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Lions to face unbeaten, 8th-ranked Graceland at home
Lindenwood vs. Graceland
Sept. 23, 2006 - Lindenwood University Stadium
Saint Charles, MO
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One of the nation’s top NAIA football teams comes to St. Charles this Saturday, as 8th-ranked Graceland University, already 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference, takes on the Lions.
Lindenwood head coach Patrick Ross has seen his team produce a mixed bag of results early in the 2006 season: a pair of close losses to top non-league competition (Northwest Oklahoma State and Georgetown), a pounding of HAAC cellar-dweller Culver-Stockton, and a disappointing road loss to a good Benedictine team last weekend.
The Lions have played well at times, and at other times, have looked like the very young team that they are. With 23 freshmen and sophomores listed on the two-deep, LU is probably the youngest team in the HAAC. The offensive attack, in particular, has stalled at various inopportune moments, and that has made it difficult to establish a lead. Playing from behind is usually not the long suit of a young team.
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The Yellowjackets have quickly grown into a Heart powerhouse under third-year head coach Chris Welch. Since his arrival at the beginning of the 2003 season, Graceland has posted a mark of 25-10, after bottoming out at 0-10 the year before the new staff came to town. Actually, the Graceland story is very similar to the LU story—Ross and his staff arrived in Saint Charles one year later, and the Lions have recorded 18 league wins against five losses since then, while reviving an equally dormant program. Each coach now has a national playoff appearance (Ross has two) and a Heart title on his resume, and barring anything unforeseen, each has his program in a position to compete for more of the same in the future.
Graceland quarterback Clayton Braddock is the marquee player for Welch, breaking the Yellowjacket career passing yardage record last week against Culver. Anyone with over 6,000 career passing yards in little over two years of competition is a grown man quarterback, but Braddock brings a leadership and playmaking quality to the position that few possess. The Lions will have to contain him—as they have in each of the last two seasons—to pull the upset on Saturday.
The Lions were quite optimistic heading into last weekend’s road trip to Benedictine, after hanging right with 4th-ranked Georgetown (Ky.) the week before, and actually controlling the flow of that game in the second half. In August, the young Lions had a chance to win late against an always tough NWOSU team, before losing by one in the Wheat Bowl, and then thoroughly spanked Culver to open the Heart campaign.
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Two of the young Lions playing well are freshman place kicker Haley Farrell (left), who is 5-for-5 on field goal attempts, and sophomore linebacker Logen Wright (9), who led LU with 11 tackles in the loss to Benedictine last weekend.
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The loss to the Ravens, though, hit every single branch on the ugly tree while falling, and instead of moving to 2-0 in the HAAC with some momentum, the Lions dropped to 1-1 with their backs against the wall.
It wasn't so much what Benedictine did—the Ravens produced 43 yards in total offense while racking up their first 19 points—as it was what the Lions didn't do, as in move the football much at all, or get the ball punted from deep in their own end into the wind. The game turned on three straight second quarter tries at punting into a fierce south gale, all of which turned into varying degrees of disaster for LU: bad snap turned into a block, snap through the end zone for a safety, and a shank … each of which turned into Raven points.
That game is over now, and especially with a young team, it’s critically important to leave it behind and move on. The Heart title race is still in its’ opening stages, and it is literally there to be won for any team that can make a move and get out in front of the pack by more than a game. The league appears to be more balanced than ever, and both teams on the field this weekend should be capable of competing with any other outfit in the Heart on a given Saturday.
Saturday's game will likely hinge on how effective the Lions are at containing Braddock and his receivers, and on how well the LU offensive line and backs are able to move the football on the ground. The Lions have been suffering from an identity crisis on offense, with so many new faces in the huddle, that they haven’t really become a “running” team or a “passing” team—the hope in in the Lion camp is they will surely become more of a “scoring” team as the youth becomes experience.
Game time is set for 6:00 on Saturday evening at Lindenwood University Stadium.
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Freshman tailback McCray Harris (32) is a player the Lions need to mature in a hurry - he is one of the Heart's fastest players; senior cornerback Greg Jones (23) and his running mates in the LU secondary will have to contain the Graceland aerial game.
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