Carroll (Mont.) Football Advances to 2007 Championship :: Fighting Saints take out St. Francis (Ind.) 23-7

Dec. 1, 2007

HELENA, Mont. -- (box score) The No. 2 Carroll (Mont.) College football team advances to its fifth title game in six seasons after a 23-7 win over visiting and No. 5 St. Francis (Ind.) this afternoon (Dec. 1) from Nelson Stadium. Carroll gets back to the Championship, to be played on Dec. 15 in Savannah, Tenn., where it has won four straight crowns from 2002-05.

Carroll (14-0) running back Gabe Le led the rushing attack with 154 yards on 39 totes. He was part of a Fighting Saints offense to tally 351 yards compared to 253 by St. Francis.

Carroll defeated St. Francis for the fourth straight time thanks to 23 unanswered points. After falling down 7-0 on a St. Francis 72-yard pass play at the 9:51 mark of the first quarter, Carroll used three field goals by placekicker Marcus Miller to take a 9-7 halftime edge. The Fighting Saints' defense, who has now allowed only eight touchdowns all season (in 14 games) and given up less than five points per game, snuffed out the St. Francis offense in the second half.

Leading 16-7, Carroll extended its advantage with a 65-yard pass play from quarterback John Barnett to Brian Sloan with 10:42 remaining in the game. Barnett finished 14-for-24 passing for 177 yards and two touchdowns (1 rushing).

The Fighting Saints will await their opponent as the other Semifinal between No. 1 Sioux Falls (S.D.) and No. 9 Missouri Valley was pushed back to Sunday, Dec. 2 due to inclement weather in the Sioux Falls area.

St. Francis finishes its season with a 11-2 record and its fifth straight appearance in the Final Four.

NEWSPAPER BOX
St. Francis 7 0 0 0 - 7
Carroll 3 6 7 7 - 23

First Quarter
SF - Thompson 72 pass from Wedding (Rhys kick), 9:56
CC - FG Miller 27, 4:42

Second Quarter
CC - FG Miller 27, 14:46
CC - FG Miller 27, 8:13

Third Quarter
CC - Barnett 1 run (Miller kick), 8:45

Fourth Quarter
CC - Sloan 65 pass from Barnett (Miller kick), 10:42

USF CC
First downs 10 21
Rushes-yds 26-87 55-174
Passing yds 166 177
Return yds 88 79
Comp-Att 14-28-1 14-24-1
Sacked 1-8 1-8
Punts 7-35.1 4-39.8
Fumbles-lost 2-2 3-1
Penalties 2-25 5-60
Possession 21:02 24:56

INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING - USF, Vieck 5-34, Carter 8-27, Rush 6-17, Wasylk 3-8, Wedding 4-1. CC, Le 39-154, Camino 5-21, Barnett 5-15, Lovin 1-9, Herrin 3-5. TEAM 1-(-24).

PASSING - USF, Wedding 14-28-1-1 166. CC, Barnett 14-24-0-1 177.

RECEIVING - USF, Thompson 5-86, Rainey 2-27, Schultz 2-14, Carter 2-0, Cassidy 1-16, Rhodes 1-12, Vieck 1-11.

MISSED FIELD GOALS - CC, Miller 45.