Highlights are too few and far between in regular life for most people to be satisfied. Perhaps that’s why the sport of football is so beloved. There’s just something about watching men go head to head on a grid iron of glory that people connect with. Big hits, exciting plays and a favorite team taking it to their opponents is what people live for. Another thing that people seem to connect with is free stuff. Put both of those things together, and it’s a win-win situation.
The highlight of the day for this writer on Sunday was being charged absolutely nothing to attend a high school football game at Eastridge High School, where the hometown Lancers were scheduled to open their 2012 campaign against the Churchville-Chili Saints. Unfortunately for the visiting squad, Friday night’s highlights on the field were largely in favor of the home team, who trounced the Saints in a lopsided 49-13 victory at Lancer Stadium.
Aided by a high-octane rushing attack featuring an abundance of speed, a potent passing game and several electrifying special teams plays, the Lancers were able to score 35 points in the first half alone.
Despite being outscored by such a large margin, it was the Saints who looked to assert their dominance on their opponents early on. The coin toss dictated that Churchville-Chili would receive the ball on the opening kickoff. However, a squib kick by Eastridge bounced off of a Churchville player and the Lancers were able to recover the ball in enemy territory.
“We were squibbing it, basically,” said Eastridge head coach Chad Green. “We didn’t want to kick it deep to their returners, and it happened to go off the frontline man and we took advantage of it.”
It was certainly a surprising start to the football game, but the Saints defense responded nicely, forcing a three-and-out. Then they went to work on offense. After a first down run courtesy of senior running back Josh Powell, the offense found itself in a third-and-long situation on their own 23 yard line. Junior quarterback John Iacucci dropped back and bombed a deep pass down the far sideline where receiver Austen Correia was able to outrace the defensive back covering him and make an over-the-shoulder grab that he took into the end zone for a 67-yard touchdown strike.
The score had Churchville-chili fans buzzing, but the Lancers were able to silence the Saints faithful, scoring on their next possession with a big play of their own. On a second-and-long situation from their own 42 yard line, Lancers quarterback Alec Mortillaro bobbled the snap from his center. After scooping the ball up off the turf, Mortillaro rushed 58 yards downfield for six points. A failed two-point conversion allowed Churchville to keep the lead heading into their second offensive possession of the game.
Highlights are too few and far between in regular life for most people to be satisfied. Perhaps that’s why the sport of football is so beloved. There’s just something about watching men go head to head on a grid iron of glory that people connect with. Big hits, exciting plays and a favorite team taking it to their opponents is what people live for. Another thing that people seem to connect with is free stuff. Put both of those things together, and it’s a win-win situation.
The highlight of the day for this writer on Sunday was being charged absolutely nothing to attend a high school football game at Eastridge High School, where the hometown Lancers were scheduled to open their 2012 campaign against the Churchville-Chili Saints. Unfortunately for the visiting squad, Friday night’s highlights on the field were largely in favor of the home team, who trounced the Saints in a lopsided 49-13 victory at Lancer Stadium.
Aided by a high-octane rushing attack featuring an abundance of speed, a potent passing game and several electrifying special teams plays, the Lancers were able to score 35 points in the first half alone.
Despite being outscored by such a large margin, it was the Saints who looked to assert their dominance on their opponents early on. The coin toss dictated that Churchville-Chili would receive the ball on the opening kickoff. However, a squib kick by Eastridge bounced off of a Churchville player and the Lancers were able to recover the ball in enemy territory.
“We were squibbing it, basically,” said Eastridge head coach Chad Green. “We didn’t want to kick it deep to their returners, and it happened to go off the frontline man and we took advantage of it.”
It was certainly a surprising start to the football game, but the Saints defense responded nicely, forcing a three-and-out. Then they went to work on offense. After a first down run courtesy of senior running back Josh Powell, the offense found itself in a third-and-long situation on their own 23 yard line. Junior quarterback John Iacucci dropped back and bombed a deep pass down the far sideline where receiver Austen Correia was able to outrace the defensive back covering him and make an over-the-shoulder grab that he took into the end zone for a 67-yard touchdown strike.
The score had Churchville-chili fans buzzing, but the Lancers were able to silence the Saints faithful, scoring on their next possession with a big play of their own. On a second-and-long situation from their own 42 yard line, Lancers quarterback Alec Mortillaro bobbled the snap from his center. After scooping the ball up off the turf, Mortillaro rushed 58 yards downfield for six points. A failed two-point conversion allowed Churchville to keep the lead heading into their second offensive possession of the game.
The Saints offense was nowhere near as effective as they were on their first drive, though. A false start penalty on a third down made it impossible to make up the yardage needed for a first and the Saints were forced to punt. This drive was in essence a microcosm of Churchville’s offensive struggles for the remainder of the night: too many penalties, particularly false starts, coupled with mental errors and dropped passes that cost the team potential points. Save for their first possession of the second half, on which Iacucci converted a one-yard run for a touchdown following a 46-yard gain on the ground by Powell, the offense was unable to move the ball effectively.
Following the game, Saints head coach Paul Dick stated that the team needed to get back to basics to negate the many mistakes they made last night.
“We have to go back and work on the basics of what we’re doing, and on our fundamentals, and then just make sure that people don’t get scrambled,” said Dick. “I think we were a little nervous tonight and that caused a lot of mental errors so that, just work on the fundamentals, work on the basics and we’ll be fine,”
Taking full advantage of Churchville’s lapse in execution were the Lancers, who were scoring any way possible. On top of Mortillaro’s four touchdown passes and one rushing touchdown, Eastridge also recorded a safety, returned the ball for a touchdown on the ensuing free kick, and ended the scoring with a touchdown catch by fullback Jake Allen following a fumble by Iaccuci. A combination of several missed extra points and a missed two-point conversions helped to make the final score 49-13. Nearly everything seemed to work out in favor of the Lancers, which was something that Mortillaro pointed out.
“We were faking it, we were blocking it, and everything was just coming together like we had practiced it all week,” said Mortillaro. “I just read the blocks right. I give all the credit to the lineman because they were blocking everything good. Even when stuff went bad I just scrambled out of the pocket and they put some blocks out for me and I got some yards and got the first downs.”
At the end of the day, there were several factors that decided this game: home field advantage enjoyed by the Lancers, Eastridge’s team speed, and an inability for the Saints to cut down on costly mistakes. Coach Green was pleased with the way his team performed, especially for the first game of the season.
“It was a good start to our season,” Green said. “The first game of the season, you don’t really know what you have until those lights go on. We definitely have some things to work on, started off a little rough, had to shake off some rust, but we ended up coming out on top.”
