HANCOCK — A faster start and eliminating mistakes will be the mission of the Finlandia University football team its home opener Saturday afternoon.

The Lions will entertain Lawrence University at 1 p.m. at McAfee Field.

Finlandia allowed a game-opening touchdown kickoff return in its opening game against Concordia (Wis.) University and also turned the ball over five times.

“With our roster numbers and inexperience, we can’t afford a repeat of last week,” Lions coach Tim Driscoll said after the 42-6 defeat.

Lawrence dropped a 40-10 game to Presentation College last week. The Vikings stayed in the game until Presentation scored the final 26 points — all coming in the fourth quarter.

Finlandia received solid performances from a number of players last week.

Quarterback D’Liontae Johnson accounted for 162 yards of total offense and had his team’s only score on a 20-yard run.

Sophomore tailback Justin Woolever of FU rushed for 105 yards in the game.

On defense, juniors Dillon Hueckstaedt (Baraga), Jaavaid Love and Tyler Kangas all recorded 10 tackles.

Kangas (Manistique) led Lions receivers with five catches for 54 yards. He also averaged 45 yards per punt and got off a school record 63-yard punt.

“He (Kangas) is our jack-of-all trades,” Driscoll noted. “He does everything well.”

The Lions led Lawrence at half last season before dropping a 14-5 decision.

After this game, Finlandia will be idle until a Sept. 30 game at home versus Lewis-Clark College.