Published: August 21, 2008 12:13 am      

Flash football team primed for season

LORETTO — Entering his seventh season, St. Francis football coach Dave Opfar feels so positive about this year’s squad that he has broken with one of his traditions.

He has finally permitted his players to vote for their own captains.

That change indicates that Opfar believes that his squad has made significant progress this season after his youthful squad won three of its final four games last year.

“It was really a youth movement that did it,” Opfar said about the successful end to the 2007 season. “This year has been pleasant for coaches. These guys are legitimate Division I-AA football players.”

Opfar and his captains and quarterback met the media and other members of the St. Francis community at a luncheon in the Stokes-Twyman room of the Stokes Center on the St. Francis campus on Wednesday.

The four captains are two seniors, wide receiver Antoine Rivera and offensive lineman Alexander Szoke-Benton, junior defensive lineman Russel Fisher, and sophomore linebacker Scott Lewis, a Bishop McCort graduate who has been named to the Northeast Conference preseason all-star squad.

Lewis talked about how the young defense, that features three outstanding sophomore linebackers who performed very well last season, will perform better as a team this season.

“Our defensive line has done well in camp keeping the offensive linemen off of us,” said Lewis, who was the NEC Rookie of the Year last season. “We have to play good team defense this year, run with the ball and eliminate mental mistakes.”

St. Francis will open its season on Sept. 6 with a road game against Virginia Military Institute, which is a full-scholarship Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) program.

The Red Flash will then host Marist at DeGol Field on Sept. 13 before opening their NEC schedule at Duquesne on Sept. 20. Duquesne is in its first year in the NEC.

Four of the first five games are on the road, but the Red Flash performed well last year on the road.

“It doesn’t matter,” Opfar said about playing on the road. “VMI is our first game, that’s what we’re focused on. All of our wins last year were on the road. I think that’s what bonded us together.”

The Red Flash return almost all of their offense and defense, leading the players to express some optimism about the coming year.

Junior quarterback George Little returns after throwing for 1,928 yards and 16 touchdowns, hitting 144 of 295 passes for an efficiency rating of 112.8. Little has his top receiver, senior Antoine Rivera, returning after leading the NEC with 88.5 receiving yards per game.

“The transition that we made from last year to this year was important. We will have practically the same offense on the field,” Rivera said. “So, the group that we had bonded with each other and meshed.”

Junior Calvin Williams will be the starting running back, with senior Bronson Abrigo the fullback.

Only three seniors will be in the starting offensive lineup and only three on the defensive side, which Opfar pointed to as a positive sign for the future.

Lewis and his fellow linebackers performed well last season. He finished with 126 tackles, finishing fourth nationally in the FCS in that category.

The Red Flash finished with a 3-7 record last year, 2-4 in the NEC.