Know Your Football Opponent St. Francis (Ill.)

Today we quickly look at this week's football opponent St. Francis (Ill.).

But first a look back over the week…

Women's volleyball defeated Clarke in the first round of the tournament on Saturday (3-1) advancing them to semifinals on Wednesday, November 10. The Lady Statesmen upset #1 seed, Viterbo (3-1) in the semifinals advancing them on to the championship game against St. Ambrose that will take place this Saturday, November 13th at 7 p.m (in Davenport).

Men's and women’s cross country competed in the Midwest Collegiate Conference Championship this last weekend with the men finishing in 7th place and the women finishing in 6th place. Kipp Schuler for the men’s team will go on to compete in the NAIA National Championship this weekend.

The bowling teams competed at the Warhawk Open this last weekend. The men finished 2nd out of 30 teams, while the women finished 4th out of 20 teams. Both teams’ finishes were the programs highest finishes in the school’s history. The bowling teams head to SI Elite Tournament in Fairview Heights, Ill. on November 13th and 14th.

Wrestling has competed in one open tournament to start the season, where Eric Burgey (133) finished in third leading the season with 61 points and in second is Taylor Louie (125) with 34 points. Wrestling team will compete at the Dakota Wesleyan Open on Saturday, November 13th.

The men's basketball team is off to a decent start with a record of 2-1 and a ranking of fourth in the Midwest Collegiate Conference preseason bids. The Statesmen have defeated Crossroads and Faith Baptist; and lost to Graceland so far this season.

Women’s basketball is 1-2 on the season, and ranked fourth overall in the preseason conference rankings. They defeated Graceland and lost to Peru State and Concordia (Neb.) in two close matches.

Both basketball teams play at home on Friday, November 12th. Women play Central Methodist at 6 p.m. and the men play Hastings at 8 p.m. The games will be broadcasted on the stretch internet radio.

Now on to know your opponent this week for the 1 p.m. (Central) kick off between William Penn and St. Francis (Ill.). The contest will be carried locally by MCG 22 TV and also broadcast on KBOE local Radio.

1.) St. Francis (USF) was founded in 1920 by the Congregation of the Third Order of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate for the education of its own members.

2.) Across all sports, USF has made 63 NAIA National Tournament appearances, claimed 73 District 20/Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) national qualifying tournaments, won 60 CCAC championships and produced 79 NAIA All-Americans

3.) The Fighting Saints run a spread zone offensive formation with a 33 stack defensive formation.

4.) The Fighting Saints are ranked number 15th in the NAIA for PAT Kicks (39 points), and also ranked 15th in punt returns per game with 11 returns for 142 yards.

5.) St Francis (Ill.) overall defense is ranked 37th in the Nation. The Saints rushing defense is ranked 18th giving up an average 108 yards per game and their pass defense is 63th in the Nation giving up an average 221 yards per game.

6.) The Fighting Saints are 18th in scoring offense with 33 points/game. Also, the team is 14th in rushing offense with 1,788 yards for the season and 18th in rushing offense per game with an average of 198.7 yards/game.