LORETTO, Pa.  (Sept. 23, 2006) – Saint Francis senior wide receivers Michael Caputo (Bethel Park, Pa. / Seton LaSalle) and Luke Palko (Imperial, Pa. / West Allegheny) tied the NCAA Division I-AA record for most career catches for two players on the same team, but it was all spoiled by La Salle scoring 10 unanswered fourth quarter points to defeat the Red Flash football team 24-21 on Saturday afternoon at DeGol Field.

Saint Francis held a 21-14 lead entering the final quarter, but the Explorers defense buckled down and their offense scored 10 points on its last two drives for the win.

The Red Flash fell to 1-3 with the loss, and La Salle improved to 1-3. Saint Francis will open its Northeast Conference slate 4 p.m. next Saturday, with a regionally televised game against Robert Morris, at DeGol Field.

“This is a tough one to swallow,” said Saint Francis head coach Dave Opfar. “We have just got to find the guys who are going to make plays. At times, I thought we played very well today, but you can’t fumble and you can’t throw interceptions in big situations. Some of the guys we expected to get the job done haven’t really been delivering. We need to get back to the team we really are. There is a spark missing right now, and I don’t know why. We’ll try to regroup and come back to start conference play on a positive note next weekend.”

Needing a combined 11 catches to tie the NCAA Division I-AA record for “passes caught by two players on the same team,” Caputo and Palko had 11 in the contest to tie the mark held by Darrell Colbert (192 catches for 2,788 yards) and Donald Narcisse (203 for 2,429 yards), who played at Texas Southern 1983-86.

Palko’s 10-yard reception on Saint Francis’ final drive gave the Red Flash a first and 10 at their own 36-yard line, with just over 1:00 remaining in the game. However, Saint Francis fumbled on the next play and La Salle was able to take a knee to record the win.

Also in the game, Caputo became the Northeast Conference’s all-time leader in receiving yards. He finished with six catches for 88 yards and a touchdown. He has 198 career catches for 2,876 yards and 25 receiving touchdowns. His 2,876 yards and 25 touchdowns are both school records, and his 198 catches are second in team history, behind Palko’s 223.

Palko had five catches for 36 yards in the game.

The Red Flash received the opening kickoff and marched right down the field for a touchdown. They went 78 yards on nine plays over a span of 4:17 to take a 7-0 lead on a two-yard run by senior Todd Harris (Duquesne, Pa. / Duquesne).

The defense came up big on La Salle’s opening drive, which ended with a Brandon Tims (Burlington, N.J. / Rancocas Valley) interception. Tims returned it to the Explorers 39-yard line, setting up a short field for the Saint Francis offense.

Senior quarterback Anthony Doria (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Seton La Salle) went for it all with a long pass to Caputo down the left sideline on the first play, but Caputo wasn’t able to reel it in over an outstretched defender. The Red Flash drive stalled at the Exlorers 35.

La Salle then drove 65 yards for a score in 11 plays, capped off by a Dave Macknet one-yard sprint. Quarterback Chris Hanson rushed for the two-point conversion to give the Explorers an 8-7 lead at the first intermission.

La Salle’s Lou Russo caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Hanson with 9:02 left in the second quarter, but the Explorers’ extra point was blocked by Patrick Mimms (Cheverly, Md. /. Frederick Douglass) to keep the game at 14-7.

With the half winding down, Doria and the Red Flash offense executed a perfect two minute offense to tie the score before halftime. Saint Francis drove 58 yards in 1:11 on just four plays. Doria hit Caputo with a 10-yard strike, and junior placekicker Adam Sciulli made the extra point, to make it 14-14 heading into the break.

Saint Francis carried that momentum into the third quarter as they took a 21-14 lead with Harris’ second touchdown of the game, a 10-yard run with 6:22 left in the third quarter. Sciulli made the extra point to extend his school-record streak of PATs to 65-for-65.

Harris finished with 134 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries. Doria was 15-of-27 for 154 yards and a touchdown.