Bees' defense leads charge in 42-0 rout

from Staff Reports
from: The Dispatch - Rock Island Argus

Sunday, September 30th, 2007

JOLIET -- The St. Ambrose University football team can thank the defensive side of the ball for much of the success in Saturday's 42-0 victory over hosting St. Francis University here at Joliet Memorial Stadium.

Defensive backs Dan Eble and Chance Jenkins both scored touchdowns and the defense held the Fighting Saints to zero yards rushing in 47 attempts (and 128 passing yards) and forced five turnovers in the Mid-States Football Association Midwest League opener for both.

"Our defense played extremely well," said first-year SAU coach Mike Magistrelli. "We were all over their quarterback and did a real good job on the defensive side."

The Bees beat the fight out of the Fighting Saints (0-5) and quarterback Matt Ladd, who was sacked seven times and dragged down for 82 yards of losses on eight carries. SAU logged 15 tackles-for-loss, with junior lineman Jake Jaikaitis leading that effort with three.

Magistrelli, formerly the defensive coordinator, was impressed with the two plays that led to defensive scores.

"Eble's interception was an extremely athletic play in the flat that he turned in to a 61-yard return for the touchdown," said Magistrelli, thinking the stats that showed Eble with one sack were quite light.

Jenkins' fumble return went 25 yards.

While the offense did its part in the victory, there still were some struggles. Magistrelli pointed out that a couple of drives bogged down in the red zone, his club missed a field goal, and was 0-for-13 in third-down conversions.

Vernon Reed rushed for 128 yards and one TD and Jim DuPage completed 11 passes for 130 yards. Former Bettendorf prep Michael Hayward, a converted QB, caught nine passes for 105 yards. He and Tyler Driscoll each had a TD catch.

"We missed some opportunities," the coach admitted. Magistrelli wasn't concerned about the third-down woes or the red-zone struggles, saying he wanted to look at all the game tape and assess the situations before hitting the panic button.

The Bees, who scored on their first possession of the game, led 17-0 at the half before turning it on in the final 30 minutes and getting the league-opening win.

"We were really trying to focus on ourselves and getting better and taking the next step as a football team, which was being 1-0 in conference play and taking it one game at a time as we go forward," said Magistrelli.