Richardon University vs Mar Sara Tech
"They're 2-0 as well, here," John Garrett paced in front of the benches, towel waving at his hip, gloves on both hands, ready for the fight ahead as he spoke to the team, "We've had a nice start, and we lit it up last week. But here, we can't have a let down. You guys know that Mar Sara Tech is our biggest threat in the conference, year in and year out. They're going to be nipping on our heels all season, and if we drop a game here, we'll be playing catch up. Besides," he pointed up, where the stadium seating of Dietrich Stadium, named for a hero of the Ranorian War for Independence, was located, "We've got our home crowd here to bring some love. Let's give them a show tonight!"
The crowd, despite their home team being on offense, just couldn't seem to quiet down, John Garrett under center. It was a heavy look, with two tight ends and Melvin Strong in the back field, Kieran Kweo-Atkison, fresh off his suspension, and Larry Foster out wide, each over six foot. Against Mar Sara Tech's nickel look, John Garrett decided not to audible, confident that his veteran offensive line would be able to push around the Raiders' young front four.
A basic dive scheme was all it was, Strong surging forward behind his offensive linemen, jump-cutting to avoid a tackler, getting a few more yards out of that to make it second and two. But here, in Richardson, with the crowd on their side, this team had no intention of pushing the brakes, wanting to get this home stadium roaring as soon as possible. With seconds, Alexander Ethridge-Poe had subbed out at tight end, allowing Dylan Tweed to come into the slot, and the ball was snapped as soon as they were lined up.
John Garrett faked the handoff and ran left, just as he did so often on fakes, looked downfield for an instant, waited, and then dumped off the ball to Dylan Tweed in the ball to Atkison, who'd run a drag route, finding a hole in the shallow middle of the coverage. He avoided the first tackler with ease that seemed almost unfair, and then it was Atkison in the middle of the field against five defensive backs coming for blood.
The noise within the stadium slowly climbed with every second he was on his feet, every tackle he avoided, and every block thrown by one of his teammates. After a few seconds, it was Atkison on freshman safety Hannes Sundberg, and that matchup didn't last long.
Sundberg went for a big hit, going low, and Atkison leapt straight over him, charging forward for only a bit longer before turning around at the ten and waltzing into the end zone for a 66 yard score. And if that wasn't enough, the Governors went for two on the following play to go up 8-0. Unlike on the road, the team, at home, preferred to give their home fans an exciting performance, and normally, that meant more points. Especially if they had the opportunity to do it against a team as good as the Raiders.
"Third and long, the Raiders are already down 8 in this first quarter. Martensson drops back, finds his man one on one! Millard Johnson lost Timmy Lindberg! It's a jump ball, one on one with the safety Lindberg goes up and Jason Dim tip it up! Wolfson has it! Judas Wolfson, the true freshman, in his first NSCF game, has the interception! He's coming back down the field, avoids a tackler, going across, and straight through the quarterback! Wolfson! All alone! Toooouchdoooown Governors!"
Indeed, Judas Wolfson, one of the best athletes on this Richardson squad, and possibly one of the best on the field, was playing in his first international game, and, just four plays after Richardson's other suspended player, true freshman Kieran Kweo Atkison, scored on offense, he did the same on defense.
When Mar Sara Tech got the ball again, they pounded the rock, to some success. Richardson's three freshman defensive tackles were good prospects, but they were not experienced, grown men, and the Raiders managed to wear some time off the clock before punting again, managing to get into the second quarter with a black eye, but still breathing at 15-0. Richardson would put up another pair of touchdowns, both off the arm of their quarterback. The Raiders got their only points on the opening drive of the third quarter off of a long field goal, and forced Richardson to punt on the next drive, impressively, when they went with the running game, John Garrett's pass going incomplete on third down, a rarity.
As the Raiders began to come back up the field, marching 34 yards, they began to get some confidence back, some momentum coming their way, and tossed the ball out to Holmgren, their freshman runner, who made Alexander Carthage miss and came up the field. Just before he got to the sticks, however, Wolfson came in like a thunder bolt, laying a hit on him that could be heard throughout the sidelines, the ball coming out. Wolfson recovered it and went down immediately, his second forced turnover of the game coming at a good time with the fourth quarter rolling around.
With a 29-3 lead, the Governor offense played a bit more conservative ball, running the ball for six straight plays before getting to the fifteen yard line and a third and long.
This time, it was freshman tight end Gunther Krause straight up the seem for a 15 yard score to get up to a 36-3, and game-icing, lead. The Governors would get one more turnover, a Millard Johnson interception set up by two straight tackles for a loss by Isaiah Bryce, and Melvin Strong ran the clock out, and ran in for a touchdown on the game's final play.
The 43-3 win was a milestone in many ways. For one, it was a dominant performance against one of the NSCF's better schools, one that had been undefeated up until this point. Secondly, in only Judas Wolfson and Kieran Kwe-Atkison's first games back from suspension, each scored a touchdown. Wolfson had 9 tackles, 1 INT, 1 FF and recovery, a sack, and a defensive touchdown, while Atkison hauled in 9 passes for 147 yards and one of QB John Garrett's four touchdowns, his second consecutive game with four passing scores, in fact. It also marks his second four hundred yard outing. At 3-0, now, the Governors have the lead in the Big Eight early, and will hope to hold it throughout the season.
Cold Hill vs the University of Constantinople
On the other side of Ranoria, Cold Hill had its best performance of the season against Constantinople, tearing through them for a 37-7, no-holds-barred victory. The first quarter saw each team with a touchdown run, Cold Hill's coming from freshman runner Hue Ross, who turned in a 13 carry, 53 yard performance on the day, as well as racking up his first two career receptions. The young back has quickly become Cold Hill's workhorse, because while the Katterfield brothers can run, they are more effective hauling in passes as mismatches to the defense than they are running down a defense's throat.
Cold Hill, despite the score in the first, was unable to convert the field goal, but it wouldn't hurt them in the end, putting up 14 points in the second quarter, one rushing and one passing touchdown from young phenom Thorn Davis, while Angelo Gordon and the defense behind him began to impose their will, with a total of 6 sacks on the day, all coming from the second quarter on.
In the third quarter, the Buffalo put up another field goal, Davis firing a touchdown to Carl Amerson, but he was picked off, as well, for the third time this season, and would have cost his defense their second half shutout had Clarence von Arris not come down with his first interception of the year, leading to a field goal that put them up 30-7. The final score would come, again, from Thorn Davis's arm for a 37-7, dominating performance.
With this win, after the Mar Sara Tech Raiders were dominated by the Richardson Governors, the Buffalo sit second in the Big 8 conference at 2-1, by a margin of point differential.
