. Lawrence would answer on its ensuing drive, with Wonka scoring from 1-yard out to cap a 16-play, 73 yard drive to tie the score at 7-7, the Mustangs went right back down the field and reclaimed the lead only 32 seconds into the second quarter. Pena crashed the ball over the goal line from four yards out, as Johnson was key again with a big 3rd-and-14 completion to Anthony Gray for a first down to keep the drive alive.

St. Lawrence would tie the score at 14-14 with 8:22 left in the half, as Lefflbine found Gallagher for a 5-yard score to cap a 9-play, 60-yard scoring drive. The two teams exchanged punts before an odd sequence brought the half to a close. The ground appeared to cause a fumble from Lefflbine in Morrisville territory, but the officials ruled the ball belonged to the Mustangs with 1:24 left in the half. Johnson moved his team down the field quickly and got the ball to the Saints' 1-yard line as the final seconds ticked away. Johnson was tackled for a 3-yard rush by Dietsch, and though the Mustangs thought there was time remaining in the half to use their final timeout, the officials ruled the clock had run out, sending the teams to the locker room tied 14-14.

The Morrisville offense was never the same, as the Saints got after Johnson and laid big hit after big hit on the quarterback throughout the second half. The Saints claimed the lead on a 34-yard field goal by Andrew Carvalho early in the third quarter on a drive that was kept alive by a spectacular juggling catch by Gallagher on 3rd-and-8 to move the chains. After a sack by Brown-Wallace and Barclay forced Morrisville to punt, St. Lawrence went 52 yards in seven plays to stretch the lead to 24-14 on a 5-yard touchdown run by Irby. Carvalho added the extra point.

The Saints defense again forced a punt from the Mustangs, and with Irby and Wonka grinding out yardage for first downs, the home team marched 69-yards in 12 plays to take the 31-14 lead. Gardiner was huge on the drive, catching two key third down passes to keep the drive alive before Wonka took care of the final 10 yards for his second touchdown.

Morrisville would get the ball two more times, but an interception by Dietsch ended one drive and a sack by Michael LaRusso ended the visiting team's chances of a comeback bid.

St. Lawrence will open its 2014 Liberty League season next weekend when it hosts Union College on Saturday, September 27 at 1pm.