Presentation Falls at Waldorf College
Forest City, IA
The PC Saints Football Team suffered their first loss of the season, 47-29 on the road at Waldorf College. The Saints took a 4 point lead into the half, but were outscored 22-7 after the break. Head Coach Andy Carr recognizing the effort his squad throughout the entire contest. "We never gave up. We did have a couple injuries early on, but our motto has been Next Man In, and we had guys step in and play quality minutes. The effort never let up."
2 of the injuries came early in this one. Senior WR Jalanni James and freshman TE Brendan Tow going down in the 1st quarter. James did return for a series, but was not 100% and was forced to the sidelines for the rest of the game. Tow was helped off the field and did not return.
The Saints won the toss and elected to defer. However, Gavin Voss's opening kick off sailed out of bounds, giving the Warriors the ball on the 35 yard line. They would drive 65 yards in 3 plays. RB Walter O'Neal finishing it off with a 49 yard TD run, the extra point from K Brennan Stack was no good, Waldorf led 6-0. Stack would miss 3 PAT's in the half. Coach Carr's offense responded on their very next possession. Will Vealy capping off a 4 play, 44 yard drive with a 28 yard score right up the gut of the Warriors' D, the point after was blocked, leaving it knotted at 6.
The Warriors answered right back. Head Coach Kent Anderson employed a no-huddle offense from the beginning of this one, and was able to find the gaps in the Saints Defense. They used a 3 pass, 4 rush drive that took them 56 yards in 1:50. QB Samuel Fisk capping it off with a 1 yard sneak for a 12-6 lead. He would add another before the end of the 1st quarter, giving Waldorf an 18-6 lead. Coach Carr noting after while you need to give them credit, his team certainly could have played better. "They're a well coached team, give them credit for how they executed. But we could have(should have) made a couple plays of our own to slow things down. A couple times we were out of position, and we know against a well coached team you can't do that."
Then with 4:37 left in the 1st quarter, the Saints offense and defense kicked into gear. Following Fisk's 2nd score, Junior Quarterback Stephen Braswell led a 10 play, 85 yard drive, hitting Sean Haderlie with a 14 yard TD strike. Voss' PAT was good, cutting the lead to 18-13. Then, just what the doctor ordered, the Saints Defense came up with the momentum changer; a turnover. Freshman DE Orlando Torres forcing the fumble by Lavelle Maddox. The Saints recover, and Voss would split the uprights from 22 yards out, that made it an 18-16 ball game. The Saints defense would turn the ball over on downs, and Braswell would drive them in for another 6. 6 plays 54 yards, he hit Haderlie for his 2nd touchdown. The Senior wideout making a great adjustment on the ball, coming up with a diving catch in the end zone. Voss added the point after, and PC hit the break up 22-18.
The start of the 3rd quarter however, was a sign of things to come. On the Saints first play from scrimmage, the exchange from Braswell to Vealy was not clean, it was a fumble recovered by Waldorf on the Saints 26 yard line. 3 plays later, Fisk bulled his way into the end zone from a yard out, Waldorf regained the lead, 25-22. They would add to that lead 2 possessions later. Mark Ballatori getting behind the secondary, Saints CB DeMarcus Cox leaping but could not come up with a deflection, Ballatori taking it 49 yards for the score, making it 32-22.
The Saints would then go into their bag of tricks. With just over 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, Senior S/P Cullen O'Brien faked the punt, tucked it and ran 24 yard for the 1st down, taking the ball out of bounds at the Waldorf 39. Five plays later, Braswell hit Freshman WR Lamar Brown from 7 yards out, the PAT made it a 1 score game, 32-29. On that fake punt, Coach Carr admitted sometimes you need to try a little bit of everything. "You can't say we keep all the bullets in the chamber" he mused. "We told Cullen if you see it, hit it. And that's what he did. It was a great effort on his part and special teams right there."
The Warriors however, would regain control of the game via their ground attack. The no huddle creating open lanes for their runners to burst through. Following a Stack 34 yard field goal, they would add 2 more scores on the ground. Fisk with a 15 yard run that made it 41-29. Darrion Neal capping it off with a 22 yarder with 7:33 left in the 4th. They gained a total of 379 yards on the ground, 679 yards total for the game. The Saints offense did put up 402 total yards, however they couldn't come up with key 3rd or 4th down conversions late. They fall 47-29 the final.
Presentation College (1-1) will get back at it next Saturday, 9/15/12 when they play host to Northwestern. Kick off is slated for 1:00pm. You can see all the action on the web, at https://www.ustream.tv/channel/saintsid.
