Centre’s Defense Saves the Day, Colonels push record to 3-1 with road win over Rhodes, Sewanee has ‘Next.’ @minguabeefjerky @1776Bank @CentreFootball

Colonels find Saturday’s effort ‘good enough’ to escape Memphis with a win

If we had told you the Colonels would look like they looked offensively on Saturday and asked you to predict the score, what would you have told us? We would have agreed. The Colonels would see the defense contribute the winning margin while the offense sputtered around and looked inept again this week. There is a silver lining, we won Saturday’s game 21-7 and ran our record to 3-1 on the year. We have some teams upcoming for which Saturday’s effort will just not do. Sewanee is coming to town and they are playing very good football entering the game with Centre. If we are going to ‘get it together,’ now would seem like an opportune time.

Fletcher W. Long, KPGFootball Senior Scout

Looking back at the Rhodes game…

How do you win a football game making only seven (7)-first downs all day? How do you win a game gaining 69-yards on the ground in 29-rushing attempts? Well, holding an opponent to negative eight (-8) rushing yards in 33-attempts is a good start.

On a day where the Centre offense looked, well…offensive, the Colonels still went on the road to Crain Field in Memphis, Tennessee and found a way to leave town 3-1. Such efforts, efforts which lead to victory where the play may have been “ugly,” are the type efforts which define programs.

This is college football. Leaving an opponent’s field victorious, at this level of play, can’t be taken for granted.

Colt Marbaugh caught the Colonels lone TD among his 3-receptions and Keaton Martin lead all Colonel rushers with 36-yards net on his 9-rushing attempts as the Colonels rode its defensive TD’s (2) to a 21-7 victory Saturday afternoon in Memphis, Tennessee.

Miles Smith led the defensive effort with 8-tackles, with 3-TFL’s which racked up 18-yards in lost yardage, for a defense which came through time and again against the Lynx. Miles Smith also scooped up a Macias fumble and rumbled it in for a “scoop and score” while Armon Wells had 7-stops, with 2-TFL’s and an INT Wells returned, late in the game, for a 20-yard “pick-six.” 

Oliver Hunter had 5-stops and a TFL and Jacob Ratliff (Sr. DB) contributed a 27-yard loss on a TFL. Ratliff’s TFL was sprinkled amongst his 3-stops on the day, and forced the fumble Miles Smith scooped up and carried into the end zone to stake the Colonels to a 14-0 lead in the first half.

Senior, Sam Murray, continued his strong play on special teams. Murray retuned a kickoff 55-yards on Saturday. While Nick Whitlow averaged a strong 42.2-yards over his 9-punts, two of which were downed inside the Lynx 20 in the type of game where field position was quintessential.

Sewanee Scout…

Sewanee (2-2) is coming off a tough home loss to Millsaps College 30-27. The University of the South would surrender 20 first downs to the Majors while compiling 9-of its own. 

Sewanee was 29% on converting 3rd down and failed on two 4th-down conversion attempts. The Tigers ran 56-plays against Millsaps, averaging 6.6 yards per play, passing for 112-yards and rushing for 255. The Tigers allowed Millsaps to run for 175-yards while throwing for 198.

The Sewanee punter averaged 44.6-yards per punt over 8-attempts. The Tigers fumbled three times, losing all three, were sacked twice, but (on the bright side) weren’t intercepted. 

When the Tigers look down field in the passing game, chances are they are looking for Cyrus Wilson. Wilson caught a 66-yard bomb against Millsaps Saturday.

Michael McGhee is among the SAA leaders, on the young season, in rushing yards. McGhee gained 241-yards on 21-rushing attempts, averaging 11.5-yards per rush with a long of 75 and a TD on the afternoon on Monteagle Mountain in the MIllsaps game.

Jake Satterfield was a perfect 3 for 3 on PAT’s and punted the ball 7-times for the Tigers, averaging 51-per punt with a long of 79, dropping 3-inside the 20. Satterfield is a real weapon.

Kason Holder and Tristen Hall drop to return kicks and the tandem of Hall and Holder return punts too. Watch Kason Holder going into the game. Holder is electric but he will lay a few on the ground. You know what they say, “nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

Quinn Johnson led the defensive effort Saturday with 13-tackles, a QB-sack and 2.5-TFL’s. Kason Holder had 11-stops and 2-passes broken up to anchor the back-end defensively. John Harbison tallied 7-stops and recorded the ball club’s other QB-sack.  

Keegan Glaze seems to find himself around the football putting 9-of his own tackles in the books and recording a half of a TFL. Kaley Seay is among the most capable pass defenders on the defense, breaking up a pair of passes to tie with Holder for first on the ball club in that particular stat-line. 

The Bottom Line: Obviously, getting into the “teeth” of the conference slate, the Colonels have to find some offense from somewhere. It would appear to us, at KPGFootball, that one of the better “rooms” we have in the football complex is occupied by running-backs. It would seem to us we would be wise to focus on pounding the ground until the passing game gets its “legs.”

Defensively, the Colonels have been pretty darned good, especially against the run. The performance against Rhodes College this past Saturday was particularly impressive. We can’t continue to count on the defense scoring more than our offense, however.

We like the Colonels to push the record to 4-1 against its longest standing rival in the SAA. Past Saturday however, wins will get increasing harder by which to come unless we start executing the offense much better.

This is Coach HB Lyon, reporting for KPGFootball, and we’re JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!

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