On September 19, the #8 ranked Saint Xavier football team played the #20 ranked Webber International University football team. The game was a nail-biter that had the Cougars once again come through with late game heroics.
The first drive of the game showed promise for the Cougars after wide receiver Stephen Simms returned the opening kickoff 56 yards to the Webber International 37 yard line. The drive stalled however, forcing the Cougars to settle for a field goal attempt.
Kicker Abdul Madhi missed his 46 yard field goal attempt though, keeping the game tied at 0-0 with 12:21 left in the first quarter. After a stop by the Cougar defense, the offense got the ball back at their own four yard line.
Unfortunately they would not be able to move the ball at all and on the ensuing punt, they set up Webber International at the Saint Xavier 25 yard line. The Warriors capitalized on this great field position, scoring a touchdown to take a 7-0 lead over the Cougars with 7:49 left in the first quarter.
The Cougars’ offense attempted to answer back, taking the ball all the way down to the Webber International 31 yard line. However, a holding and illegal block penalty halted the drive and forced the Cougars to punt the ball away.
On Webber International’s next drive they scored again, this time on a 66 yard touchdown run, to extend their lead to 14-0. The first quarter ended with the Warriors leading the Cougars 14-0.
At the start of the second quarter, Webber International drove down the field and got all the way to the Saint Xavier 38 yard line. However, that was as far as they would get as the Cougars’ defense stopped them on 4th and 1 to keep the score within reach at 14-0.
With newfound confidence and momentum, the Cougars’ offense took the field for their first drive of the second quarter and drove down the field to score a touchdown to cut their deficit to 14-7. The touchdown was scored on a touchdown pass from quarterback John Rhode to wide receiver Randall Wells.
Webber International would not wait long to answer back, scoring a touchdown on the next drive to take a 20-7 lead after a missed extra point with 7:43 left in the half. On St Xavier’s next drive, running back Nick Borga fumbled, setting Webber International up at the Saint Xavier 40 yard line.
From there, Webber drove all the way down to the Saint Xavier six yard line. However, a huge tackle for loss and sack on 2nd and 3rd down forced Webber International to attempt a field goal. Their kicker missed the field goal short, keeping the score at 20-7.
With another boost of momentum after the missed field goal, Saint Xavier drove down the field and scored a touchdown off of another Rhode touchdown pass, this time to wide receiver Mark Strbjak to cut their deficit to 20-14 with 1:53 left in the half.
With so little time left in the half, it felt as if the score would remain 20-14 at halftime. However, the last 1:53 on the clock proved to be very chaotic as Webber International would get the ball back and proceed to march right down the field and score a touchdown to extend their lead to 26-14 with 0:36 left.
A blocked extra point prevented the score from being 27-14. Now with 0:36 left, it seemed as though the Cougars would go into halftime down by double digits. But they drove down the field and kick a field goal with 0:02 left to cut their deficit to 26-17.
The high-scoring half ended with the Cougars down 26-17. After deferring the ball in the first half, Webber International started the second half with the ball. On their first drive of the second half, the Cougars’ defense made a great play as outside linebacker Dan Fitzgerald intercepted the football at the Webber International 36 yard line.
With the great field position, the Cougar offense capitalized by scoring a touchdown to make the score 26-24. The touchdown was scored on a 15 yard touchdown pass from Rhode to Simms.
After a defensive stop by the Cougars’ defense, the Cougars had an opportunity to take their first lead of the game in the third quarter.
The offense drove down the field, but three straight incomplete passes from the Webber International 13 yard line forced the Cougars to attempt a field goal. But, once again, Madhi missed another field goal attempt to allow the Warriors to keep their already thin lead.
After the missed field goal attempt, Webber International drove all the way down to the Saint Xavier 24 yard line. When it seemed like they were going to extend their lead even further, the Cougars’ defense stepped up, forcing a turnover on downs after they stopped a fourth down pass from being completed.
This stop swung momentum back to the Cougars, who used that momentum to drive down the field and score a touchdown to take their first lead of the game at 31-26 with 3:11 left in the third quarter. The touchdown was scored off another touchdown pass from Rhode, this time though it was a 14 yard touchdown to wide receiver Ryan Carroll.
The Cougars’ defense showed just how dominant they could be in the third quarter and they proved that once again, as strong safety Robbie Brindley intercepted a Webber International pass and return it to the Western International 36 yard line. The third quarter ended with the Cougars up 31-26.
At the start of the fourth and final quarter, the Cougars, already in good field position kicked a field goal to extend their lead to 34-26 with 13:51 left in the game. After multiple drives by both teams, that had no really big plays happened, the Cougars started a drive at their own 25 yard line with 8:37 left.
That drive ended with a fumble that WIU recovered at the Saint Xavier 32 yard line. On the ensuing drive the Cougars defense came up big again, stopping WIU from scoring on a 4th and goal opportunity from the five yard line.
After a three and out from the Cougars’ offense, Webber International came back out onto the field, down by 8, with 2:06 left on the clock.
Unlike every other drive in the second half, the Cougars’ defense would not be able to stop WIU’s offense as they drove down the field and score a touchdown to make the score 34-32 with 0:42 left in the game.
On the ensuing two point conversion, Webber International converted to tie the game at 34. With only 42 seconds left in the game, the Cougars got a big 41 yard return from Simms to set up the Cougars’ offense at the WIU 47 yard line with 0:33 left.
On 2nd and 10 from the WIU 35 yard line, Rhode made a clutch play, completing a 29 yard pass to running back Austin Feeney to set the Cougars up at the six yard line with 0:02 left. After missing two field goals earlier in the game, the pressure was high on kicker Abdul Mahdi.
And after the WIU coach tried to ice him right before his attempt to win the game for the Cougars, he was under even more pressure. But when it mattered most, Madhi came through, making a game winning 25 yard field goal with no time left in the game to win it for the Cougars by the score of 37-34.
John Rhode was the MVP of this game totaling 417 pass yards and throwing four touchdowns and no interceptions. He also added in seven rushes for 34 yards. Receivers Ryan Carroll and Stephen Simms also had huge days as the former totaled a 17/167/1 statline while the latter totaled a 12/137/1 statline.
With the win, the Cougars record now stands at 3-1 with a conference record of 1-0. The Cougars’ next game is on Saturday, September 26 against Siena Heights University in the annual Homecoming game.
John Romando
Senior Sports Editor
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