ALBANY, N.Y. (Oct. 21, 2006) – The Northeast Conference’s top offense never got going as Albany held the Saint Francis football team to 161 total yards of offense in a 48-0 victory over the Red Flash on Saturday evening.

It marked the first time Saint Francis had been shutout since Oct. 9, 2004, when the Great Danes defeated the Red Flash 38-0, also in Albany.

Saint Francis dropped its seventh consecutive game to fall to 1-7 overall, and 0-4 in the Northeast Conference. The Great Danes improved to 5-3 overall, and 3-1 in the NEC. The Red Flash will try to rebound when Sacred Heart visits Loretto for a 1 p.m. kickoff on Saturday at DeGol Field.

Senior wide receiver Michael Caputo (Bethel Park, Pa. / Seton LaSalle) became the Northeast Conference’s all-time leader in receptions by passing teammate Luke Palko (Imperial, Pa. / West Allegheny). Caputo caught nine passes for 99 yards to move his career totals to 231 and 3,229, respectively. He now owns the Saint Francis and NEC records in both categories.

Palko did not play in the game due to a high ankle sprain that has sidelined him for the past three weeks.

Senior quarterback Anthony Doria (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Seton LaSalle) was held to just 136 yards passing while completing 18-of-34 attempts. The Albany defense sacked him three times.

The Great Danes gained more than 300 yards on the ground for the second straight week, totaling 323 yards rushing on 59 carries. Their defense was just as dominating against the run. Senior tailback Todd Harris (Duquesne, Pa. / Duquesne) came into the contest ranked 15^th in the nation in rushing, but was held to just 11 yards on seven carries.

Albany did not have a 100-yard rusher, and passed for just 37 yards in the game, while totaling 362 yards of total offense. Five players had 30 or more yards on the ground, led by Omar Johnson with 62 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. Dieuseul Joseph had eight carries for 61 yards and a touchdown, Justin Gannon carried the ball seven times for 60 yards, Marcus Allen had nine carries for 44 yards, and Colin Simmons had six carries for 36 yards.

Dan Beigel scored a touchdown, while carrying the ball four times for 22 yards, and quarterback Daniel Bocanegra rushed for two scores, and completed 3-of-9 passes.

The Red Flash received the opening kickoff, and went three-and-out. Punting from its own 26-yard line into a 20 MPH wind, Saint Francis wound up giving Albany great field position. The Great Danes picked up at the Red Flash 40-yard line, and got into the end zone on five plays, in just 1 minute, 40 seconds, to take a 7-0 lead with 11:34 left in the first quarter.

Saint Francis’ next possession stalled at midfield and a good punt return set up field position at its 46-yard line for Albany. The Great Danes made it 14-0 with 4:29 left in the first quarter on a nine-play, 46-yard drive, capped off by Johnson’s five-yard run.

The Red Flash held Albany to just seven points in the second quarter, and trailed 21-0 at halftime. But the Great Danes turned on the offense in the second half to pull away.