JOLIET, Ill. - University of St. Francis came excruciatingly close to turning around its football season Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium. But a missed extra point with no time on the clock in the fourth quarter prevented overtime and spoiled a Saints' comeback as No. 22 St. Ambrose (IA) escaped with a 31-30 Mid-States Football Association/Midwest League road victory.

USF (1-5, 1-2) trailed for most of the game and for the entire second half but rallied with a pair of scoring drives in the fourth quarter after falling behind, 31-21.

The Saints started the comeback with a 10-play, 41-yard drive that culminated with a 37-yard field goal through a strong wind by freshman placekicker Patrick Wright (Providence Catholic H.S./Lemont, IL) with just 4:54 left in regulation. The drive nearly stalled back in USF territory but the Saints and redshirt freshman tailback Connor Krisch (Joliet Catholic Academy/Plainfield, IL) kept it alive with a big conversion on fourth-down and three at the Saints' 47-yard line.

The Saints' defense then held St. Ambrose (3-2, 1-1) to a "three-and-out" and USF got the ball back in great field position on its own 45-yard line following a 36-yard Fighting Bees' punt.

With 3:23 left on the clock, senior quarterback John Goolsby (Morris H.S./Morris, IL) got the final drive started with a 6-yard completion to senior flanker Jason Fiske (Belvidere H.S./Loves Park, IL). That gain was followed by a 7-yard run for a first down by Krisch that moved the ball to the SAU 42. The Saints kept driving and Goolsby found Fiske again for a 28-yard completion that left USF knocking on the end zone door with a first-and-goal at the Bees' 9-yard line.

A penalty moved the ball to the five and three rushes left the Saints with a fourth-and-goal at the one. After a USF timeout with one second left, Goolsby pushed the ball across the goal line on a quarterback sneak and the Saints were one point away from sending the game into overtime.

St. Ambrose then used a time out to freeze Wright, the USF kicker. After the time out, Wright - who had made all of his previous 20 point-after attempts and was 6-of-7 on field goal tries thus far - pushed the kick wide right and the Saints fell a point shy of extending the contest.

St. Ambrose jumped to a 7-0 lead on its first possession of the game with an 8-play, 89-yard drive. The Saints, though, righted their ship and came back to score two touchdowns in the first three minutes of the second quarter to take their only lead of the game at 14-7.

The first of the two scores came on a 4-yard pass from Goolsby to Fiske that wrapped up a 13-play, 74-yard drive. The go-ahead touchdown was scored by freshman tailback Mychal Jackson (Chicago Academy/Chicago, IL) who took a short swing pass from Goolsby and raced 31 yards to paydirt.

St. Ambrose used a 57-yard pass play to get deep into Saints' territory and then tied the game on a quarterback sneak with just under 10 minutes left in the half. The Bees took a 17-14 lead at halftime when their field goal attempt on the final play of the half was deflected by the Saints but still managed to find its way over the crossbar and between the uprights.

SAU pushed its lead to 24-14 with a touchdown early in the third quarter but the Saints answered with an 18-yard scoring pass from Goolsby to senior tight end Andy Zurales (Lincoln-Way Central H.S./New Lenox, IL) that cut the margin to 24-21.

The Bees again used a big pass to move into Saints' territory and they managed to score another touchdown with 1:32 left in the third period that re-established their 10-point lead at 31-21.

Goolsby finished the afternoon with 18 completions in 27 attempts for 225 yards and 3 touchdowns. He was sacked only once and threw no interceptions. Fiske was his favorite target once again. Fiske, who entered the game as USF's all-time leading receiver, hauled in 7 catches for 94 yards and the one score. Senior Markus Hood (Bolingbrook H.S./Bolingbrook, IL) had 3 receptions for 42 yards and Zurales finished with 3 grabs for 28 yards and the third-quarter touchdown.

Krisch enjoyed his second straight outstanding rushing day. One week after running for 211 yards (third-most in school history) in a 51-6 win at Iowa Wesleyan and earning MSFA/Midwest League Offensive Player of the Week honors, Krisch carved out 133 yards on 38 carries against SAU.

Seniors Dan Heimerdinger (Richards H.S./Oak Lawn, IL) and Pat Flynn (Aquin Central Catholic H.S./Freeport, IL) and junior Brenton Valentine (Morris H.S./Morris, IL) shared the team lead in tackles with 7 apiece. Flynn also had the Saints' only interception of the game.

USF travels downstate to play 14^th-ranked McKendree next Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.