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| SportsSunday, September 9, 2007 10:09 PM CDT |
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IWU overcomes early deficit to beat Olivet 20-9
OLIVET, Mich. — It was another rocky beginning Saturday for the Illinois Wesleyan football team. There was a happy ending this time, though. Sophomore quarterback Kraig Ladd fired three touchdown passes in his first collegiate start as IWU overcame an early 9-0 deficit and broke into the win column with a 20-9 nonconference victory over Olivet before a crowd of 1,255 at Cutler Athletic Complex. “This was a great win on the road,” said IWU coach Norm Eash. “Our kids never gave up. They kept fighting and kept their confidence. We’re pretty happy with the win.” The Titans (1-1), coming off a mistake-riddled 24-6 road loss at Coe in last week’s season opener, dug themselves an early hole after a bad snap on a punt attempt led to a safety. The Comets extended the lead to 9-0 at the 6:09 mark of the first quarter on a 5-yard TD run by Brandon Seay. After losing a fumble at the Olivet 1-yard line early in the second quarter, the Titans got a huge momentum lift with 17 seconds left in the half when Ladd connected with Martin Ceisel on a 3-yard scoring pass. IWU failed on the conversion try after another bad snap. “Getting the score right before the half was big,” Eash said. “At halftime we talked to our kids and we told them now is the time we have to make some changes as far as getting things done, and they responded.” Dan Souder intercepted a Rob White pass on Olivet’s first play from scrimmage in the second half, and Ladd’s 22-yard TD pass to Ceisel capped a 4-play, 35-yard drive that gave the Titans their first lead of the season (13-9). “Right off the bat Souder got an interception and we took it right down for a touchdown,” Eash said. “That was a great relief to get on top finally.” The IWU defense held Olivet on a 4th-and-2 early in the fourth quarter, and Ladd directed an 8-play, 51-yard march that culminated with a 3-yard TD pass to John Meacham with 10:06 remaining. Brian Tiefenbruck added his second straight extra-point kick for IWU’s final winning margin. “The team came together,” Eash said. “The offense and the defense were working together and that was great to see today. That’s what we need to see more of instead of the defense playing great and the offense sputtering and that type of thing.” Ladd, a 6-foot-4, 195-pound southpaw, was 15 of 31 for 148 yards and one interception. Ladd replaced opening day starter Nick Panno after leading IWU to its only TD last week. “I thought Kraig got better as the game went on,” Eash said. “He threw an interception early but we told him to relax. He also made some great throws and he had some throws that were dropped. He stayed pretty calm under pressure against a veteran defensive line. “He learned a lot today and he’s going to get better and better. I thought overall he did a great job.” Souder had a team-high nine tackles, and Brian Smith added a late interception as IWU’s defense throttled Olivet the final 3½ quarters. “I thought that first touchdown was the only real threat they had in the whole ballgame,” Eash said. “It wasn’t so much what they did but the mistakes we made. I thought the defense played great today.” The Titans will face Mount St. Joseph at 1 p.m. Saturday at Wesleyan Stadium in their home opener. Get area high school sports scores and statistics at Varsity Sports. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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Surely..... wrote on Sep 9, 2007 6:28 PM:
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