September 13, 2008

Red Devils pour it on to win soggy home opener

Boxscore

EUREKA — Eureka College ran over visiting Concordia University Chicago to the tune of 304 rushing yards Saturday afternoon as the Red Devils coasted to a 28-8 victory in their home opener. The 20-point margin of victory is Eureka's largest since October 16, 2004, a span of 36 games.

The game was contested in intermittent showers on a field that had already seen over five inches of rain in little over a week. The conditions did not seem to dampen the Red Devils' (1-1) fighting spirit on the day, however. They played the game without committing a turnover, while forcing two by the Cougars (1-1).

Eureka Head Coach Dan Sullivan said there was no mystery about why his team turned around from a 26-0 loss last week, "We played good, fundamental football," he said. "We blocked and tackled better, took care of the ball and created turnovers."

The opening kickoff foreshadowed for everyone what kind of a day it would be for both sides. The Concordia returner slipped on the wet turf, allowing the ball to sail over his head. The Cougars jumped on the free ball, but had to start on their own five.

After three punts, Eureka quarterback Nick Lindsey (Homer, Ill./Heritage), who has now five rushing touchdowns in three starts against Concordia, broke the first big play of the game, though he did not add to his scoring total. Lindsey faked a handoff and raced 60 yards before being tracked down inside the 10 where he fumbled the ball forward into the end zone. Only the hustle of the Red Devils' Zach McDade (Savoy, Ill./Arcola) saved the day as the wide received recovered the ball for a touchdown. The snap on the extra point was fumbled, keeping the score 6-0.

"He scored that touchdown because he hustled," said Sullivan of McDade. "Normally, Nick is going to out-run that guy, but if he isn't hustling downfield, it's a touchback or turnover."

Concordia's ensuing possession ended in almost the same way. On the ninth play of a 60-yard drive, Kevin Chesney was hit at the EC one and coughed the ball up. It rolled into the end zone where it was recovered by Tony Martin (Lexington, Ill./HS) for a touchback.

One play after a key fourth down conversion run by Lindsey, Brandon Ards (Orlando, Fla./Dr. Phillips) turned in the play of the day as he spun off a Cougar defender and found daylight down the sideline for a 58 yard touchdown run. Lindsey ran in the two-point conversion for a 14-0 Red Devils edge with six seconds left in the first quarter.

The conditions finally got the better of the Red Devils, at least for one play, in the second quarter when a snap went over the head of Lindsey into the end zone. The junior signal caller alertly tapped the ball out of bounds to give Concordia a safety. The Cougars then followed suit on fourth down in their next drive when a snap went over quarterback Mike Marotta's head for a 15 yard loss.

Eureka took advantage of another Concordia error late in the half. A wild pitch by Marotta was pounced on by Eureka's Raul Mendoza (Arcola, Ill./HS) giving EC possession on the Cougars' 21. Lindsey found Drew Whightsil (Vandalia, Ill./HS) for an 11 yard pass play to set up his first touchdown run of the day from seven yards out.

Already leading 20-2 with 3:21 remaining before halftime, Eureka kept on the offensive. As time expired, Lindsey, whose face mask was grabbed on the play, hit McDade for a 26 yard gain. The penalty extended the half one play, but Concordia escaped as EC could not punch it in from the seven.

The Red Devils padded their cushion early in the third quarter thanks to receiving good field position. Back-to-back sacks by Sean Smith (Mendota, Ill./HS) and a 15 yard punt gave EC the ball on the Eureka 47. Lindsey tossed to McDade again for 17 yards, then called his own number for the final 31 yards to the end zone. Ards found the goaline off tackle on the two-point conversion making the count 28-2 with 8:49 left in the frame.

From there, the Eureka defense frustrated the Cougars almost every time they threatened to make a game of it. The telling statistic shows up in red zone possessions. Five times Concordia made it to the Eureka 20 or closer, and all five times the Red Devils denied them any points. Only a 46 yard scoring run by Chris Corley with 10:29 to play in the game would brighten an otherwise gloomy day for Concordia, who fell to Eureka for the 16th time in the last 20 meetings.

Lindsey, who more than doubled his previous career high with 173 rushing yards, was simply too much for the Cougars to handle. With Ards also near the century mark with 94 yards, the Red Devils gained 304 yards on the muddy ground for an average of 6.2 yards per carry. McDade caught three passes for 59 yards.

Corley led Concordia with 143 yards rushing and a touchdown. But overall, the Cougars struggled to find traction, managing just 2.9 yards per carry on 47 rushing attempts. Marotta passed for a game high 123 yards despite being pressured into five sacks.

Matt Knake (Freeburg, Ill./HS) was a large reason for Concordia's struggles in the ground game as he recorded 15 tackles, including 1.5 for a loss. Fellow linebacker Tim Dowbrowski (Lansing, Ill./T.F. South) had nine tackles and a sack, while Smith added eights tackles and 1.5 sacks.

With the first season of SLIAC football on the horizon, Sullivan was not going to look too far ahead. "We still need to get better at the fundamentals of the game," he said. "We had more kids watching film this week than ever. Both coordinators put a nice game plan together and I am happy with the effort. There were a lot of kids with clean uniforms today that got dirty screaming for their teammates. That's a sign of a good team."

The Red Devils will take next week off to prepare for the start of conference play. Their next game will be at 1:00 pm on Saturday, September 27 at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.

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For More Information Contact:

Bryan Moore
Sports Information Director
Eureka College
300 E. College Avenue
Eureka, Illinois 61530
309-467-6456
bmoore@eureka.edu