| From the Marshall Tribune Website- 8/21/07 |
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Anthony S. Puca Staff Writer Trepidation and uncertainty turned to confidence and optimism for Cornersville Middle School Head Coach Eric Crabtree and his staff on Thursday night in Cornersville as his squad played an all-around solid home opener, defeating the Liberty Patriots 32-8. "We did not scrimmage the entire summer and have only run our live defense once, said Crabtree before the game. We really don't know what we have." Football coaches from pee-wee to the NFL will probably experience the same uncertainty that Crabtree felt in the next few weeks as football kicks off at every level. Defense holds Liberty to one first down in 1st half Defensive Coordinator Corey Crabtree had to be the happiest coach in the stadium as his young squad held the visiting Patriots to just one first down the entire first half. The Bulldog defensive front, led by Kayden Walker, A.J. Becquet, and Drew Murdock established an early dominance in the trenches and controlled the line of scrimmage throughout the first sixteen minutes. The horses up front opened the holes and the linebackers and defensive backfield took advantage, creeping up to the line of scrimmage and shooting gap after gap for tackles in the backfield. Patrick Lyle broke through on several occasions to wreak havoc in the backfield and Jacob Gentry stood strong and created space for defensive backs Ethan McClure and Joe Stocstill who shot through the holes and made several tackles for lost yardage by Liberty. Stocstill leads potent offense The Bulldog offense wasted no time taking advantage of the great field position supplied by the defense and scored on their first possession as quarterback Joe Stocstill threw a pretty third-down floater down the right sideline to Ethan McClure, who scampered in for the score. Brandon Moss went in untouched for the first of his two two-point conversions and the Dawgs led 8-0. Stocstill struck quick on Cornersville's next possession, breaking through the line on a 46 yard first-down quarterback keeper for a touchdown. Lyle rammed into the end zone for the conversion and a 16-0 lead. The defense held true and on the Dawgs third possession, Stocstill turned his ankle and went to the sidelines. The Bulldogs went three and out, but got the ball back when Lyle recovered a Liberty fumble on third down with 1:14 left in the first half. A penalty gave the Bulldogs a first and twenty and Lyle started the final push with a 12 yard run, followed by a 4 yard scamper that brought the ball down to the Liberty fourteen yard line. On third and six, Stocstill took off and made it to the two yard line with 22.9 seconds left in the half. Crabtree called timeout and called on Ethan McClure, who took a pitch from Stocstill, shed a defender and went in around the left side for six points. Zach Ownby went in untouched for the two-point conversion and the Bulldogs had a commanding 24-0 halftime lead. The Dawgs put the exclamation point on the victory, scoring on their first second half possession as Stocstill scored from the two yard line that culminated a solid workman-like 82 yard drive. The Moss conversion made it 32-0 and Crabtree went to the bench the rest of the night. Liberty managed a late score by Ross Taylor to make the final score 32-8 and Crabtree had found out a lot about his squad. "All in all, we were solid, said the coach, we had a lot of great runs for important yardage. We can't letup in the second half, we have to learn to finish. We still have a lot of work to do." Defensive coordinator, Corey Crabtree praised his young defense when he said, "They all played very good and we had six or seven people coming to the ball for some great gang tackling. They really played a smart defensive game. We need some work at the defensive end position and we will be alright." Offensively, Crabtree said, "Stocstill was exemplary, he was a great team leader tonight and our running backs played downhill all night." "I thought we did a pretty good job offensively tonight, Stocstill said, overall we played a real good game. The offensive line was good tonight; they gave me a lot of protection." |