|
|
| in St. Charles, MO | |||||
| Lindenwood University | 13 |
21 |
8 |
14 |
56 |
| Graceland University | 0 |
12 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
| It took the
new era of Lindenwood football exactly 28 seconds to take shape on Saturday
night in the season opener against Graceland University. That’s how long it took for junior free safety De De Dorsey (Broken Arrow, OK) to pick up a Yellowjacket fumble on the first play from scrimmage and romp 58 yards down the Graceland sideline for a touchdown. Flashing their big-play ability early and often, the Lions went on from there to make a strong early-season statement to the rest of the conference in a 56-12 win over the visitors from Iowa. “We’re very happy with the play-making ability we showed,” said new Lion head coach Patrick Ross. “We still have a long way to go in regard to the consistency of our execution, but we’re obviously pleased with the big win over a good Graceland team.” Both teams came into the season opener with intentions of contending for the Heart of America Athletic Conference title. Second-year head coach Chris Welch of Graceland brought a lineup thick with talented skill position players into St. Charles, and the Lions have been rebuilt in a hurry by Ross and his staff, after winning only four times since the 2001 season. The Lions used their quick-strike capability in jumping out to a 27-0 lead midway through the second quarter on Saturday night. After Dorsey’s fumble return, senior quarterback Emiliano Salazar (Sacramento, CA) took the controls of the LU offense and started picking out weapons. Two of the most exciting he’ll have at his disposal in 2004 are sophomore wideouts George Mumphard (East St. Louis, IL) and Steven Kennedy (Daytona Beach, FL). Salazar hit Mumphard for a 40-yard score on LU’s initial possession of the season, then found Kennedy behind the Graceland secondary for a 67-yard strike early in the second quarter. Junior tailback Derron Parquet (Metairie, LA) then broke the game open with a 75-yard sprint for a touchdown, after a Lion goal line stand, making it a 27-0 haymaker the Yellowjackets would not recover from. “When you hit a team with that many big plays right out the gate, it makes it tough for them mentally,” said Coach Ross. “Mumphard’s first TD catch was acrobatic, and then the long scores by Kennedy and Parquet were huge. To their credit, they came back after that and got back in the game.” The Yellowjackets scored the game’s next two touchdowns on a run by junior Chris Howard and a pass from sophomore QB Clayton Braddock to standout receiver Dante Johnson with only 24 seconds left before halftime. If the half had ended there … The Lions weren’t done, however. After Dorsey returned the ensuing kickoff to the Graceland 43-yd. line, senior quarterback Waye Terry (Valley City, ND) rolled left and lofted a strike into the deep left corner of the end zone, where it found the arms of Mumphard. Just like that, the Lions went back ahead, 34-12, and it was much longer walk to the locker room for Graceland. “The big play right before halftime was a back-breaker,” said Ross. “We just practiced that end-of-the-half, Hail Mary-type play the first time on Thursday, so you have to give the guys credit for making it work.” The Lions went on to add three more scores in the second half, two on outstanding runs by junior tailback Greg Morris (Simi Valley, CA), then a final one on a 27-yd. burst by junior tailback Latrelle Yancey (St. Louis, MO), to account for the 56-12 margin. Aside from the offensive fireworks, the big story of the game was the fired-up physical play of the retooled Lion defense. Bringing huge pressure throughout the game, the Lions were able to get enough pressure on Braddock to keep him from holding the ball, thereby limiting the ability of the explosive Johnson to beat them on a big play. Junior defensive end Mike Sullivan (Webster Groves, MO) had a monster game, with two QB sacks and three tackles in the GU backfield. Sophomore strong safety Marcus Klund (Cape Girardeau, MO) supplied some big hits from the secondary, and sophomore linebacker Jake Sharp (Oceanside, CA) led the Lions with nine tackles, including one for a loss. Dorsey came up big in his Lion debut, blocking a Yellowjacket field goal in addition to his fumble return for a TD. He posted four tackles, broke up a pass, and returned two kickoffs for 89 yards. The Lions travel to Liberty, Mo., for a 7:00 kickoff against William Jewell College next Saturday night. |
| Scoring summary | |||
| 1st quarter | LU |
Dorsey 58 fumble return (Tatom kick). | 7-0 |
LU |
Mumphard 40 pass from Salazar (kick blocked). | 13-0 |
|
| 2nd quarter | LU |
Kennedy 67 pass from Salazar (Tatom kick). | 20-0 |
LU |
Parquet 75 run (Tatom kick). | 27-0 |
|
GU |
Howard 2 run (kick missed). | 27-6 |
|
GU |
Johnson 15 pass from Braddock (run failed). | 27-12 |
|
LU |
Mumphard 43 pass from Terry (Tatom kick). | 34-12 |
|
| 3rd quarter | LU |
Morris 1 run (pass failed). | 40-12 |
LU |
Team safety, GU punt snap through end zone | 42-12 |
|
| 4th quarter | LU |
Morris 16 run (Tatom kick). | 49-12 |
LU |
Yancey 27 run (Tatom kick). | 56-12 |
Team Statistics |
| RUSHING | Lindenwood | 38 att., 221 yards |
| Graceland | 41 att., 111 yards | |
| PASSING | Lindenwood | 8-14-1, 182 yards. 2 TD's |
| Graceland | 16-24-1, 188 yards, 1 TD |
Lindenwood Individual Statistics |
RUSHING |
PASSING |
|||||
| Derron Parquet | 13-109 |
1 TD |
Emiliano Salazar | 4-5-0 |
126 yds. |
2 TD |
| Latrelle Yancey | 9-42 |
1 TD |
Waye Terry | 3-7-1 |
47 yds. |
1 TD |
| Waye Terry | 3-41 |
Justin Hartweck | 1-2-0 |
9 yds. |
||
| Greg Morris | 8-29 |
2 TD |
TOTAL | 8-14-1 |
182 yds. |
3 TD |
| Chris Simmons | 1-5 |
|||||
| Junius Ranciville | 2-2 |
PUNTING | ||||
| Justin Hartweck | 2-(-7) |
Zac Atterberry | 3 punts |
107 yds. |
35.7 |
|
| TOTAL | 38-221 |
4 TD |
| RECEIVING | KICKOFF RET | ||||||
| George Mumphard | 3 |
96 |
2 TD |
De De Dorsey | 2 |
89 |
44.5 |
| Steven Kennedy | 2 |
73 |
1 TD |
A.J. Williams | 1 |
45 |
45.0 |
| Aristo Brown | 1 |
9 |
Greg Morris | 1 |
36 |
36.0 |
|
| Robert Hall | 1 |
4 |
TOTAL | 4 |
170 |
42.5 |
|
| Greg Morris | 1 |
0 |
|||||
| TOTAL | 8 |
182 |
3 TD |
| PUNT RET | INTERCEPTIONS | |||||
| T.J. Riley | 1 |
8 |
8.0 |
Josh Roberts | 1 |
45 yds. |
| A.J. Williams | 1 |
2 |
2.0 |
|||
| TOTAL | 2 |
10 |
5.0 |
SACKS | ||
| Mike Sullivan | 2 |
-11 yds. |
||||
| TACKLES FOR LOSS | Jason Pruitt | 1 |
-3 |
|||
| Mike Sullivan | 3 |
Ruben Washington | 1 |
-2 |
||
| Dino Morales | 2 |
TOTAL | 4 |
-16 yds. |
||
| Ruben Washington | 2 |
|||||
| Jason Pruitt | 1 |
BLOCKED KICKS | ||||
| Evan Brinker | 1 |
De De Dorsey | 1 |
FG |
||
| Jake Sharp | 1 |