Xavier 25 Univ. New Orleans 6 (Gridders finish 7-1)

[nickgyp]

Today at Roger Bacon Stadium, the Muskie football team closed its seaon with a win over UNO to finish the season witha 7-1 record. The game was played in a cold rain that was so miserable that I stopped taking notes so here's an abbreviated recap:

UNO wins the toss and elects to receive but the Privateers in only their 2nd club game in 38 years (last week's home loss to SIUE was the team's frrst)) moved the ball for a couple frist downs until XU stopped them in Xavier territory, Xavier took over and quickly moved inside UNO's 30 yd. line but the Privateers took over the ball after stopping Xavier on 4 downs near UNO's 25 yd.line.

UNO took over on its 25 and and moved the ball to its own 46 yd. line. On a third down play, a UNO runnning back took the ball up the middle and ran 54 yyards for the game's first score. The PAT failed and the Privateers held a 6-0 advantage as the 1st quarter ended,

The 2nd quarter saw the Xavier offense come alive as RB C.J. Moreland ran 17 yds for Xavier's first score tyiing the game at 6-6. Craig Hallman's PAT kick was blocked. Xavier's defense played well keeping UNO in check; and the Muskies moved the ball deep into UNO territory with a first and goal on the 4 yd. line. A touch down run was nullified by a Xavier holding call. From UNO's 14 yd. line, Xavier was unable to gain yardage. Facing a 3rd and goal from the 14 yd. line, QB Chris Greenwood's pass down the middle was intercepted by a UNO defender near the goal line but the tacke by XU WR Dan Deters forced a fumnle that the Muskies recovered at UNO's 4yd. line.

The Muskies had the ball 1st and goal when Moreland took the ball into the end zone on a 4 yard run putting X up 12-6. Hallman's PAT kick was again blocked, UNO took over after the kick but X's defense held; and, after regaining possession Xavier again moved the ball deep into UNO territory. Greenwood connected on an 8 yd. pass in the back of the end zone to WR Craig Hallman for a score to make it 18-6 with two minutes left in the half. The PAT failed and the half closed 18-6 in X's favor.

The second half started with Xavier receiving the kick but the Muskie offense sputtered. UNO's starting QB had been injured in the first half (possible cracked rib) and its backup QB had trouble ihandling the ball in the rain. The Privateers mixed some runs and passes for yardage but fumbles and a Xavier interception essentially kept UNO at bay. The UNO defense kept X's offense from scoring during the 3rd and 4th quarters lthough Moreland had some punishing runs for 1st downs at time ticked away. A late 4th quarter 30 yd TD pass from Greenwood to Dan Deters made it 24-6 with Hallman's PAT kick making it 25-6.

UNO eventually went four and out and the Muskies ran out time to close 2008 with a 7-1 record.

Congratulations to coach Powers, coaches and team on a tremendous season!

[gym from delhi]

Great recap, Nick. I also saw a nice article in the Madison IN paper about Muskie QB Chris Greenwood. Both that article and what I observed on the sidelines this year showed a lot of camraderie and spirit. The players and coaches are certainly to be congratulated on two straight league championships.

[dbrownthrowsdown]

Just a minor correction, the fumble was forced by TE Jon Deters, the cousin of WR Dan Deters..easily made mistake. Great recap in all.

Two straight championships for the Muskie squad.. Any chance they can get some dough thrown their way and make it more than club team?

[gym from delhi]

Dbrown, DII or III, non-scholarship, sure would be nice. With enrollment down anything to entice more students seems worth trying. Men and men's sports helped to save Mt. St. Joe, so under the right circumstances I really believe FB would succeed.

[Wisexuowl]

Congratulations Clubbers!

[nickgyp]

Sorry for mistaking Dan Deters for cousin, Jon. Jon has done a nice job with the team this year making some clutch receptions as well the forced fumble today.

According to Jon's dad, Joe Deters (Ham. Co. Prosecutor), Jon is really enjoying playing for the Musketeers. Understand he had some reps quarterback in last week's win over Marquette. I have seen him in practice and he throws a nice ball.

He's been a very good addition to coach Powers' team and I am looking forward to contributions on the field from both the Deters in future games.

[nickgyp]

From coach Powers on the game:

1 2 3 4 total
UNO 6 0 0 0 6
Xavier 0 18 0 7 25

Scoring
UNO 46-yard run (kick blocked)
XU Moreland 17-yard run (kick blocked)
XU Moreland 6-yard run (kick blocked)
XU Hallman 8-yard pass from Greenwood (run failed)
XU D. Deters 30-yard pass from Greenwood (Hallman kick)

Records: Xavier 7 - 1 (MCFC 3 - 1); UNO 0 - 2


Well it definitely wasn't pretty, but the XU Musketeer Club Football Team closed out the 2008 season with a 25 - 6 rain-sooaked victory over the Privateers of the University of New Orleans. In typical Muskie fashion (at least for this season), XU started slowly and allowed a 46-yard TD run by UNO in the 1st quarter. THe Musketeer Offense came alive in the second quarter with two TD runs by CJ Moreland and a TD pass from Chris Greenwood to Craig Hallman. Moreland finished the game with 96 yards on 22 carries. Greenwood threw for 100 yards and two scores and Dan Deters (2 catches, 59 yards) caught a 4th quarter TD pass.

Again, the Muskie defense was too tough to handle after allowing UNO their 46-yard 1st quarter TD run. They only gave up 88 total yards the rest of the game forcing 2 interceptions (Eric Miles and David Pergolini) and several fumbles. Unfortunately, the Musketeers were not able to recover them. In addition to their interceptions, DBs Miles and Pergs had 3 takes each. LB Brett Hoyer led the XU defense with 8 tackles and LBs Andrew Dornbrook and Phil Migitz contributed 6 tackles a piece. DL Dom Ruccella caused a UNO fumble and had a QB-sack.

Thank you very much for your support over our third, and most successful season. I hope you all can come and celebrate it with us on the 11th of December.

Sincerely,
Tom Powers, Jr.
(513) 746-5449
tepowersjr@yahoo.com

GO MUSKETEERS !!!!!!!
"All For One and One For All"

[section200rules]

Does anyone know the answer to the above question about XU possibly fielding any type of NCAA affiliated program in the future (i.e. - Div III, Div II, etc). Would eventually bring in great revenue for the university and hell - if the basketball team can draw 10,000 a game - I'd like to think a lot of those same people would jump on board with the cocnept of having a legitimate football program at XU. Who doesn't want to tailgate on a fall afternoon? Seriously!

[nickgyp]

Two things:

Coach Powers corrected his e-mail: X won conference witha 3-0 record.

As for intercollegiate football's return to X, while I would like to see it happen,club football has got to be supported. Maybe someday, D-1 non scholarship football such as Dayton plays in the PFL with Butler, Drake, Davidson, Valparaiso seems the most likely way to go, the club team needs greater support.

These kids play hard. UNO players suffered a possible cracked rib and a likely broken arm according to X's team doc; and Craig Hallman suffered a severely bruised hand but stayed in the game. Great effort and fun to watch!

[xudash]

Excellent news.

I, too, am hopeful that Tom Powers can continue to build this thing to something north of club football on a successful basis. Success means those nice Saturday afternoons filled with 'purest' football and tailgating coupled with a Xavier basketball program that does not miss a beat and is not harmed in any way by football's efforts.

Either way, Xavier football, circa 2008 is another example of Xavier doing something the right way.

New Orleans? New Orleans! Do we travel there next year?