For three-and-a-half quarters Saturday, it was a Homecoming to forget for the Bees. But St. Ambrose came to life over the final eight minutes, nearly rallying for an improbable win.

Trailing 36-10 in the fourth, SAU got within 36-30 and had the ball with less than two minutes to play, before the magic ran out at Brady Street Stadium. Lawrence Tech held on for the 36-30 win to drop St. Ambrose to 0-3 on the year.

Battling a steady rain with occasional downpours, the Bees didn't offer much resistence in falling behind 36-10 two minutes into the fourth quarter. At that point, the Blue Devils had rolled up more than 500 yards of offense and the Bees were well under 200 total yards. A punt on SAU's next possession seemed to put the final nail in the Bees' coffin.

After getting a stop, the Bees got the ball back on their own 20-yard line, down 26 points, with under 11 minutes to play.

Tom Casey engineered an 80-yard scoring drive, capped by a 26-yard touchdown pass to Nolan Bielskis on a 4th-and-12 play on cut the deficit to 36-16 with eight minutes left.

After a defensive stop, SAU started at its own 28-yard line and marched 72 yards. Casey found Yemi Ward on a 23-yard scoring strike to pull the Bees to within 36-23 with 3:34 on the clock.

On Lawrence Tech's second play, Jonathan Thurman pounced on a fumble, and seconds later, Casey and Ward connected on another scoring play, this one of 57 yards, to cut the deficit to 36-30 with 3:08 still on the clock.

St. Ambrose was unsuccessful on a third straight onside kick, but the Bees got the stop they needed when DJ Oshin and Rolando Sepulveda stuffed the runner on a 4th-and-1 play at the SAU 19 with 1:28 remaining. Casey immediately found Ward for 16 yards to get the Bees up to the 35-yard line. But that would be it for the Bees as Casey could not hit Ward on the sideline on a 4th-and-10 play that gave the ball back to the Blue Devils, who were able to take a knee to escape with the win.

It was quite a turnaround for a St. Ambrose team that watched Lawrence Tech go 96 yards to take a 7-0 lead on the first possession of the game. The Devils went up 14-0 before Casey found Ward for a 59-yard touchdown reception, their first of three touchdown connections on the afternoon, to get the Bees on the board. 

LTU led 21-7 at the half. Joe Namio booted a 45-yard field goal in the third quarter before the Blue Devils added two touchdowns to build what seemed to be an insurmountable 36-10 lead in the fourth.

The late surge allowed SAU to finish with 368 yards of total offense. LTU finished with 561 yards. 

Casey completed 11 passes for 284 yards and the four touchdowns. Ward had four catches for 155 yards and the three TDs. Bielskis, Ray Bouye III and Demetrius Coleman each had two receptions.

T'Nahleg Hall rushed for a team-high 55 yards. Kaden King added 31 yards on the ground.

Zak Alberts led the defense with 12 total tackles. Max Gourley had 11. De'Viann Titus-Porter and Sepulveda were each in on seven tackles, while Vince Shaw and Jake Strater were credited with six tackles apiece.

After a bye week, St. Ambrose will open MSFA Midwest League play at Trinity International on Oct. 1.