LORETTO, Pa. (AP) Zack Drayer threw three touchdown passes and ran for one, helping St. Francis to a Northeast Conference championship and an automatic bid to the FCS playoffs with a 31-21 win over Central Connecticut on Saturday.
Both feats are first-time achievements for the Red Flash, who joined the conference in 1998.
St. Francis (7-3, 5-0) led 17-7 after one quarter, but Jacob Dolegala's second TD pass cut it to 17-14. St. Francis pulled away with TD conversions off muffed punts in the second and third quarters, both capped by Drayer touchdowns.
Drayer ran for a 2-yard score with 6:42 left in the first half to make it 24-14, and he tossed a 6-yard TD to Zack Drayer with 11:47 left in the third quarter to salt the game away. Both drives started within 25 yards of the Blue Devils' goal line.
Dolegala passed for 318 yards and two touchdowns and added a rushing TD for Central Connecticut (2-8, 1-4).
St. Francis has won two in a row vs. CCSU after losing 19 of its first 22 against the Blue Devils.
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