Lakeland College

Muskies look to build momentum against Maranatha

Athletics - posted on 10/29/2009

With three weeks remaining in the 2009 season, the Lakeland College football team (3-4, 3-1 NAC) looks to stay in the hunt for the Northern Athletics Conference championship this weekend against Maranatha (0-7, 0-4) at 1 p.m. this Saturday at Taylor Memorial Field.

The Muskies played well on both sides of the ball last weekend in a 30-14 win at Benedictine. Junior wide receiver Roberto Flores caught three first-half touchdowns and eight passes overall for a school-record 231 yards as Lakeland quarterback Jake Dworak threw for 392 yards.

The run-first Benedictine offense was held to one total yard on the ground against a Lakeland defensive unit that hasn't allowed a team to rush for 100 yards in the previous four games. Defensive lineman Josh Gordon paced the Muskies with a team-high four tackles-for-loss for 16 yards and tied with linebacker Jamie Schramm with six tackles.

Following a disastrous second half the week prior against Concordia Chicago, Lakeland head coach Kevin Doherty was excited with how his players followed up the disappointing loss.

"The game we played against Benedictine had a huge impact on our conference standing and how we responded as a team coming off of a loss against CUC. I was excited to see how our guys performed, how we played a complete game on both offense and defense by making plays and helping each other out. As a football program I was happy with how we played."

Lakeland will need to bring the same intensity against a Maranatha squad that nearly ended the Muskies' post-season aspirations last season. A struggling offense combined with mistakes on special teams helped Maranatha to a 14-6 at the end of the third quarter before the Muskies closed out the game with 23 unanswered points in the 29-16 victory.

"Maranatha is a team that plays extremely hard and plays with a lot of heart," Doherty said. "Most of the teams they've played they've kept close in the first half. Every game we play is a big game. We have to continue to win the turnover battle, execute on offense and sustain our drives, not give up big plays on defense and play solid on special teams."

Maranatha was held to 90 yards of offense last year as its two touchdowns came off of a 50 yard interception return and a one-yard drive that resulted after a bad snap as Lakeland attempted a punt from its 35-yard line.

"Offensively we kept shooting ourselves in the foot," Doherty said. "That's why I was happy with how we performed last week on offense. We had some adversity and answered. I know our offense is capable of performing, but we just can't slip up and make mental mistakes that we've made in the past."

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