The Saints outscored Marian 17-13 in the second half while outgaining the Knights 204 yards to 67 in that span. In addition, USF had 13 first downs to 3 for Marian and controlled time of possession 19:43 to 10:17 in the final 30 minutes.

Thus, the first half was the difference as Marian took a 24-0 lead into the locker room.

"There's some positives and negatives, but we've said all along, 'There's no moral victories,'" said USF head coach Mike Uremovich in assessing his team's performance. "We just didn't play well in the first half."

The Knights had two fourth-down conversions on their first touchdown drive, leading to a 10-yard touchdown pass from Clay Coomer to Chris Rutherford with 5:31 to play in the first quarter.

The Saints found themselves down 21-0 in a span of 1:49 late in the first quarter and early in the second. Each of the two touchdowns were set up by interceptions of freshman quarterback E. J. White's passes. A Nathan Toon pick led to a two-yard TD run by Nathan Jones and JaQuan Patilla hauled in a 41-yard scoring pass from Coomer one play after a Stephen Rogers interception.

White (St. Cloud H.S./St. Cloud, FL) more than atoned himself in the second half, hitting a wide open Sean Hughes (University of Indianapolis/Bolingbrook, IL) for a 38-yard scoring strike four minutes into the second half and then running one in himself on a fourth down and goal from the two-yard line two possessions later. With 4:16 to play in the third quarter, the Saints had pulled within 24-14, but could get no closer.

"There was a 17-minute stretch there when we outscored them 17-7, but a football game is 60 minutes and we didn't play 60 minutes. That's the disappointing thing," Uremovich said.

White finished his first collegiate game completing 19 of 36 passes for 193 yards. His third interception of the night was returned 43 yards for a score by Obed Jean with :42 to play.

White's favorite target on the night was sophomore Darien Smith (King H.S./Chicago, IL) who caught 6 passes for 71 yards. Hughes finished with 72 yards receiving on 5 receptions.

After being put in a hole in the first half due to turnovers, the St. Francis defense dug in the final two quarters and Uremovich was pleased with his unit.

"The defense was put into a tough spot due to the turnovers (in the first half). I thought the defense played great the entire second half," he said.

The Saints have a short turnaround as they will travel to Chicago on Thursday night when they will face the Saint Xavier University Cougars, a national semi-finalist a year ago and ranked 4th in the preseason NAIA polls.

Each of the games against Marian and Saint Xavier are Mid-States Football Association crossover games. Conference games do not start for the Saints until they host fellow Midwest League foe Grand View University (Iowa) on September 11.

"We don't have time to sit around; we've got five days to go play somebody else," Uremovich noted. "We definitely know what we have to work on and we also know that this is a non-league game.

"It doesn't mean we didn't want to win it, but we always focus on the conference and we have one more non-league game before we get into league play."