Lakeland College

Muskies seek first victory of 2008 in final non-conference game

Athletics - posted on 9/16/2008

Seeking its first victory of 2008, the Lakeland football team also looks to conclude its non-conference slate on the right foot, as it plays host to Carthage College (1-0) this Saturday at 1 p.m.

The Muskies hope to jump-start an offense that has put together just 223 yards of total offense in back-to-back losses to No. 9 Central (Iowa) and Mount St. Joseph (Ohio). Last Saturday in a 20-0 loss to the Lions, Lakeland turned the ball over seven times, including four interceptions and three fumbles.

The biggest miscue came early in the third quarter. Trailing 7-0, the Muskies drove deep into Mount territory after a short punt gave the offense a short field to work with. On third and five from the Lions' 9-yard line, senior quarterback Billy Hughes (Brooksvile, Fla.), hurried by a stiff pass rush, lofted a ball to the right side that was picked off by Nick Yahl of the Lions.

Mount St. Joseph turned around and drove 80 yards in just five plays, capped by an 8-yard touchdown run by quarterback Vince Palmer. The drive completely shifted the momentum of the game and put the Lions ahead by two scores.

"They had one long drive, when we threw that interception deep in our territory," Lakeland head coach Kevin Doherty said following the game. "They turned that into a real long drive. I think that wore us down a little bit."

Besides cleaning up mistakes on turnovers, Doherty also said the Muskies (0-2) need better pass protection up front and a more consistent running attack.

"Our guys have to grow up a little bit and stay mentally sharp," Doherty said. "A lot of it is technical mistakes where there's just doing something wrong with their technique and getting beat, a couple times is mental. We've got to sharpen that stuff up.

"We also have to be more productive running the football," he added "That comes from within as far as staying on our blocks longer, staying on course in our running game."

Despite giving up a few big plays that led to scores, the Muskie defense was solid overall. Senior linebacker Brent Miller (Menasha) led a strong defensive front with 3.5 tackles for a loss (14 tackles overall), two sacks and an interception. Junior safety Isiah Calhoun (Pontiac, Mich.) recorded his first career interception.

"We looked pretty decent," sophomore cornerback Keith Woodson (Evanston, Ill.) said. "We kind of fell apart the week before, so we worked on teamwork and family during the whole week of practice. We just brought it together on Saturday. Some people were getting down on the offense, but you just have to keep pushing."

Junior defensive lineman Kellen Grott (New Holstein) said outside containment and tackling are two areas where the defense could use some fine-tuning.

"I think they capitalized on a lot of mistakes we made," Grott said. "Other than that, we got solid play. I think we just need to get rid of our mistakes and work the kinks out and we'll be fine."

Following a bye week, the Muskies return to action on Oct. 4, when they will host Rockford College for their opening Northern Athletics Conference contest on Lakeland's Homecoming 2008 weekend.

The scouting report

Carthage enters the game off of a wild 70-46 victory over Hope (Mich.) College last Saturday.

The Red Men, who received three votes in the most recent D3football.com poll, piled up 641 total yards of offense. Quarterback Evan Jones earned College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Offensive Player of the Week honors after setting a school record with 428 passing yards. The previous mark was held by backup Dan DeBoeuf, which was set in 2007 against Lakeland in a 35-16 win.

Doherty said the Red Men are in the shotgun formation about 85 percent of the time.

"Carthage, offensively, is a very explosive team," Doherty said. "They've got great receivers with great size and great speed. Up front, their linemen are not overly huge, but they're very athletic, which is the type of line they need to have for the style of offense they run. Their starting quarterback's a great playmaker, he can make plays with his arm and his feet."

The Carthage defense surrendered 442 total yards, including 328 through the air against Hope. However, Doherty said they are very "gap-sound" up front and are talented as a whole.

"They like to bring pressure on pressure downs, which to me are your 'second and longs' and third downs," he added. "They like to heat up the quarterback a little bit to force some errors, some unwarranted reads and to make some sacks."

Last season, Carthage finished with a 7-3 overall record to place fourth in the CCIW with a 4-3 mark. They return eight offensive starters and seven defensive starters.

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