Credit: SXU Athletics
After falling behind 21-7 in the first quarter, the No. 10 Cougars managed 34 unanswered points to ultimately propel themselves to a 41-28 victory over MSFA Mid-West foe Saint Ambrose University. The win improves Saint Xavier’s record to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play.
Sophomore quarterback Alex Martinez got the start under center for head coach Mike Feminis after transfer junior Justin Hunniford suffered a knee sprain in the win against Trinity International last week. Martinez, who made his third start of the season and fourth appearance overall, finished 21-of-39 passing for 315 yards with four touchdowns and one interception.
The Cougars relied heavily on their passing attack, as they were missing their star running back, senior Mike Ivlow, due to a wrist injury. Sophomore Jamarri Watson and senior Esau Hemphill made admirable efforts in the ground game, but Saint Ambrose always seemed to have an answer on the afternoon.
Saint Xavier ran for a measly total of 15 yards rushing on 25 attempts, which calculates to a putrid 0.6 yards-per-carry. As a result, Martinez was asked to spread the ball to a plethora of receiving options in an effort to move the ball down field.
Among the options stood freshman Elliot Pipken. The 6’2” wide out has seen an increase in playing time as of late and capitalized on Saturday with a team-leading 103 receiving yards to accompany his first career touchdown.
“My confidence has been going up a lot,” Pipken said postgame. “After an injury with one of our receivers, the coaches just told me it’s time to step up. I feel like I have over the past few weeks and it’s only getting better and better.”
Trailing 21-13 at the start of the second quarter, Saint Xavier was looking for a spark. Starting their drive at the Cougars 37 yard-line, Pipken’s number was called on what ended up being a 63-yard touchdown.
“Basically, it was just a screen to me and I followed my blockers,” Pipken said. “I made a cut, turned up field and just took it from there.”
Pipken is one of seven wide receivers who make up Saint Xavier’s regular rotation. On Saturday, Martinez managed to complete at least one pass to seven different targets.
Consistency has been there all season long for the Cougar wide receivers. Averaging just under 300 yards per-game through the air, Pipken and his unit has Saint Xavier ranked 13th in the NAIA in passing offense.
“I feel like we’re getting better and better each week,” Pipken said of the wide receiver group. “We definitely still have work to do, but we make an effort in practice to get our technique down and work on running our routes better. Overall though, I feel like we’re performing well.”
Saint Xavier is known to be a quick-working group on offense. Typically, their game plan is to score as quickly as possible.
Often times as a result of that particular style, Saint Xavier’s defense will be asked to stay on the field for the majority of the contest. On Saturday versus the Bees, that idea stood pat as Saint Ambrose won the time of possession battle 37:25 to the Cougars’ 21:54.
“We were tired,” senior defensive back Robbie Brindley said postgame. “I felt like the defense was on the field pretty much the entire game.”
The defense, for the sixth time out of seven tries, held their opponents to under 30 points scoring. Overall, Saint Xavier was ranked in the top-10 in overall defense entering Saturday’s contest.
As the defensive line runs eight-to-10 men deep, along with a line backing core that is made up of talented starters Danny Saracco, Khristian Lett, and now a healthy Josh Hettiger, Saint Xavier has high praise for their front-seven. All the while, the Cougar secondary has really emerged over the last two weeks, as they continue to improve with a depth-filled unit.
“I feel like our DB group is the best we’ve had in a long time,” Brindley said. “We’re so fast and quick. We’re not the biggest guys, but we make up for it with our speed.”
In their last two contests, Saint Xavier’s secondary has combined for four total interceptions. Freshman Kevin Block had his interception streak broken at three games as he failed to haul one in against Saint Ambrose.
However, it was sophomore Trevon Anderson jumping the seam and creating a turnover on Saturday. With a 27-21 Cougar lead and 0:50 seconds remaining before the half, Anderson picked off Saint Ambrose quarterback Jake Romani and returned it to the house for a 59-yard touchdown.
The aforementioned pick-six acted as the turning point of the contest as Martinez and the Cougars managed the game well enough to eventually come away with a two-touchdown triumph. The new starting quarterback has improved his record to 2-1 as a starter this season and looks to lead his team through the final three regular season contests.
“I feel like he definitely got his confidence back,” Brindley said of Martinez. “He picked it up and showed that we can all trust him.”
“I met Alex this year and we’ve got a strong bond,” Pipken noted, as he continues to build a repertoire with the sophomore play caller. “We take the time to play catch a lot during practice, before practice, and a lot on the sidelines. It’s been good so far.”
It will be up to Martinez to finish up the regular season as the Saint Xavier starting quarterback. Two of the remaining three games will be played on the road, so the Cougars will need to work hard to earn an undefeated conference record this year.
Up next for the No. 10 team in the country is a road trip to University of Saint Francis (Ill.). The broadcast of the game can be heard on WXAV 88.3 FM and wxav.com on Saturday, October 28 beginning at 12:45 PM.
Mike Rankin
Sports Reporter