Posted: Oct 31, 2018
HILLBURN, N.Y. | The St. Thomas Aquinas College Sprint Football team will look to wrap up its inaugural season at the .500 mark on Friday night, when the Spartans play host to Mansfield University of Pennsylvania in a 6 p.m. kick-off at Torne Valley Sports Complex. The team will also honor its first graduating senior class with special ceremonies, which will precede the game.
STAC (2-3) enters the match-up looking to break into the win column, as head coach Matt Barry's side will look to take advantage of a Mansfield (3-3) defense that has allowed 406.5 yards of offense to date. For the Spartans, signal callers Luke Sullivan (60-for-134, 962 yds.) and Kiel McKenzie (5-for-8, 94 yds.) have combined for 10 touchdown passes, with the latter's first career scoring strike coming in the fourth quarter of last Friday's contest at Chestnut Hill. Jimmy English (511 all-purpose yards -- No. 5 in CSFL) has caught a team-best 11 passes on the perimeter this season, while Matthew Ehret registered a 73-yard touchdown reception last week from McKenzie for his team-high-tying second TD reception of the campaign.
Defensively, St. Thomas Aquinas has received disruption behind the line of scrimmage all year from Will Smith (31 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss) and Kyle Teneyck (team-high 4.5 sacks, 5.5 TFL, 2 FF, 2 FR). Rafael Cruz leads all Spartans with 32 tackles on the year (22 solo), and is tied for the team lead with Malyk Michel with four pass break-ups.
Mansfield comes into Torne Valley on a three-game winning streak, including a 34-26 home victory Saturday night versus Caldwell. Adam Hutchison was 10-for-20 passing for 135 yards and three touchdowns, as the Mountaineers overcame deficits on three occasions to secure the triumph. Mansfield picked off six passes in the contest, including two apiece by Brandon Allen and Saville Pope.
Fans who cannot make it to Torne Valley for the season finale can follow along by clicking the LIVE Video link.