Daniel Lawther passed 20-for-29 with 211 yards and recorded three touchdowns to lead the St. Lawrence University football team to a 35-31 win over the University of Rochester in Liberty League action on Saturday.

In a back-and-forth battle, senior running back Peyton Schmitt led the Saints' ground game with 76 yards on 14 attempts and one touchdown, while Robert Coll finished with six catches for 74 yards and a touchdown. Cole Salyards, Tyler Liddy and TJ Cornacchia also finished with a touchdown against the Yellowjackets. Defensively, the Saints were led by Colin Wanat and Ben Munn, who each recorded 11 tackles. Both Munn and Reece Gillette finished with one tackle for the loss.

The Yellowjackets opened play with a strong run, including a St. Lawrence 15-yard penalty, but the Saints' defense came up big with a fourth-down stop and a loss of three yards to force a turnover on downs to pick up their first possession of the day.

Just before the end of the first quarter, Rochester would strike first as Ryan Rose connected with Aidan Papantonis on a nine-yard pass. The kick was no good and the Yellowjackets took a 6-0 lead.

The Saints wouldn't let the Yellowjackets hold the lead long, as Schmitt rushed for four yards to tie the game 6-6. And just about two minutes later, the Saints would take the lead as Lawther found Liddy with a 41-yard pass for the Saints' second touchdown and Clayton Fogler's kick was good for the 13-6 edge.

Will Varney found the end zone on a one-yard gain and Jordan Laudani's kick was good to knot the game once again, 13-13.

With 41 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Rose found Trey Johnson for the 31-yard catch and with a penalty, the Yellowjackets opted for the two-point conversion and took a 21-13 lead heading into the break.

St. Lawrence came out of the locker room and quickly put another touchdown on the board as Lawther sent the ball right to Liddy, who connected with Robert Coll for 48-yards. Fogler's kick was good and the Scarlet and Brown brought the game back within one with 11:55 to play in the third.

The Yellowjackets extended their lead on a 65-yard drive after Rose connected with Jackson Kane with an eight-yard pass to end the scoring in the third quarter giving Rochester a 28-20 lead.

The Saints opened scoring in the fourth quarter tying the game once again with a five-yard catch from TJ Cornacchia. St. Lawrence converted on the two-point conversion knotting it up at 28. Just about three minutes later Lawther found Cole Salyards with a 15-yard pass on a 22-yard drive for the 35-31 advantage.

Laudani tacked on a 37-yard field goal for the Yellowjackets, but fell short against the Saints.

Rose was 8-for-17 passing for 104 yards and tallied three touchdowns for the Yellowjackets, while Varney led the ground game with 114 yards rushing and Johnson led the receivers with five receptions for 83 yards. Simon Weeren finished with a team-best 10 tackles, while Andy Kristian finished with a sack for a loss of six yards.

Rochester finished with a slight 22-21 edge in first downs, while St. Lawrence finished with 364 total yards on offense to the Yellowjackets' 319. The Saints also converted on 6-of-12 third down opportunities.

The Saints improved to 3-5 overall and 1-3 in Liberty League play, while Rochester fell to 2-6 and 1-4, respectively.

St. Lawrence will take another road trip next weekend to face the RPI Engineers on Saturday, November 5 at 12 p.m.