Under Friday Night Lights at Huskies Stadium in Halifax, the Saint Mary’s Huskies had a lot to be thankful for as they rolled out a win against the Mount Allison Mounties 43-7.
With the win, the Huskies are now 2-3 on the season.Β As a result of the loss, the Mounties slide to the bottom of the AUS conference with a 1-4 record.
With the win, the Huskies are now 2-3 on the season.Β As a result of the loss, the Mounties slide to the bottom of the AUS conference with a 1-4 record.
The Huskies got to work very early in the first quarter when receiver Matthew Simich (Whitby, ON) caught a 25 yard touchdown pass from pivot Drew Jacobson (Scandia, AB) at 2:24.Β Later in the quarter the Huskies quarterback scored a major on a one yard run.
After scoring a team safety in the second quarter, the Huskies once again found the end zone in the last minute of the half.Β Jacobson connected with receiver Carl Fitzgerald (Peterborough, ON) for a 23 yard touchdown reception to give the Huskies a 23-0 lead at the half.
The second half started the same way the first half ended with the Huskies scoring early when running backΒ Melvin Abankwah (Etobicoke, ON) powered his way down the field for a 53 yard touchdown run.Β During the third quarter, kicker Brett Lauther (Truro, NS) was successful on two consecutive field goal attempts (10 yards and 23 yards) give the Huskies a 36-0 lead.
However, the Mounties finally got on the scoreboard in the first minute of the fourth quarter as rookie running back Jordan Botel (Prince, George, BC) rushed in for a two yard major.Β The final score of the game was on a special teams βmishapβ.Β Lauther’s 44 yard field goal attempt was wide however the Mounties fumbled the ball and defensive back Neil King (Edmonton, AB) recovered it for a touchdown in the end zone to round out the scoring.
Rob Juvenville (Oshawa, ON) led the Huskies defensive unit with ten solo tackles, while linebacker Matt Lalande (Millet, AB) chipped in with six solo tackles and four assisted tackles in the victory.Β Linebacker Kyle Norris (Stittsville, ON) caught an interception and had a 14 yard fumble recovery while defensive lineman Prince Baffoh (Hamilton, ON) forced a fumble in the game.
In his post-game assessment, Huskies head coach Perry Marchese said the key to the team’s victory on Friday night was their success in executing the offensive βgame planβ early in the game.
“I think we did a very good job of again running the football early,” reflected Marchese.Β “We’ve got four or five really good running backs so it’s really nice to get all the guys involved.”
“That was a big part of the early success.”
Jacobson has come into his own as the starting quarterback for the Huskies.Β In his third start for the Huskies, the pivot had 13 completions in 23 attempts, 173 passing yards, two passing touchdowns and two interceptions.
“It’s really good for Drew, but one of the things that we know we’re going to have do is throw the ball eventually,” said the Huskies head coach.Β “We can run the ball so the more we run the ball, the better, if we’re moving sticks but it’s three down football and you do have to throw the football so we’re trying to ease him in, and get him some easier throws.”
“He throws a very good deep ball, so we just want to make sure we give him an opportunity to complete some good passes and pick up some confidence as he plays.”
Abankwah was named player of the game for his efforts on the field.Β He rushed for 152 yards on 11 carries and scored a touchdown to lead the Huskies to victory.
“Between Melvin Abankwah, Mike Dawes, Jesse Lacle and Dave Sabourin, we’ve got four great tailbacks that bring a lot to the table,” added Marchese.Β “They’re all just a little bit different, but Melvin would be more of the slasher, the explosive guy and he showed a little bit of that today.”
While the team had a decisive victory, one area of concern was the number of turnovers in the game, especially in the first half.
“There are still far too many turnovers for us,” explained the Huskies head coach.Β “We’re doing a bit of a better job, but we’re still making far too many, especially in the score zone.”
“Turnovers in any place aren’t very good but turnovers in the score zone can be particularly disappointing because you’re taking points off the board.Β We were in field goal range and we have a fantastic field goal kicker but then again, we want to gain some confidence and need to throw the football, so it might happen.”
There were a number of Huskies players that were banged up during the game.Β Of note, two players, defensive lineman Spencer Hill (London, Ontario) and defensive back Tony DiPhillippo (Portland, Maine) suffered what appeared to be serious knee injuries. Also, Jahmeek Taylor, who was in search of the conference punt return yardage record, went out early in the game and by half time was in his street clothes.
“It’s football season, there’s going to be injuries and unfortunately there’s season ending injuries from time to time,” commented Marchese of the injuries.Β “It’s a little bit early to assess because sometimes knees aren’t quite what you think they are, but we had two guys with what looked like fairly serious knee injuries.”
“We’ll see how it works out for them, but I really hope for those guys, it isn’t as serious as we might suspect.”
In the coming days, the Huskies will continue to shore up key areas of their game before their rematch against the Mounties in New Brunswick on Saturday October 13th, 2012.
“It’s the same as always; we’ll put our heads down and get back to work,” said the Huskies head coach.Β “We’ll continue to run the football and give Drew some opportunities to throw the football.”
“Our defense will continue to get after the quarterback and create turnovers themselves.Β Our special teams will just continue to work hard as they’ve been an important part of our game.”
As for the Mounties, there were two key areas that affected their play on Friday night.
“We came out slow,” assessed Mounties head coach Kelly Jeffrey after the game.Β “We wanted to play a little bit better than we did, but we made too many mistakes.”
Like the Huskies, the Mounties have seen their starting quarterback change during this season.Β With Jake Hotchkiss’ departure, Brandon Leyh (New Westminster, BC) has stepped in and has dealt with the adjustment well.Β In Friday’s start, the pivot had 11 completions in 22 attempts, 124 passing yards and one touchdown.
“He’s got some serious tools,” commented the Mounties head coach of the starting pivot.Β “We need to do some things better in terms of protecting him, get some better routs but he’s got some tools and he’s improving every week.”
Even though the team lost the game, one bright spot was the play of their defensive unit on Friday night.
“I think once we settled in, we played pretty well,” added Jeffrey.Β “Saint Mary’s has got a good team.”
“They’ve got a lot of talented kids on the team.”
Ultimately, the Mounties took away positives from the game, in spite of the loss.
“We can possibly take away the fact that we can get better every week and that’s the goal,β reflected the Mounties head coach.Β “We’re not too much worried about the scoreboard or the record as much as playing well, but we didn’t play well today.”
There will be I’m sure many, many positives as we look through the game film.Β I think in every game, there are positives to take away and we’re going to do that for sure.”
Turnovers, penalties will be among the areas the Mounties will focus on improving on as the team directs their focus to next week’s rematch against the Huskies.
“Our turnover margin is very important for us,” said Jeffrey.Β “We want to be plus two as a team goal every week and we didn’t do that today.”
“We want to be better in turnover margin.Β We’ve got to limit our penalties.Β We’d like to come out faster in the first half.Β That’s something we want to do in the future.”
“We want to be better in turnover margin.Β We’ve got to limit our penalties.Β We’d like to come out faster in the first half.Β That’s something we want to do in the future.”
Photo credits Joe Chrvala
(website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jchrvala)
(twitter: http://twitter.com/vohra_ameeta)
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