Offense comes alive, football nabs first win of the season
Posted by The Skyliner on October 7th, 2009Stephen Lane
Staff Writer
The North Greenville football team had the players, the defense and the effort. The one thing missing from that equation was the offense. The offense finally silenced the naysayers this weekend as the Crusaders defeated Edward Waters 28-0 on Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla.
Both the Crusaders and the Tigers came into the game with records of 0-5 looking for their first win of the season. The Tigers had high hopes that they would beat the Crusaders for the first time in their history and pick up their first win of the season. Unfortunately for the Edward Waters Tigers, history has a tendency to repeat itself.
The Crusaders came out of the gate sputtering on offense again, and it looked like the Crusaders were going to have another sub par game on offense. North Greenville coach Jamey Chadwell gave Aaron Seigler, sophomore business, the reigns on offense on the next drive, and from there the Crusaders scored a season-high 21 points.
All three touchdowns come by way of Siegler, two rushing and one passing. The Crusaders finished the game with 296 yards of total offense, with 263 of those yards coming on the ground. Both were season highs, but they also finished the game with a season-high eight fumbles, but only lost three.
Running back Montez Hatten, sophomore business, finished the game with a season-high 130 yards on 18 carries. Even though the offense played well, you cannot have a shut out without the defense playing great as well.
The Crusader defense held the Tigers to 239 yards of total offense, forcing five turnovers while pitching their first shutout of the year. The defense was put into some tough spots throughout the game, but always found a way to turn away the Tiger offense.
The play of the game on defense had to be when cornerback Jamarius Robinson, sophomore business, snagged the Crusaders’ second interception of the game and returned it 64 yards for a touchdown, giving the Crusaders a 21-0 lead going into halftime.
Damian Wright, graduate student, led the team with five tackles. Nick Rosomanda, sophomore sport management, and Andre Bernardi, senior sport management, each finished with 4.5 tackles. The Crusader football team felt like this was the break they had been looking for all season.
“It was good to see the offense put it together and finally win one. Hopefully, we can keep it going and finish the season strong,” wide receiver Mychal Cannon, sophomore sport management, said.
The Crusaders have their toughest game to date this Thursday against the third-ranked North Alabama Lions at 8 p.m. The Lions are coached by Terry Bowden, the younger brother of former Clemson coach Tommy Bowden and the son of Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, and are heavily favored in this game.
“This will be our toughest game of the season, but it is college football so anything can happen. But I’m looking forward to playing them,” cornerback Antwan Glenn, junior print media, said.
Tags: Fall 2009, Vol. 109 - Issue 5