By Dylan Butler
Outside of DaSilva Memorial Field, those attending Homecoming Day at St. John’s University were positively giddy as they enjoyed pony rides, got their faces painted and rode amusement park rides.
Inside though, it was a different story. It was visiting St. Peter’s who walked off the field smiling, singing songs and cracking jokes after the Peacocks trounced the Red Storm 28-7 in front of 820 Saturday afternoon.
For St. John’s, the team’s fourth straight blowout loss was anything but a laughing matter. It was yet another sloppy performance as frustrations continue to mount in the Red Storm locker room.
“They’re about what you expect them to be, somber,” said St. John’s head coach Bob Ricca when asked about the team’s fragile psyche. “It’s tough to find bright spots because they beat us in all aspects of the game.”
Indeed, led by the running game of the shifty Derek Clayton (15 carries, 113 yards) and the bruising Terrence Murphy (15 carries, 91 yards), the much-improved Peacocks gained 262 yards on the ground, compared to the Red Storm’s paltry 52 yards.
St. Peter’s (6-1) garnered 363 yards of total offense while struggling St. John’s (1-5) managed a dismal 78 yards.
Injuries to starting quarterback Kyle Lauver and backup Marc Saracino, who was well enough to punt, but is still not completed healed from a right shoulder separation, forced Ricca to again give third-string quarterback Matt Millheiser the start.
Millheiser struggled for a third straight week, completing 7-of-12 passes for 26 yards and one late touchdown. But the sophomore threw four interceptions — one shy of a Red Storm record for interceptions in a game. Millheiser, who was sacked three times, has been intercepted six times in the last two games.
Without an effective passing game and with the running game also depleted by injury, the onus once again fell on the shoulders of sophomore fullback Derek Jones to carry the offensive load.
Jones, who garnered 182 yards on 38 carries in a 28-0 loss to Robert Morris last week, was hobbled with turf toe on his right big toe and garnered just 42 yards on 16 carries against former Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference foe St. Peter’s.
“[Friday] was the first day he was able to practice all week,” Ricca said of Jones. “He wasn’t able to make his cuts today. St. Peter’s is tough defensively, statistically they’re No. 1 in the country, but if you have difficulty throwing the ball….”
“It’s hard to get momentum when you can’t sustain a drive because of mistakes and penalties,” Jones said. “It’s like getting punched in the stomach every time it happens. We’re not going to give up though and we’re going to go out there and give our all until the final whistle, but you feel it when it happens.”
A personal foul for a hit out of bounds tacked on after Millheiser’s first interception of the game — picked off by Scott Silva — gave St. Peter’s a first-and-goal at the Red Storm 9. The Peacocks needed just four plays to punch the ball into the end zone, as Heatcliff Leonor scored on fourth-and-goal from the 1 to put St. Peter’s ahead 7-0 with 14:56 left in the second quarter.
Just three plays into their next offensive series, sophomore quarterback Andre Harris connected with a wide-open Paul DeFrancesco for an 80-yard touchdown pass as the Peacocks jumped ahead 13-0 with 10:46 left in the first half.
More than the Red Storm’s anemic offense and St. Peter’s No. 1 ranked defense among Division 1-AA teams, it was the mental errors on special teams that had Ricca fuming after the game.
Sophomore Kyle Costello was nipped by a Jay Ambrosino punt and St. Peter’s Mike Hughes recovered giving the Peacocks a first down at the Red Storm 12. Five plays later, Harris twisted his way into the end zone from one yard out as St. Peter’s took a commanding 20-0 lead with 10:14 left in the third quarter.
After Murphy capped a 10-play, 62-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown giving St. Peter’s a 26-0 lead with 2:54 left in the third quarter, Leonor blocked a Saracino punt from the 10-yard line through the back of the Red Storm end zone for a safety to put the Peacocks ahead, 28-0 with 10:53 left.
St. John’s did manage to avoid the programs first-ever back-to-back home shutout losses and first consecutive blankings since 1928 when Millheiser connected with Matt May on a three-yard screen pass with 5:31 left in the game.
Ricca is hoping a change of atmosphere might help as the Red Storm looks to break its four-game slide at LaSalle (3-3) in Philadelphia, Pa. Saturday at 1 p.m.
“We have to find a way,” he said. “I told them, ‘We’re 1-5 and you are who you are for many different reasons, some of them more apparent than others. You have a decision to make, to be 1-6 or to fight to have success next week.’”
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
