Wow…what a big win for the Hounds.
John Miller drills a FG with seconds left to win the game. Here is a guy who put in his time to just to have a chance to “stand on the stage.” Then he goes out there and gets the job done. My prediction is this. John will become one of the finest kickers ever to play at Moravian.
New snapper Mike O’Hagan steps into the breach to snap (due to an injury to one of our top players Nick Tone)…yup perfect center to Cordell Theadford….great placement by the senior….bang John kicks it thru. Could have made it from 50!
****Just an aside here…..Mike O’Hagan also had a critical tackle on a punt earlier in the game! Never complains – he just does what is asked of him****
What will make this team great in the future is the unselfish nature of the guys on the team. But, they are learning this from key seniors. They probably think it goes unnoticed….but no it doesn’t…..Connor Rooney, Kyle Conroy, Tanner Mish…..amongst others. We see you…we see you every single day help your teammates become better.
It’s shame that many of our parents can’t see us practice. Our practices are awesome – the speed is incredible – much of it is because because of guys like
Stanton Santos. You should have seen his one handed catch in practice last week.
Here is a guy who plays hard every single snap in the game. He makes every play count. But this is what makes the Greyhound great.
Will Russell…..the “Lake Hopatcong Anaconda”….this is someone who you can go to war with anytime! (I am biased here but Will is one of my favorites because he epitomizes the word teammate! He is always quick to volunteer…will do anything asked of him! I don’t know what he will do when he graduates – but I assure you it will be great!)
I will talk about our senior troops as we go along over the next few weeks left in the season. I truly love and respect each and every one of them…all have contributed…all have given their time and hearts to help make Moravian better!
Our seniors are unbelievable….some have selflessly changed positions to help the team. Perhaps even giving up playing time to just help the team. Justice Anderson goes from being a fantastic receiver over three years and comes over to help our defense at corner.
Justice had one of the prettiest KO returns I have ever seen only to have it called back on an unbelievably bad call. (Look I have coached my entire life – Centennial refs are by far the poorest I have ever seen – including HS – call it whatever you want…but more than 40 years in this business all over the world – I know poor performance when I see it. These officials are absolutely terrible! But, there is nothing we can do about it…we have to soldier on.). So Justice – hats off to you and your effort.
What a game on Saturday…back and forth. The Hounds defense countering one of the best offenses in the Centennial. Big plays all over the place. Vinny Caporrino plays hard each week but he had to play almost every snap due to the injury to Nick Tone. He had to be exhausted but what a game he had.
Also had great effort from the entire front seven. Great hustle as usual by the big guys up front. Love watching them work!
Our safeties continue to stand out game after game. Nick Zambelli with a big interception at the end of the half and Jackson Buskirk picking off two drive killing passes and knocking another one away. We had a few other chances to make big plays – that is something that we need to continue to do.
Offensively we did some great things. Continuing to improve every week our guys played really hard and found a way to get it done at the end of the game. The offensive line paved the way for Eli and Frank creating some big plays throughout the game. But that last drive…a thing of beauty.
Runs, throws and scrambles – we make Juniata pay dearly for their mistakes.
How about we catch the Juniata defense playing man defense. So the secondary defenders are chasing receivers down the field with there backs to the QB. So what does Doug Erney do – yeah alertly he takes off running and the defensive backs can’t react fast enough because they don’t see him!
Sets up the FG!
Moravian lines up…John blasts the ball through the goal posts and the Hounds move on with a big win! Oh, by the way….Juniata is offsides on the play – yup the officials missed that one too! Incredible!
We had great plays all day long from everyone. But how about these efforts – Aaron Brown shaking free for three big catches including a key 25 yarder. How about Alex Pierce having a day – five. catches…..well earned. These guys work hard in practice every day.
Also have to mention Nick Petros and his timely punting…..trapping their offense inside the five. Big tackle on another punt by Mike O’Hagen – critical stop. Andrew Nieves knifes through on a kickoff and jacks up the returner. Vince Pianaforte chasing down the QB forcing him into Connor Rooney’s arms for a sack.
We still have a lot of work to do…we keep coming together as a team but there are still many things we need to improve on.
We must continue to grow as a team over these next three weeks. It is imperative that our seniors teach the younger players about maturity. We have some outstanding leaders like Aaron Hudson (I am going to get him a job playing football in Europe next year if I have something to say about it). Aaron works really hard on the offensive side of the ball……then he steps in and works for the scout team to help the defense as well. What an awesome young man!
We all have a lot of work to do to help our team….everyone has a part to play. Need to keep our focus at all times and that concentration has to be intense so we are ready for Franklin and Marshall on Saturday.