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Hampden-Sydney defense holds Monarchs scoreless for over 54 minutes in victory HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, VA (September 20, 2008)–The Hampden-Sydney Tigers made one very important statement to future opponents in their 22-6 victory over visiting King's College on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers have a defense too. Using a clever scheme of constant blitz packages, Hampden-Sydney held King's without a point until the 5:28 mark in the fourth quarter and used a 16-point offensive burst in the opening 19:26 of the game to hold off the Monarchs in its home opener at Lewis C. Everett Stadium. After giving up over 200 yards on the ground last week to Gettysburg, the Tigers held King's to a meager 82 yards rushing. Four Tigers tallied at least seven tackles in the strong defensive effort, with sophomore linebacker Trevor Ikwild (Philomont, VA/Loudoun Valley) leading the way with nine total stops. Junior Thomas Hovis (Richmond, VA/St. Christopher's) and sophomore Michael Ware (Goochland, VA/Goochland) recorded eight tackles while captain Andrew Sellers (Roanoke, VA/Cave Spring) chipped in with seven stops. Ware also broke up four Monarchs' pass attempts. Hampden-Sydney's defense set the tone in the early stages by forcing a King's punt on the first possession of the ball game. The Tiger offense wasted little time in kicking off the scoring, as senior signal caller Corey Sedlar (Richmond, VA/Mills Godwin) hooked up with tailback Josh Simpson (Richmond, VA/Mills Godwin) on the Tigers' second play from scrimmage for a 49-yard touchdown pass and a 7-0 lead. King's next possession stalled on downs at the Hampden-Sydney 35 yard line and on the ensuing drive, the Tigers marched 62 yards in 15 plays and 5:11 before T.C. Stevens (Alton, VA/Halifax) booted a 20-yard field goal for a 10-0 Hampden-Sydney advantage with 1:44 remaining in the first quarter. After the teams traded interceptions, Simpson capped another lengthy Hampden-Sydney drive (10 plays, 86 yards, 4:42), this time with a nifty and shifty 16-yard run to put the Tigers up 16-0 with 10:34 to play in the opening half. Hampden-Sydney's defense yielded just 104 yards in the first half - 34 on the ground - and held King's quarterback Olayinka Soda to 8-of-18 accuracy and only 70 yards. The Tigers took the second half kickoff and drove down the field again, but a fumble on the King's three-yard line thwarted a golden opportunity to put the game out of reach early. The defenses for both teams tightened up over the next 13 minutes, but Hampden-Sydney used yet another sustained drive of nine plays and 39 yards to take a 22-0 lead with 16 second remaining in the third period when Sedlar connected with Craig Warnement (Charlotte, NC/Charlotte Catholic) on a two-yard scoring strike. Soda's 23-yard touchdown toss to Mike Verbitski late in the fourth quarter was the only blemish on the Tigers' slate, and accounted for the final 22-6 count. Simpson was efficient again for Hampden-Sydney, rushing for 126 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries while also catching three passes for 74 yards and another score. Sedlar threw for 275 yards and a pair of scores on 22-of-31 passing. Warnement, a former quarterback, caught a game-high seven passes for 64 yards and a touchdown and senior Travis Wertz (Boyds, MD/Damascus) hauled in four balls for 66 yards. For the visitors, Soda went 21-of-43 for 214 yards and was intercepted twice. Jeramia Jones paced the Monarchs' ground attack with 38 yards on 13 carries. Ryan Nelson tallied a game-high 11 tackles for the Monarchs while Brian Mitros contributed ten stops. Hampden-Sydney will begin ODAC competition next Saturday, September 27 when it welcomes the Guilford College Quakers to Fulton Field. Game time is scheduled for 1 pm. www.hsc.edu/athletics |
