Game Summary: You would be hard-pressed to find a more gritty peformance by a running back than the one turned in by Nick O'Brien in WA's 26-13 defeat of Meyers. O'Brien led the Green and Gold with 182 yards on 27 carries. He also tallied all four touchdowns for WA-- three on the ground and one in the air. Those 182 rushing yards weren't easy yards-- O'Brien runs fearlessly into the hole at full speed--sometimes its there, and sometimes it isn't. When it's there, he can rip off a 48 yard touchdown run as he did in the first quarter. When there's no hole--he slices, whirls, and slithers his 150 lb frame for 5 or 10 yards. Clearly, the Mohawks were keying on O'Brien, and were laying some hard licks on him--but they couldn't stop him. It was quite an amazing performance.
The game itself was uncomfortably close. After the Warriors jumped out to a 12-0 lead halfway into the first quarter, it looked like they might be able to cruise to their third straight victory. Meyers couldn't get much going in the first half offensively, as the Warriors stopped the Mohawk running game cold. However, the Warrior offense sputtered in the second quarter as Meyers stacked the box with 8 players and played to stop the run. WA couldn't take advantage as the Warriors couldn't click on any big pass plays. Give the Mohawks some credit hear--they covered the Warrior receivers pretty well, and had a big interception on a halfback option pass.
After the Warriors fumbled the ball away on the first drive of the second half, the Mohawks drove the ball down the field for a TD making the score 12-6. You could almost hear the crowd collectively thinking "oh-no". The Warrior defense held fast in the third quarter as both teams knew they were in a dogfight entering the fourth quarter. Late in the third quarter, Meyers punted the ball from about midfield and downed it inside the Warrior five yard line. With their backs against the wall, the Warriors did what they do best--give the ball to O'Brien, and let him run. In a 12 play drive, O'Brien ran the ball 10 times, slicing off 5 to 10 very tough yards a carry. Finally, from the Mohawks 10 yard line, Murphy handed the ball to O'Brien who sliced through the defense for a TD. This gave the Warriors seemingly enough breathing room with an 18-6 lead with 7 minutes remaining in the contest.
Meyers, who showed a lot of grit of their own, came out passing and did an excellent job of finding the seams in the Warrior secondary. They struck for a 42 yard TD pass with 4:22 to play, and the Warriors were not yet out of the woods, holding on to a precarious 18-13 lead. A failed on-side kick gave the Warriors good field position around midfield. The Warriors drove the ball to the Mohawk 30 yard line and faced a fourth and 8. Murphy rolled out to his right, setting up what looked to be a pass right. At the same time, O'Brien slipped out of the backfield down the left sideline. Murphy heaved the ball off balance back to his left. A Mohawk defender who had the play covered, slipped at about the 10 yard line. O'Brien made a tremendously athletic play by catching the ball as he simultaneously jumped over the Mohawk defender. He glided into the end zone and the victory was sealed.
Odds and Ends: The defensive line did a great job stopping the run as Meyers ran for 66 yards on 26 carries. Sophomore Joe Erzar did a nice job at defensive tackle substituting for an injured EJ Driving Hawk. Kudos to the offensive line for opening up holes for O'Brien. Rob Russick made a nice catch on 2 point conversion pass from Chris Murphy. Russick and Tim Somers continue to contain well as defensive ends. Julian Campenni recovered a Nick O'Brien fumble, and also recovered the live ball that bounced off the helmet of Cody Nowicki. Kody Nowicki made a key defensive play in the fourth quarter. After a Meyers completion, Nowicki stripped the ball from the ball carrier and recovered the ensuing fumble. |
