Lakeland College

Muskies drop opener to Central 41-0

Athletics - posted on 9/6/2008

PELLA, Iowa - The Lakeland football team trailed No. 9 Central College just 3-0 as time ran out in the first quarter. However, the second quarter was a different story, as the Muskies surrendered 24 points en route to a 41-0 defeat at Ron and Joyce Schipper Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Muskie offense, able to muster just 92 total yards, held the ball for just over 20 minutes of the game. A tired Lakeland defense did all it could against a balanced, potent Dutch offense which piled up 233 yards on the ground and 139 yards through the air.

The Muskies (0-1) gained just 27 yards on 20 first-half plays.

"In the first half it all started to snowball a little bit," Lakeland head coach Kevin Doherty said. "With that happening, we were having a lot of three-and-outs. They were sustaining longer drives and kind of wearing out our defense.

"We just couldn't get anything going because of some of our early mistakes, and we didn't really have an identity for what we were trying to accomplish in the first half," he added. "We weren't sustaining any of our drives or getting any first downs."

Senior quarterback Billy Hughes (Brooksville, Fla.), making his first career start for the Muskies, completed eight of 17 passes for 59 yards with an interception.

"Billy did some bad things today, but he did some good things too," Doherty said. "They're all correctable, but he just needs more experience. That may sound funny because he's a senior, but he's still a first-year player for us as far as playing time goes. I know he can do it, it's not like he doesn't do it in practice."

The Dutch (1-0) have now won 28 consecutive regular season games.

Junior linebacker Jamie Schramm (Cuba City) had nine tackles for Lakeland, including three for a loss of yardage. Sophomore cornerback Keith Woodson (Evanston, Ill.) had an interception.

The Muskies will play their first home game of 2008 next Saturday (Sept. 13) against the College of Mount St. Joseph. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Taylor Field.

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