Following an underwhelming performance two Saturdays ago in Indianapolis, the Saint Xavier University football team roared back at home to defeat the Robert Morris Eagles 41-10.
Coach Mike Feminis said before the Robert Morris game that his decision to pull fifth-year senior Joe Gill from the Indy game in favor of redshirt freshman John Rhode came as a result of the fact that Gill struggled against the big, fast Greyhound defense.
As for the decision on who will start going forward, Feminis said that Rhode was the man for the job against the Eagles, but he was noncommittal beyond that point.
“We are going to start John and we are going to go from there. I can’t tell you who is going to be there on the second series, the second quarter, third quarter or fourth quarter, but John is going to get the start,” said Feminis.
Rhode did indeed start the game and was effective. At the very least, Rhode managed to not turn the ball over, with the exception of a lost fumble on miscommunication between him and senior running back Nick Pesek in the second quarter.
Rhode finished the game with 21 completions on 34 passing attempts, good for 243 yards and a touchdown. The redshirt freshman also used his mobility to escape big sacks, though he was brought down by the Eagles three times.
After Rhode’s performance against Robert Morris, it seems unlikely that Gill will see much playing time outside of games where the outcome is all but assured. In other words, Rhode is probably the starter from here on out.
Feminis assessed his new starting quarterback as “dynamic.”
“He obviously has a very strong throwing arm, but whenever you—as a defensive coordinator—have to account for the quarterback in the running game or a scramble situation, it kind of puts a bite on you,” Feminis said.
And Rhode certainly does have the ability to run as well as throw, as he showed during a critical third-quarter drive that began to hammer the nail into the coffin of the Eagles.
The Cougars began their second offensive series of the second half at their own two-yard line, the result of a booming 62-yard punt from Robert Morris punter Josh Techeira. On the first play, Rhode dropped back and found junior receiver Nick DeBenedetti open along the sideline for a fifteen-yard gain and some breathing room between the Cougars and their own end zone.
The next play demonstrated exactly why Feminis chose Rhode as his starter. Rhode dropped back to pass, saw that there was running room down the middle of the field and galloped his way to midfield for a 33-yard gain.
After a couple more passes brought the Cougars within field goal range, Robert Morris’s defense had to account for the pass and the running threat that is John Rhode at quarterback. The Cougars, never wanting to be too predictable, then handed the ball off to Pesek, who navigated his way through Eagle defenders for a 22-yard touchdown and a 24-10 lead.
Pesek had something of a breakout game Saturday, racking up 92 yards on 13 carries (7.1 yards per carry), but he also scored two big touchdowns.
With a two-touchdown lead, it was smooth sailing the rest of the way.
But like every game so far this season, it was a story of two very different halves. The Cougars allowed the Eagles, who entered the game with a perfect 3-0 record, to keep the game competitive over the first 30 minutes of action.
Saint Xavier went up early in the game thanks to an eleven-play, 55-yard drive that got them as close as two yards from the goal line.
After a false start penalty backed them up and a third-down quarterback keeper went nowhere, the Cougars had to settle for a chip shot field goal from senior kicker Spencer Nolen, resulting in the 3-0 lead.
That lead would be expanded to 10-0 when DeBenedetti took an end-around handoff for a 51-yard touchdown to open the second quarter.
On the ensuing Robert Morris possession, however, the Eagles started in Cougar territory and capped off an eight-play, 35-yard drive with a 23-yard field goal to cut the Cougars’ lead to seven points.
That is when things seemed to take a turn for the worse from the Cougars’ perspective, as there was miscommunication on a sloppy Rhode-Pesek exchange and the ball ended up in the hands of Robert Morris safety Dru Richardson, who took the fumble recovery 17 yards for the touchdown and a tied 10-10 ballgame.
Saint Xavier took over with 5:13 remaining in the first half. After driving all the way down to the Robert Morris 13-yard line and wiping away all but 35 seconds of first-half time, the Cougars went the unconventional route to take the first-half lead.
On fourth-and-six, the Cougars came out with their field goal personnel. Robert Morris took a timeout, presumably with the intent to make Nolen think about his field goal attempt to the point of missing it.
Feminis took the opportunity to think up some new special teams trickery, after the Cougars had been successful on a fake punt run in their first game against Marian and on a fake punt pass in their game against Indianapolis.
So, following the timeout, the same field goal personnel took the field, but a quick direct snap went to linebacker-fullback Dave Marciano instead.
Marciano ran along the right side of the line of scrimmage, ran into a would-be tackler, bounced off and reversed his field to the left. This thoroughly confused the Eagle defenders, who were unable to bring down the 220-pound runner.
With just 28 seconds remaining in the first half, Marciano’s 13-yard touchdown staked the Cougars to a lead that they would not relinquish for the rest of the game.
The Cougars took a 31-10 lead in the third quarter, when Rhode found freshman receiver Stephen Simms all alone in the corner of the end zone.
Pesek put the score truly out of reach on a 29-yard score near the end of the third quarter that made it 38-10.
Nolen put the icing on the cake at the beginning of the fourth quarter with a 50-yard field goal, putting the Cougars up 41-10.
Nolen would be called on later for a 59-yard field goal attempt and missed, but the attempt was probably more to see exactly what his potential career-long field goal could be in real game action.
The Cougar defense kept the Eagles scoreless in the second half, in large part because of consistent pressure put on quarterback Matt Westerkamp.
Junior defensive tackle Greg Hayward led the way with two sacks, but five other players earned at least a half of a sack. Overall, the Cougar defense kept the Eagles to just 163 yards of total offense, which will always give your team a chance to win.
The Cougars hope to keep their successful combination of offense and defense running smoothly when they visit Joliet to take on the University of Saint Francis (Ill.) this Saturday at 5 p.m.
Tim Carroll
Senior Sports Editor
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