Newsfeed
Printer-Friendly ModeCards axe Timberwolves
November 14, 2005 —
Some members of the SVSU football team do not know a thing about the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks, but they are excited to be playing them this Saturday.
This not so surprising information was revealed after the Cardinals' 31-16 victory over Northwood in the first round of the NCAA Division II Playoffs on Saturday. It was SVSU's second victory over the rival Timberwolves this season.
"This was a great win," said sophomore quarterback Chris Dougherty, who finished the game 21-of-30 for 281 yards and four touchdowns. "It's hard to beat a team twice in one season."
Saturday's game played out completely opposite from the Cardinals' 9-7 victory on Aug. 27. In that game, SVSU needed a 69-yard touchdown pass in the final minute to win a game in which both offenses struggled. This game saw the Cardinals put up 475 yards of total offense.
"We knew going in they would be much better offensively," said Timberwolves coach Pat Riepma.
Dougherty started the game 7-of-7 for 117 yards and two touchdowns as the Cardinals built a 14-3 lead early in the second quarter. It was a stark difference from the Week 1 win in Midland, when he struggled in his first football game in almost five years.
"We were just taking what they were giving us," said Dougherty, who acknowledged that he was "a lot more nervous" in the teams' first meeting.
"I felt good about the offense moving the ball, and had confidence we would continue to move it," Cardinals coach Randy Awrey said. "In the first game we couldn't get anything going."
Northwood was able to keep the game close in the first half by capitalizing on two critical SVSU fumbles. The Timberwolves scored all of their points off Cardinals turnovers, as Dougherty also threw an interception early in the third quarter.
The Cardinals dominated the first half in terms of yards, as they gained 267 to Northwood's 138. The turnovers prevented them from opening up a larger lead.
"There were a lot of things we could have capitalized on," said Timberwolves senior running back Chris Gruse, who finished the game with 156 yards on just eight carries.
Gruse broke several long runs in the first half, running for 72 yards on five carries. It was his second rush of the second half, however, that pulled the Timberwolves within five. Northwood pulled a tackle to the left side of the formation, and Gruse took the handoff 76 yards for a score. That put the score at 21-16, but the Timberwolves went for the two-point conversion to make it a three-point game and failed.
"That was a great play," Gruse said. "I thought it could have changed the game."
The Cardinals responded with a 10-play, 55-yard drive that ended on a field goal by sophomore Bobby Belmonte, pushing the lead back to eight.
"They responded well," Riepma said. "That is what good teams do. We had our chances, but we didn't execute well enough."
The Northwood offense was able to produce 309 yards for the game, 279 of which came through the option-oriented rushing attack. Quarterbacks Kyle Kolbe and Eric Chrisinske were held to just 30 yards total through the air on 4-of-15 passing.
"I thought we had some open guys, but things just fell through," Gruse said. "We ran the same game plan, but they just executed better."
In the first meeting, Cardinals senior linebacker John DiGiorgio led the team with 13 tackles. This time around, SVSU's defensive line led the way, as senior defensive tackle Chad Steele had 10 tackles and a forced fumble and junior nose tackle Damion DeRosia had eight.
"Their defensive line played great," Riepma said. "We were very conscious of getting (blockers) on their linebackers, especially DiGiorgio."
Excluding Gruse's long touchdown run, the Timberwolves gained 203 yards rushing on 47 carries, a 4.3-yard average. Steele said it helped that the Cardinals were playing against the option for a second time this season.
"The more you see the option and practice against it, the better you play," he said. "It is just assignment football."
The Cardinals' rushing attack had one of its best games of the season, gaining 194 yards on 47 attempts.
Senior Logan Barnhart rushed 24 times for 135 yards, 53 of which came during a nine-play, 77-yard scoring drive to push the lead to 15 with 1:37 left in the game.
"Our line played great, they made some good holes," Dougherty said. He added that lining up under center, something he rarely did most of the season, helps Barnhart and the other senior backs on the team, Bart Bennett and Justin Barcey.
Two of Dougherty's four TD passes went to freshman Tony Awrey, who had just two catches in the last two games of the season. Awrey began the season playing behind senior Mark LaFreniere, but when he went down with an injury, Awrey became a starter.
"I didn't know what to expect," he said. "I was just hoping to learn as much as I could from Laffy. Once he went down I started thinking more, and that kind of got me in trouble. I was running the wrong routes. Before (Saturday's game) I just said I was going to go out and play."
Awrey caught Dougherty's first scoring pass of the game, a 31-yarder just four minutes into the game. It was the first touchdown Northwood had allowed in the first quarter all season, and just the third time the Timberwolves had allowed an opponent to score in the opening stanza.
Senior wide receiver Jermaine Jackson also helped Dougherty's cause, catching nine balls for 96 yards and a score. Barcey caught the other touchdown.
Riepma emphasized how much he felt the Cardinals' offense had improved over the course of the season, calling SVSU a "well-rounded team." Awrey agreed, mentioning that the team's growth was two-fold.
"It has been not only our players learning and playing to the high level we expected of them, but it also took our coaches time to figure out what this specific group of kids could do," he said.
"During the first game we wanted to win with defense and special teams," he added. "Now we're working both sides of the ball."
The Cardinals are hoping that balance will help them against Nebraska Omaha, which finished in a four-way tie for the North Central Conference championship. The game is scheduled to begin at 12:05 p.m. central time.
The Mavs, seeded second in the Northwest Region at 8-2, are appearing in the playoffs for the first time since 2001. They are coming off a win three weeks ago at then-undefeated and top-ranked North Dakota that propelled them to the second seed.
They averaged over 36 points and 431 yards per game throughout the season, but have also given up 264 yards through the air and 356 yards total per game.
The Mavericks were blown out at South Dakota on Sept. 24, 59-14, and lost a close game at Minnesota-Duluth on Oct. 8, 38-35.
If the Cardinals come out with a win, they will either end up back at Grand Valley for a rematch against the Lakers, or will host North Dakota. But SVSU is simply looking ahead to this Saturday's game."It's going to be exciting," Steele said. "We just have to play Cardinal football."
Dougherty added that while he does not have the scouting report on the Mavs yet, playing on the road in the playoffs is exciting. Helping matters is that Omaha is just two and a half hours away from where he graduated in Grinnell, Iowa.
The team will be taking a plane trip to Omaha. Because the trip is longer than 500 miles, the NCAA pays for the transportation there.
"The plane ride should be a good team bonding trip," Barnhart said. "I'm excited. We just need to keep doing what we're doing."