Captains shine bright despite loss

Adam Baker/ The Captain's Log

While the rain was not enough to dampen the spirits of Christopher Newport players or the second largest crowd of fans in the school’s history, the Salisbury Sea Gulls managed to do it with their 27-23 come-from-behind win last Saturday. While the loss certainly stung the Captains as a team, the excitement of the football game was part of the larger celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Christopher Newport University’s founding. The game was also the first night game in the history of CNU and it seemed that the Captains were going to come away with a win under the lights.

The Captains held a 23-20 lead with 1:21 remaining in the game, when the Sea Gulls started their game-winning drive.

They marched down the field showing their passing game that had been mostly absent for the first three quarters, and eventually wound up with a 3rd down and 10 on the CNU 19-yard line. That’s when Salisbury junior quarterback Dan Griffin made the play of the game, throwing a fade to the back of the end zone that a diving Sea Gull, senior wide receiver Doug Ticse, held onto for the winning score.

“We practice it a lot, but we never think were going to have to use it,” stated Griffin. “But we did and it came out successful.”

Salisbury pounded CNU all night with their triple-option formation, in which two wing backs line up on either side of the quarterback. The quarterback then runs the ball and has the option to pitch it to either of the backs, depending on what he sees from the defense. Salisbury is averaging over 300 rushing yards a game on the season and, to a minor Captains credit, they only allowed 253.

“Our scout team did a heck of a job this week preparing us for them,” senior defensive end Dayne Washburn said. “We must have done a thousand reps against the triple option this week.”

Tyler Portell, the Captains sophomore linebacker who ended the game as the leading tackler, added that the triple option is “by far hardest offense I’ve ever had to go against.”

The Captains were looking to use their excellent running game too, and in particular sophomore running back Markeese Stovall who is averaging over 160 rushing yards a game this season. Stovall ran for 99 yards and one score, but it was the passing game that truly surprised the Sea Gulls. Junior quarterback Christian Woelfel-Monsivais has been known more as a runner so far this season but he stepped his game up, with big passes of 17, 21 and 36 yards. On the 36-yard completion, Woelfel-Mosivais let the ball fly towards the left side of the field and senior wide receiver Antonio Epps out-jumped his defender to snag the pass.

The Captains first got on the board with a touchdown run by sophomore half back Evan Moog from two yards out, which made the game 7-6 in favor of CNU. The teams then traded touchdowns until CNU took the lead 20-13 on a Stovall one-yard touchdown run. The score capped off a 9 play, 99-yard drive for the Captains. That was when it looked like the Captains would be taking home the victory. Sophomore defensive back Derek Britt blocked a Sea Gull punt and the Captains ended up with excellent field position, starting on the Salisbury 13.

Sophomore kicker Stephen Denuel nailed a 24-yard field goal that put the Captains up 23-13 with 9:27 left. After Salisbury failed to convert on a fourth down pass the Captains were in control and Salisbury would have to get the ball back and score quickly to have any hope of winning. That was exactly what the Sea Gulls had in mind though, as Griffin bombed a 73-yard pass to Sea Gull receiver Randal Smedley for a touchdown on the first play of their drive.

After the Captains pounced on a fumble, they had the ball at the Salisbury 27 with over two minutes still left to ice the game. The Sea Gull’s forced the Captains into a fourth down play, which CNU could not convert. Salisbury took over with only 1:25 remaining and that is when Griffin led them on a 6 play, 75-yard drive, culminating in the fantastic catch by Ticse to put the winning points on the board.

“We were fortunate to come up with some big plays to win the game,” Sea Gull head coach Sherman Wood said.

While the game was an intense, high-scoring contest, the overall play was sloppy and plagued with missed opportunities by both teams. Salisbury had four fumbles recovered by CNU and six overall for the game. While the rainy conditions may have been part of the problem, the Captains held onto the ball the entire game, allowing no turnovers. They did however commit eight penalties for 79-yards, many of which stalled drives that may have ended up with points.

“I think both teams didn’t take advantage of all their opportunities,” stated Wood.

Besides the long 73-yard touchdown from Griffin, the Captains out-passed Salisbury but the triple option running attack proved to be too much for the Captains defense to handle.

The bright spots were apparent for most of the game though and the team hopes to capitalize on lessons learned. “I thought we competed extremely hard and we improved as a football team from last week,” stated CNU head coach Matt Kelchner.

Christopher Newport University has a bye this week, but then head to Methodist University on Oct. 1 to start USA South play.

Posted by Darryl Fetz on Sep 21 2011. Filed under Featured, Football, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.