On Saturday, November 7, the #11 ranked Saint Xavier football team travelled to Arlington Heights to take on one of their biggest conference rivals: the #23 ranked Robert Morris University football team.
The absence of starting quarterback John Rhode would prove to be costly as the Cougars’ offense did not click for the majority of the game, resulting in the Cougars losing their regular season finale.
The Cougars would start the game with the ball after RMU chose to defer. On the first drive, the Cougars offense looked like they were not going to skip a beat with Rhode, driving all the RMU 35 yard line.
However, a false start on first down and a failed fourth down conversion attempt would keep the game tied at 0 after the Cougars first drive on offense. The key to the Cougars’ success all season has been their defense, as they have been stellar all year long and have allowed the Cougars to remain in many games this season.
This game was no different as the defense set the tone early, forcing RMU’s offense to go three and out on their first drive of the game. The Cougars’ offense would punt on their second drive of the game, but punter Joe Bailey would do a great job of flipping the field with a 52 yard punt that would force the Eagles to start their drive at their own 7 yard line.
With their opponent backed up, the Cougars’ defense looked to get another stop. Unfortunately, this would not happen as the Robert Morris offense would methodically dink and dump and run their way all the way down to SXU one yard line where they would punch it in to score the first touchdown of the game and to put the Cougars down 7-0.
The drive would start with 9:01 left in the first quarter and end with just 59 seconds left in the quarter. The quarter would end with the Cougars in possession of the ball, but down 7-0. At the start of the second quarter, the Cougars’ offense would once again do very little with the ball and punt the ball back to Robert Morris.
But once again, a great punt by Bailey would force RMU to start a drive from their own 7 yard line. Unlike their previous drive though, the Cougars’ defense would stuff the Eagle’ offense and force them to punt the ball. A bad punt by RMU would result in the Cougars’ offense setting up shop in Eagles’ territory at the 43 yard line.
With great starting field position, the Cougars’ offense would finally be able to create a scoring drive, which was capped of by a 10 yard touchdown run by replacement quarterback Dann Ladd to tie the game at 7-7 with 10:22 left in the first half.
Looking to respond, Robert Morris would attempt to drive down the field and get any points they could from this drive. But like so many times this season, the Cougars’ defense would deny their opponent attempt to score points and force yet another punt.
Despite the great play of the defense, the Cougars’ offense would once again go three and out and punt the ball back to the Robert Morris offense. This time they would start their drive at the SXU 49 yard line.
Once again, the Eagles would try to dunk and dump and run the ball down the field in hopes of getting a touchdown right before the end of the half. After allowing their opponents to drive all the way down to the SXU 18 yard line, they would need to get a huge stop in order to prevent Robert Morris from taking the lead.
The defense came up huge again, as defensive end Dimitri Joe would record a tackle for loss on 4th and 2 from the 18 yard line to send the game into the half tied at 7-7. On the first drive of the second half, the Cougars’ defense would do what they have done all season: shut down their opponent’s offense as a sack by defensive tackle Nick Cemeno would halt the Robert Morris drive and force them to punt.
The Cougars’ offense seemed that it would score on their first drive of the second half as they drove all the way down to the RMU 37 yard line, but they would punt the ball back to the Eagles’ offense.
After another drive where the Cougars’ defense stopped the Robert Morris offense, it would be the Cougars’ offense that finally broke through in the second half as they drove all the way into RMU territory.
The drive would end with a 22 yard touchdown pass from Ladd to wide receiver Ryan Carroll to give the Cougars a 14-7 lead with 6:26 left in the third quarter. This lead would not last long for the Cougars though as a big kickoff return by RMU would put the Eagles’ offense in Cougar territory to start their drive.
After two key and rare penalties against the Cougars’ defense, Robert Morris would score a touchdown from two yards out to tie the game at 14-14 with 3:35 left in the quarter. After a SXU punt, the Eagles would go into the final quarter of the game with the ball and tied at 14.
At the start of the fourth quarter, RMU would continue to drive down the field on the vaunted Cougars defense making it all the way to the SXU 16 yard line. On 3rd and 12 from the 16 yard line, the Cougars’ defense would once again come up with another clutch play, as defensive back Mark Williams would intercept a pass in the endzone for a touchback.
However, the offense’s inadequacies would prove to be the downfall of the Cougars as Ladd would fumble the ball back to the Eagles just two plays after the Cougars’ defense made a splendid play to intercept a pass.
With the great field position and with the Cougars’ offense losing all the momentum that their defense built for them, the Cougars defense would allow a 32 yard touchdown pass, allowing them to retake the lead at 21-14 with 8:08 left in the game.
The Cougars’ offense would then proceed to do nothing with the ball the rest of the way and a late touchdown would seal the game and give the Cougars a 28-14 loss in their regular season finale.
With the loss, the Cougars’ regular season concluded with a 7-3 record with a conference record of 4-1.
The Cougars’ postseason fate now lies in the hands of other teams as the only way they can win the league title is if both Robert Morris and St. Francis lose their games on Saturday, November 14.
A win by either team, or potentially both, could complicate things for the Cougars as they could either play a play-in game in case of a two way tie-breaker or rely on themselves being ranked higher than both those teams in the case of a three way tie-breaker.
John Romando
Senior News Editor