From what I understand, last year’s NAIA Championship Game was held in the bottom of a swimming pool, a band box, and a monsoon all wrapped up in one.
That’s not to slam Savannah, Tennessee in any way. That’s just the feedback I was getting comparing last year’s home game to this year’s in Rome, Georgia.
It was cold. It was wet. It was small. And it never stopped.
The rematch of number one and number two was all it was supposed to be.
Two great defenses beating each other’s brains in… point blank…
You couldn’t make any mistakes if you wanted to win this one…
I slap you... you slap me back. I hit you. You try to hit me harder.
The Carroll College Saints ((pictured, thanks Lisa Kunkel/Helenair.com)) blinked first.
A blocked punt of all things broke the game wide open…
10-nothing at the half… and the USF Cougars were thirty minutes away from their eighth shutout of the year… Eighth shutout…? In 14 games…
Truly ridiculous…
Six sacks of freshman quarterback Matt Ritter… the linebackers were in the kid’s uniform from the first series… and standing on the sidelines you could hear the hitting from guys like Kyle Cummings, Marlon Lobban, and Tyler Newman all day.
I was talking, as I often do, to people who are far smarter than I am about the game. Since it was being played on something that resembled a Slip-n-Slide on the grass at Barron Stadium, I thought the game would be in the thirties. You know…? Offenses know where they’re going. The defenses have to play on their heels…
That kind of thing…
I was reminded of that fact after three quarters at 10-nothing…
“I thought you said this game was going to be played in the thirties…?”
Shorter Hawks Head Coach Phil Jones ribbed me about it.
“Yep, I was right on target. That’s why I’m only 55-percent on my picks for the season.”
And I don’t know what it is about fourth quarters in playoff or title games, but it seems that offenses just open up and do some uncharacteristic things.
In the playoffs for high schools the week before, I’m seeing teams that run the Delaware Wing-T throw like the University of Hawai’i. This time around, Sioux Falls QB Lorenzo Brown, who was their leading rusher on the day, completes one of his two throws on the day- 50-plus yards for another score to Jon Ryan to make it 17-zip.
Brown was two-for-six passing by the way… for the game…
If you don’t need to pass, don’t… Brown and USF didn’t…
Carroll goes to the hurry-up and it seemed to free Ritter up a bit. They scored to close the gap to 17-7, but Drew DeGroot picked Ritter’s pocket a little later and ran it back for a score. A last pick sealed the game and the win for the Cougars…
They got their revenge over Carroll from last year’s deal, but I honestly think they view the game as a separate gig from one year to the next.
And they were the ones to get to do that ceremonial last-slide across the field. Any last hope that all the USF uniforms would come home white and/or clean was gone by then.
“It was an awful, awful feeling last year watching them celebrate,” Sioux Falls senior linebacker Tyler Newman said. “To get to do it ourselves by sliding across the field this year was a great, great feeling. ... We wanted revenge on Carroll real bad.”
“It feels a lot better to have won,” said Cougars coach Kalen DeBoer. “I’m proud of these guys.”
And for the guy who played there and gets to coach there now, the pride goes a lot deeper than what he tells you.
The city of Rome put on a first-class show- no question…
Now if only they could work on that weather machine they’re building and have it ready for next year’s game, we’d be all set…
I’m tired of umbrellas and all-weather boots…
No comments:
Post a Comment