Mount defense a veteran crew By Clyde Hughes D3football.com When your football team is scoring 54.1 points a game and averaging 548.3 yards in total offense for the season, it’s easy to get caught up in those numbers and only think about offense. The scary thing about the Mount Union Purple Raiders this season has been that the defense has put up nearly as many impressive numbers as the offense. When Mount Union (14-0) takes on UW-Whitewater (13-1) Saturday for the Division III championship for the third consecutive year, the defense will be counted on to help the Purple Raiders get off to their accustomed quick start. Mount Union’s decorated safety Matt Kostelnik is one of the guys who can talk about the Purple Raiders 4-2-5 defense that has managed to keep teams off balanced and mostly out of the end zone for most of its games this season. Kostelnik, a second-team All-American last year, has 58 tackles this season, two interceptions and has blocked two punts. As a team, the Purple Raiders are holding opponents to 156.9 yards offensively per game (24.2 yards rushing) while giving up 5.2 points a contest. Against playoff competition, the defense has yielded 12.3 points a game while the offense is scoring 53.8 points a game. Kostelnik said the gaudy numbers has a lot to do with experience and becoming more comfortable with Mount Union’s defensive scheme. “A number of us have been playing for three years and we’ve been to two championships,” Kostelnik said. “We all know what we have to do and how to get things done. We’re use to counting on each other. We’ve been coached really well and I think it comes down to experience.” Kostelnik said players like defensive lineman Pat McCullough, the Purple Raiders leading tackler, Tony DeRiggi, and Matt Rees, have logged a lot of time in the Mount Union lineup over the past three years. He said that experience tends to spread throughout the entire defense. “With our experience, it’s easier to pick up on things a little quicker on what the other teams are doing,” Kostelnik said. “We watch film about two to three hours a day. We have a motto '11 as 1' and we enjoy playing as a group. I don’t think things feel different from the past two years.” Kostelnik credits Mount Union’s defensive coaches and players mastering the 4-2-5 defense with the current defensive numbers. The Purple Raiders set a new Division III record for fewest points allowed in the regular season, 24 in 10 games. That number includes seven shutouts. “The safeties are constantly moving around and constantly giving different looks and blitzing from a lot of different angles,” Kostelnik said. “It kind of keeps you guessing. In the 4-2-5, you can come from any angle. Sometimes it looks like a 4-4 defense and other times it looks like a 5-2. There’s a lot of different things you can do.” Kostelnik said because Mount Union has so many who have played the defense for the past three years, coaches have given them to ability to adjust assignments to fit what opposing offenses are doing. “(The experience) gives us more freedom to change up things and tell the coaches what we see out there and what we think we ought to do to get it done, instead of (coaches) just telling us what we have to do after each series,” Kostelnik said. “You get a better perspective because we give more input series after series.” Kostelnik said, though, UW-Whitewater will be Mount Union’s stiffest test of the season. He said the Purple Raiders will be challenged to stop tailback Justin Beaver, whose career rushing totals (6,335 yards in four years) ranks second all-time in Division III. He said Mount Union’s last two wins in championship games against Whitewater won’t matter when the teams step on the field this Saturday. “Whitewater has a great team and great players,” Kostelnik said. “They are strong, fast, with a great offensive line, a great runner and new skill guys. The quarterback looks like a great runner and he’s got a great arm. “They know what to expect from us and know what works against us. We’ll have our work cut out for us this weekend.” | |||
| Permalink | Dec 12, 2007 | |||
Defense still key for MUC Mount Union's offense rolls up numbers like you wouldn't believe. And even though the shutout streak is in the rear view mirror, the defense has performed lights-out all season long. That's due in no small part to some experienced starters, including safety Matt Kostelnik, who made his mark in Stagg Bowl XXXIV with a blocked punt that was returned for a touchdown against UW-Whitewater in the Purple Raiders' 35-16 victory. Learn about the Purple Raider defense and how its veterans get things done in a Road to Salem feature by Clyde Hughes.
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| Permalink | Dec 12, 2007 | |||
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