Minerva vs. Louisville      Sept 12th, 2009

 

 

With the exception of a couple of big plays given up by the Lep’s they played a very good game on Saturday. Minerva hit a long pass on their first drive and ended up scoring a couple of plays later to take an early 6-0 lead. The Lep’s next drive was halted when Dylan Wasosky took a screen pass 14 yds and came up just short of a first down. On Minerva’s ensuing possession Zac Whaley snuffed out a screen pass, intercepted it and took it 39 yds for a TD. Everyone thought they would see a celebration dance by Zac but the only thing he could do was make it to the sidelines for oxygen. 40 yards for a big guy might as well be a marathon. The score was tied at 6.

 

After a tough 3 and out by the tough Louisville “D” it was time for the Rocco Buccasso show. During the next possession Rocco caught 3 well thrown passes from Jon Crank including the go ahead touchdown to put the Lep’s up 12-6. Zach Schillig did a great job catching a tipped ball for a 2 pt conversion to make it 14-6.

 

Unfortunately the lead was short lived when Louisville had a break down on special teams and Minerva took the kickoff and returned it for a touchdown. The score at half was 14-14.

 

Minerva opened up the scoring in the second half to take a 20-14 lead. Not to be out done, Jake Sluss got us right back in the game with a nice kickoff return. Toby Minster then went to work with a very impressive drive. Toby started off with a pass to Adam Nees, who also drew a late hit penalty on the play. Minster then hit Matt Dunnerstick for a nice gain. Next up was a pass to Sluss in the middle. Cody McElroy caught the next pass and took it to the 4 yd line for a first and goal. Dylan Wasosky hammered it in from the 4 yd line on a powerful run to tie the game at 20 all. The “O” line did a great job on the drive. The front five consisted of Tyler Higgins, John Taggart, Tyler Dreher, Walter Stenroos and Sam Pickens.

 

After Minerva went 3 and out Louisville had the ball deep in their own territory. Facing a fourth down on our own 5 yd line Aaron Reynolds stepped with a big 56 yd punt and changed the field position for us. Minerva then went on a drive that put the test to the Louisville “D”. The Lep’s stepped up to the challenge. Minerva had first and goal on the 6 yard line and our guys up front slammed the door and stopped them on the 6” line on fourth down. The front five of Christian Duckworth, Jordan Cramer, Tyler Higgins, Zac Whaley and Tyler Dreher got a big push and disrupted the scoring attempt.

 

Louisville, facing first down from the 6” line did not have much room to work. On the first play Minerva loaded 7 men in the box, blitzed all 3 linebackers and tackled Crank in the backfield for a safety to take a 22-20 lead. This would end the scoring.

 

All in all we outplayed Minerva but couldn’t overcome a couple of big plays. This game saw the emergence of a couple of guys that have been quiet up until now. Rocco Buccasso did a great job of going up and getting the ball; Minerva could not cover him. The big third down catch he had on the scoring drive was a good one; leaping up and snagging a pass that was over his head. Jake Sluss also had a great game. He did well in the return game and had a couple of big hits on defense. Zac Whaley spent as much time in the Minerva backfield as their running back did. A game like this should put us back on track. Look for big things from JV this Saturday; which is a home game at 10:00 am.