Ten minutes before the Siena Heights football team opened up the 2015 season at Lindenwood-Belleville, junior quarterback Nick Gilliam was trying to find some shade to cool down as senior QB Travis Zajkowski was expected to lead the offense onto the field.

There was only one problem: prior to the start of the game, Zajkowski was ruled inactive by coaching staff after it was determined he had a hairline fracture in his index finger that would keep him out five to six weeks. All of a sudden, this was Gilliam’s team.

“I was waiting for the game and Coach Lyall told me that Travis was hurt and I was starting,” Gilliam said about the unexpected start. “I was pretty shocked. I just started warming up, and the next thing you know, we are out on the field and it was game time.”

Gilliam made the most of his opportunity, completing 20 of 34 passes for 362 yards. Of those 20 completions, five of them resulted in touchdowns, three of which came in the third quarter alone. The five touchdowns thrown by Gilliam set a new school record for most touchdown passes thrown in a game. Thanks in large part to his performance, the Saints rolled past Lindenwood-Belleville by a final score of 45-20.

“I think it helped that it was a last second situation, so I didn’t really have the time to think about it and get nervous,” Gilliam said about the game. “As the backup you never know when you will get the start. You are always one play away. It was special to me because I had a lot of family in town since the game took place only two hours away from my hometown of Greencastle, Ind.”

Gilliam followed up his first career start with another impressive performance against Missouri Baptist in the Saints home opener. He completed 21 of 30 passes for three touchdowns and 265 yards. His performance led to another Siena Heights victory, this time resulting in a 42-35 score.

“This is the best offense we’ve had since Siena Heights has been a program,” Gilliam said. “We know the talent we have is unbelievable. To start this season we didn’t receive any votes to be ranked, so that gave us a little chip on our shoulder to perform.”

With eight more games left on the schedule, Gilliam is optimistic as to what his team can achieve.

“Another conference title is certainly an expectation,” he said. “Beyond that, it is time so start looking at a national championship, and I think everyone on this team sees that as possible.”