Karsceal Turner
“I Got Next!”
In your face Sports column special to West Orlando News Online
You can silence all the talk about playing an experienced team with comparable talent. You can put the two basketball scores against the overmatched teams in the closet. You can save that rah-rah about not having played a conference game. Saturday, the Wildcats (3-0 overall 1-0 MEAC), killed all that noise with a decisive 21-7 win against Mid-Eastern Conference foe Norfolk State (2-2, 1-1).
Any Madden 2010 player worth their salt knows that it is “game over” when one team scores 21 unanswered points on the other. The Cats ran the score up 21 – 0 in the first half of play. Former B-CU Defensive coordinator and now NSU Head Coach, Pete Adrian’s team simply did not have an answer for B-CU’s offensive attack nor its defensive pressure. It wasn’t like they didn’t get an opportunity though.
Nope, this isn’t the same rivalry you saw back in the day which was unofficially dubbed the “Shine Adrian Bowl” pitting two former coaching colleagues against one another. This was just another football game against a team with a new coach and new system against a team picked as one of the top three in the conference. The NSU team, who bashed B-CU for the past few years undoubtedly, was sent back to Sparta with their shields between their legs, different era, different coach, and different result.
Matt Johnson passed for 232 yards and three first-half touchdowns as B-CU (3-0, 1-0 MEAC) piled up 298 of its 392 yards in the first half. Once again, Johnson led the Wildcats on a long touchdown drive 69-yard touchdown drive on the game’s opening possession. This time he capped it off with a 16-yard pass to former Mainland star Tony Wilson. Wilson, a transfer from the University of Georgia, made his debut with the Cats after serving a two-game suspension. Prior to that, he had not played football for three years. At Georgia, injuries accounted for a lack of production, during his first game as a Wildcat, he finished with two catches for 41 yards and the touchdown.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better debut here.”
The second half was a far different look. NSU drove into Wildcat territory seven times but managed to score just one touchdown. Norfolk State missed a 41-yard field goal and B-CU’s defense stopped them three times on fourth downs inside the Wildcats 25.
Free safety Arkee Smith clinched the victory with an interception in B-CU’s end zone with 2:10 left in the game. It was his third interception of the season. Fellow defensive back Michael Williams also intercepted a pass. Other defensive standouts for B-CU included; Ryan Davis, Ryan Lewis, Reggie Sadilands, and Aaron Bagsby with four tackles apiece. Davis and Sandilands each accounted for a sack apiece too.
Although the defense showed some grit, it was evident that as the conference battle continues to heat up, some areas will definitely need some tweaking. The kicking game thus far is a little suspect. The Wildcats missed three field goals and turned the ball over for the first time this season.
Norfolk State star running back DeAngelo Branche, whom I warned you about last week, injured his right shoulder early in the game, but came back in the game several times. He finished with 65 yards on 10 carries. Obviously he was ineffective, but he wasn’t alone. The Spartans (2-2, 1-1) drove into Wildcat territory seven times but managed to score just one touchdown.
“That was the worst half since I’ve been at Norfolk State,” said Coach Pete Adrian, a former B-CU defensive coordinator now in his sixth season with the Spartans. “We were like in slow motion,” he said.
B-CU Head Coach Brian Jenkins was moving a tad slower late in the afternoon. Jenkins felt some dehydration and was taken to Halifax Medical Center for further observations after receiving some fluids intravenously after the game. In true coaching fashion, he refused to leave until the final seconds ticked off the clock. True to the same intensity he demands from his players, he stayed the course until the job was complete.
Now Jenkins and his Cats face yet another obstacle. They must now go into a hostile environment in Baltimore, Maryland and face a Morgan State University team who is picked to compete for the conference title and is also bent on avenging a loss at the hands of B-CU 12 months ago.
Morgan State placekicker Kemar Scarlett booted in two field goals and the Bears collected three interceptions to beat Howard 20-3 on Saturday. MSU opened in a 3-4 scheme last week against Howard, it was a switch up from their usual 4-3 set-up from their two previous contests. You can bet Jenkins and company will study and practice both schemes for this upcoming match-up at 4 p.m. at Hughes Stadium in Baltimore.
