Saturday Gazette Mail
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September 08, 2007 |
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Defense
sparks GW win · Patriots 3-0 after 35-14
decision over Nitro |
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By Rick Ryan |
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Who needs a big-play offense when
you have a big-play defense? George Washington scored a pair of
defensive touchdowns in the first half Friday night and pressured Nitro
quarterback Michael Scott the entire way in running up a 35-14 victory at Laidley Field. The unbeaten Patriots (3-0) turned
in a pair of 100-yard efforts on the ground, with tailback Christian Perkins
gaining 123 yards on 32 carries and fullback Chris Vance adding 101 yards on
19 attempts. Vance ran for two touchdowns and Perkins one, all of them coming
on 1-yard runs. But the big story was the GW
defense, which has now held three explosive offenses — Capital, South
Charleston and Nitro — to a total of five TDs, well under their respective
averages. “We take a lot of pride in our
defense,’’ said GW end Beau Wilson. “We’re just trying to go out and prove
ourselves. Everybody was doubting us at the
beginning of the year. We’re just trying to show everybody we’re coming to
play this year.’’ The Patriots broke a 7-all tie in
the second quarter with back-to-back defensive scores. Tyler Giacomo
recovered a fumble in Nitro’s end zone and, less than four minutes later, Ben Huffman picked off a pass and brought it back
17 yards for a score. Wilson nearly made it a triple, as he returned an
interception 50 yards for an apparent TD late in the game, but the return was
called back by an illegal block. Scott, who was intercepted just
once and not sacked in Nitro’s opening win at Poca,
was picked off three times and sacked four times in the first half alone as
GW took a 21-7 lead. He ended up throwing four interceptions. Following the opener, Nitro had
spent its entire off week focusing on defense, as it had allowed Poca to run for more than 300 yards. Wildcats coach Scott
Tinsley said the layoff seemed to affect his offense. “I’ll take all the blame for
this,’’ Tinsley said. “We didn’t practice any offense during the open week
and I think it really showed tonight. We were really poor at the line of
scrimmage and executing the offense.’’ How bad did it get for Nitro?
Facing a fourth-and-1 at midfield in the third quarter, the Wildcats elected
to go for the first down and Scott tried to get GW’s defenders to jump
offside with a hard count. He ended up luring one of his own receivers to
flinch, costing Nitro five yards. Scott scrambled on the next play, but
failed to get the necessary yardage. Scott rallied some in the second
half, completing 10 straight passes at one point, and wound up 17-of-32 for
232 yards. He heaved a 79-yard touchdown pass to Brett McClanahan on Nitro’s
third play of the game and scored on a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter. McClanahan caught eight passes for
176 yards and Marcos Valentine landed six balls for 48 yards for Nitro (1-1). George Washington’s defense was in
command so much that the Patriots never really needed to throw the ball very
often. Quarterback Drew Kinder, who had turned in some big plays in the
Patriots’ first two games, hit on 5-of-11 passes Friday for 52 yards with one
interception. Picking off passes for the
Patriots were Huffman, Wilson, Michael Tucker and Greg Jones, the latter in
his own end zone. Collecting sacks were Wilson, Vance Brock Heffelfinger and Rodney Hudson. A 3-0 record will likely get GW a
high ranking when the SSAC releases its first set of Class AAA playoff
ratings next week, but Wilson said the Patriots don’t want to get ahead of
themselves. They’re only focusing on next week’s game. “It feels good,’’ he said. “We’ve
worked our butts off in the offseason, and it’s really paying off. But we
haven’t done anything yet. We’re just looking at Greenbrier East.’’ To contact staff writer Rick Ryan,
use e-mail or call 348-5175. |