PITTSBURGH, Pa.  (Sept. 16, 2006) – Duquesne scored 27 points in the first half and the Saint Francis offense couldn’t keep pace as the Dukes spoiled the return of a couple dozen football players in their return to Pittsburgh as the Red Flash dropped a 41-10 non-conference tilt on Saturday at Arthur J. Rooney Athletic Field.

Twenty-seven players on Saint Francis’ roster are from the Pittsburgh region, including 20 players who show up on the team’s two-deep depth chart. The Red Flash will close out their non-conference schedule with a 1 p.m. tilt against La Salle next Saturday at DeGol Field. They will open the Northeast Conference portion of their schedule with a 4 p.m. regionally televised game against Robert Morris on Sept. 30, at DeGol Field. That game will be televised live on Fox Sports Pittsburgh.

Sophomore quarterback Scott Knapp was 18-of-28 for 269 yards and four touchdown passes for Duquesne. Three of those TD passes went to Bruce Hocker, who had four catches for 61 yards.

Saint Francis senior quarterback Anthony Doria (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Seton LaSalle) struggled with his accuracy in an 8-for-25 effort for 144 yards. He became just the second quarterback in NEC history to pass for 7,000 yards in his career. Senior wide receiver Michael Caputo (Bethel Park, Pa. / Seton LaSalle) caught four passes for 73 yards in the game, while running backs Todd Harris (Duquesne, Pa. / Duquesne) and Anthony Richards (Parlin, N.J. / Cardinal McCarrick) combined for 148 rushing yards. Harris had 75 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries, and Richards had 73 yards on nine rushes.

Junior placekicker Adam Sciulli (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Central Catholic) kicked a 30 yard field goal in the first quarter, the ninth consecutive field goal he has made, dating back to two misses in a game at St. Peter’s on Sept. 10, 2005.

“In the five years that I’ve been here, I’ve never been at a loss for words,” said Saint Francis head coach Dave Opfar. “We got off to a bad start, and it was a tough day. Every time it looked like we were going to get a spark going, it fizzled out quickly. We’ve got to rebound from this. Lets hope that Delaware State last week, and Duquesne this week, are two of the better teams we will play this year. We still have a lot of awfully talented players who are ready to come back next week against La Salle. Hopefully a little home cooking is in store.”

Duquesne (2-1), which is ranked sixth in the latest The Sports Network Mid-Major Top 10 poll, never allowed the high-powered Red Flash attack to get going. The Dukes had favorable field position all day, and it all began on a botched punt by the Red Flash to open the scoring in the ballgame.

Senior Luke Palko (Imperial, Pa. / West Allegheny) went back to punt after the offense went three-and-out on its first possession. The long snap for the punt was low, and Palko set his knee down trying to catch the ball, marking the play dead at the Red Flash 21-yard line. The Dukes proceeded to drive for a touchdown on 5 plays in 2 minutes, 40 seconds to take a 7-0 lead. The drive was capped off by a Scott Knapp 14-yard touchdown pass to Bruce Hocker.

The Dukes made it 10-0 on an eight play, 73 yard drive in 3:36 that ended with a 36-yard field goal by Mark Troyan.

Junior placekicker Adam Sciulli (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Central Catholic) made his ninth consecutive field goal with 3:06 remaining in the first quarter, a 30-yarder to cut the Duquesne lead to 10-3.

But the Dukes scored 17 unanswered points to pull away 27-3 heading into halftime. Hocker had two more touchdown receptions before the end of the half, a 9-yarder and a 20-yarder, sandwiched around another Troyan field goal. Troyan’s field goal was a career-best 44 yarder.

Duquesne received the opening kickoff of the second half, and the Red Flash defense came up with a big stop to force a punt.

Doria proceeded to lead the Saint Francis offense on its most efficient drive of the afternoon, 90 yards on 10 plays in 3:43 to pull his squad to within 27-10. However, that would be all of the scoring on the day for the Red Flash, and the Dukes tacked on a Calvin Gitter 8-yard touchdown reception and a Conrad Carter 2-yard run to close out the scoring.

On defense for Saint Francis, sophomore Andrew Ardestani (Oakmont, Pa. / Riverview) had a game-high 10 tackles, and senior defensive lineman Anthony Mitchell (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Central Catholic) and sophomore defensive lineman Patrick Mimms (Cheverly, Md. / Frederick Douglass) each had a sack.

Palko had a streak of 34 consecutive games with a reception snapped. He had caught at least two passes in every game during his career entering the game.