The Saint Xavier football team had a big first game this past Saturday, facing the defending NAIA national champion Marian University Knights, who entered the game ranked No. 2 in the nation.
It was quite the game to watch, as the Cougars came back from a two-touchdown first-half deficit to beat the Knights in overtime 31-24 in front of an electric home crowd at Bruce R. Deaton Memorial Field.
Saint Xavier received the opening kickoff and struggled to begin its first drive. After failing to make good on their first third down play of the game, coach Mike Feminis made a very gutsy call to fake the punt on fourth down.
Backup quarterback Robyn Pondexter took the direct snap and rambled down the sideline for a 63-yard gain.
On the very next play, running back Nick Pesek punched the ball in from three yards out to put the Cougars up 7-0 after the PAT.
The rest of the first half would be just about all Marian in terms of points, though the Cougars would start to get into an offensive groove toward the end of the first half.
Following a Pesek fumble, the Knights took over at the Cougars’ 33-yard line. Marian’s talented running back, Tevin Lake, was sharp early. He converted a third-and-two on that drive with an eight- yard run, then immediately followed it up with a 17-yard rushing touchdown to tie the game at 7-7.
Marian and their first-year coach, Mark Henninger, showed that the Cougars were not the only team to show up Saturday night with a bag of tricks.
Quarterback Joey Hecklinski took the opening snap of the Knights’ third offensive drive and lateraled to wide receiver Kameron Utter, who heaved a 24-yard touchdown pass to Marian’s standout wide receiver, Anthony Jones Jr.
The Knights would add a field goal before the end of the first quarter to increase their lead to 17-7.
The Cougars began to move the ball before the end of the first quarter. The drive, starting from their own 35-yard line, moved quickly as a result of a couple nice runs, including a 23-yard run from Pesek to put Saint Xavier in Marian territory.
The drive finally stalled when quarterback Joe Gill could not complete a third-and-five pass to freshman wide receiver Ryan Carroll.
This brought on kicker Spencer Nolen to try a 31-yard field goal. The Marian blocking unit, however, got better leverage than Saint Xavier’s field goal unit, allowing Dillon Dittemore to get in the backfield and block the kick.
The Cougars finally began to drive before the end of the first half. Gill, who was shaky to begin his first game taking over for 2012 Rawlings-NAIA National Football Player of the Year, Jimmy Coy, got on track and completed four consecutive passes to get SXU in field goal range.
This time, Nolen’s 25-yard field goal attempt went through the uprights to leave the Cougars down by just a touchdown.
After Lake scored another rushing touchdown to put Marian up 24-10, the Cougars drove down the field again—this time from their own four-yard line to the Knights’ 22-yard line.
With five seconds left, Nolen got his 39-yard attempt up and over potential Marian blockers, but missed the kick wide left.
Although Nolen only made one of his three field goal attempts, he was instrumental in keeping the Marian offense in check by playing the field position game on his five punts. He averaged 49.4 yards per punt, including a 57-yarder.
It was clear that the Cougars offense had gotten on track toward the end of the first half, despite putting up minimal points. The defense followed suit and came alive to shut down the Knights’ offense.
Coach Feminis was adamant before the game that the priority for the Cougars was to stop Lake, who ran for 183 yards but would not score in the second half.
In fact, Marian would not score at all in the second half. In addition to keeping Lake in check, the defense got consistent pressure on the quarterback after the first half.
The Cougars got to Hecklinski for a sack just once in the first half, but added six more in the second.
Lots of production came from the defensive tackle position, as Austin Copley had two sacks to go along with some pass deflections at the line. Greg Hayward put up another sack and an assist.
Senior inside linebacker Zach Dolph had 15 tackles, including a sack and an assist, and middle linebacker Alex Walters added another 13 tackles with a sack and an assist.
But offensively, the Cougars continued to progress as well. Usual linebacker Dave Marciano, lining up as the fullback in the Cougars’ offense, put them within a score with a one-yard plunge into the end zone just before the end of the third quarter.
They tried the same play from the Knights’ one-yard line on third down in the fourth quarter in an attempt to tie the game, but Marciano was stuffed.
On fourth down the handoff went to Pesek, who was likewise stuffed at the line.
After getting the ball back on a Marian punt, the Cougars drove from their own 21-yard line to score on an eight-yard touchdown pass from Gill to wide receiver Nick Debenedetti, who finished the game with eight catches for 104 yards.
This drive tied the game at 24-24 and was aided immensely by three penalties against the Knights, including an offside call that wiped out a 25-yard loss by Gill because of a bad snap.
Marian’s general second-half struggles could be attributed in large part to undisciplined play. The Knights committed four unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, plus an ill-advised personal foul where a Knight dislodged a Cougar’s helmet from his head late in the fourth quarter.
Marian tried to take the lead with a little over 30 seconds left when kicker Martin Waddick missed a 50-yard field goal attempt to effectively send the game to overtime.
Saint Xavier got the ball first and took over at the Marian 25-yard line. On the first play, they picked up a first down as a result of a defensive pass interference penalty.
Two plays later, Gill delivered a 13-yard strike to freshman Sean Jones to give the Cougars only their second lead of the game and their first since the first quarter.
It was all the Cougars would need to put away the defending champions.
Marian took over at the Saint Xavier 25-yard line and were immediately pushed back by the Cougar defense.
On third-and-eleven, Hecklinski dropped back to pass and right defensive end Paul Carey met him to force a fumble, which left defensive end Nick Cemeno fell on to recover possession for the Cougars and end the game.
This Saturday, the Cougars travel to Indianapolis to take on the University of Indianapolis Greyhounds at 5:00 pm. Saint Xavier will look to continue their winning ways against this non-conference opponent.
Tim Carroll
Senior Sports Editor