College football: St. Lawrence University seeks improvement on both sides of ball
Aug. 30—CANTON — The St. Lawrence University football team will find out Saturday afternoon how much it has improved from last year's 4-6 squad.
The Saints open at noon at Endicott in a nonconference game. Last year the Gulls shut out SLU 27-0 in the season opener at Leckonby Stadium, outgaining the Saints 316-147.
"Endicott is a top-30 football team," Puckhaber said. "At the Division III level there are 230 schools, so to be in the top 30 you are in the top 10 percent."
The Saints were 2-4 in Liberty League play last season and are picked to finish fifth in the seven-team league this year.
"There are four teams that are top-tier in this league (Ithaca, Rensselaer, Hobart and Union), and we are one of the others," Puckhaber said. "We are not there yet. We are going to have to knock off one of those top four teams and we can actually consider ourselves one of those top-tier teams."
The Saints averaged only 16.8 points last year and scored only 62 total points in the second half of games.
"The guys came into camp and our goal always is to get them to try to come together as a team," Puckhaber said. "I thought this was one of my best groups in 14 years that really came together, competed and pushed each other in practice, which is really fun to see. We have a lot of guys who have played a lot of football, staring with the quarterback (Daniel Lawther). It's always nice to have a multi-year starter back there. We have a couple guys on the offensive line who have played a good amount of football and defensively, there's a lot of guys there who have made plays and are already league-recognized players. That's nice to have.
"As an offense we need to stay on the field, that's key," Puckhaber said. "We have to be a little-bit more in ball control and try to not put our defense on the field as much. It comes down to blocking and I think we are a better blocking team this year."
Lawther, a junior, is one of the team's four captains. Lawther passed for 1,472 yards last season, including 11 touchdowns.
"I like our offense a lot," Lawther said. "Our offensive team is a little bit different than last year, but we've kept a lot of the base stuff. We've established our identity a little-bit sooner than last year. Last year we were trying a lot of different things during the season. This year we are a little-bit more balanced in what we want to do."
SLU quarterbacks were sacked 20 times last year, and another Saints captain, senior center Thomas Dockray, hopes to see that number shrink this season.
"The guys have really come together," Dockray said. "We have a couple young guys on the offensive line. We have to clean up mental and physical mistakes and we are progressing well. We are super-excited to have the experience we have back."
SLU's defense allowed 23.20 points per game last season but forced 15 fumbles.
"The defense last year did not give up big plays, quickly, but I think in our league we still were the second-worst defense in our league," Puckhaber said. "I want to see our defense put us in positions to still be winning games, making plays, more turnovers, more sacks, that's what we really need to see from our defense this year."
One of SLU's defensive captains is senior linebacker Ben Munn, a Saranac Lake native.
"The way we are playing is a lot different," Munn said. "We are a downhill, physical, in-your-face defense, which I like. Will be good to see how it shapes up."
SLU's other defensive captain is junior safety Daniel George. The Saints also have a new defensive coordinator, Patrick Moynahan, who has coached at the NCAA Division I level at Boise State and Stanford.
"I think the experience we have will go a long way, especially in the secondary," George said. "We have completely new terminology. That was a big adjustment to make. I think we've done a good job though."
