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A
View From the Upper Deck
Mark
Willard
Teamkong
Whew!
You know, I wasn’t really sure if I would get this
weeks' column in or not.
All that wind and rain up in Topeka Saturday pretty much
washed my brain right out my skull.
But, I survived the monsoon.
More importantly, so did the Gorillas.
Games like this one, with less than perfect conditions, can be a
nightmare.
In the past, it was outings like this one that would give
the Gorillas fits.
Last years debacle in Emporia comes to mind almost
immediately, and it’s not a pleasant memory.
When you have outside distractions, such as weather,
it’s all too easy for a football team to lose focus.
A cold, wet, windy, nasty day can take the edge off like
few things can.
You stop concentrating on the task at hand, and suddenly
you’re in a game that is far tougher than you expected.
Fortunately, this years' edition of the Pittsburg State
football team is squarely focused on the task at hand.
They had no problem maintaining control of the game, and
were able to put the Ichabods away.
This game may very well be a crucial point in the
Gorillas season.
A test was passed, and these players learned something
about themselves.
The fact that a team like Washburn was able to hang
around for almost 3 full quarters should alert the team that,
while they have great potential, work still remains to be done.
Especially in the area of kick coverage (those of you
that were at the game Saturday know what I mean).
So what makes this a special team?
Look at the last word of that question, and you’ll see
the answer.
Team.
This collection of 113-odd players is one unit.
While we have some great individuals on both sides of the
ball, it’s not about individual accomplishment; it’s about
team success. This is pointedly apparent when you look at the
statistics for this years' team so far.
The Gorilla offense ranks #1 in the nation in Scoring Offense.
They rank #3 in Rushing Offense, and #4 in Total Offense.
Yet, with all this offensive success, only one Gorilla
ranks anywhere in the top echelons of the NCAA stats sheet,
freshman RB Germaine Race is 4th in the nation in
scoring.
On the defensive side, PSU is 2nd in Total
Defense, 3rd in Scoring Defense, 3rd in
Pass Efficiency Defense, and 7th in Rush Defense.
We know how good the defense is, but individual leaders?
Aaron McConnell is 14th in Forced Fumbles, and
34th in Tackles for Loss.
Levi Neville and Jermaine Carpenter rank amongst the top
35 in Punt Returns, Neville at #28, and Carpenter at #34.
That’s it, a grand total of 4 players, in 4 categories,
for a team putting up such staggering cumulative numbers.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I feel pretty
good about that.
This weeks Unsung Hero Award features a first:
Co-winners.
The first winner is SR DE Josh Lawson.
Now, some of you are saying wait a minute, what’s so
unsung about Josh Lawson?
Well, when you line up next to a couple of guys like
Aaron McConnell and Mark Stephen, it’s easy for people to
forget about the “other” guys on the line.
This week, Josh had a team high 9 tackles, including 4
tackles for loss (plus one more for no gain).
There was a sequence of the game when it seemed like he
was making the tackle on every play.
For the season, Josh is 5th on the team in
total tackles, and 2nd in Tackles for Loss.
Oh yeah, he also has filled in at TE on occasion this
past few weeks, due to injuries to other players.
An all around competitor, Josh Lawson is the first of
this weeks' Unsung Heroes.
Our second candidate might also surprise some people.
Sophomore Punter Jimmy VanBecelaere has struggled at
times, getting re-acquainted with the game of football.
He came to the Gorillas after not playing at all for the
past 2 years, and it will take him a little while to get back
into the swing of things. This past Saturday, he showed glimpses
of progress.
Jimmy had a couple of nice field position kicks, kicking
into a stiff wind, and uncorked a season-best 57 yarder also.
For the season, 7 of his 21 punts have been downed inside
the opponents 20 yard line.
He also broke free on a 19 yard run for a first down on
an aborted punt attempt.
He was able to see that the Washburn players had broken
through, and were almost certainly going to block the kick, and
had the presence of mind to pull the ball down and take off with
it.
While his statistics aren’t what we are used to seeing
out of the punting game, our last 2 punters are a pretty hard
act to follow.
With a little more game experience, and time to get back
into football, Jimmy should improve a great deal.
Jimmy VanBecelaere is our second Unsung Hero of the Week.
Well, that’s about it for this week.
Homecoming is upon us, let’s pack the place for
Emporia.
I do believe we owe those guys a little something…..
Oh yeah, I almost forgot.
Hey Matt, here’s your name. (A little inside joke).
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