SAU handles McKendree

from staff report
from: The Dispatch - Rock Island Argus

Sunday, October 14th, 2007

LEBANON, Ill. -- Jim DuPage said he played the most intelligent game of his life, and it couldn't have come at a better time for the St. Ambrose University football team.

Despite falling behind 7-0 on the game's first possession, the Bees bounced back for a key 23-12 Mid-States Football Association Midwest League victory over the hosting McKendree Bearcats Saturday at Leemon Field.

After that opening drive, the Bee defense settled down and forced five McKendree turnovers (three fumbles, two interceptions). DuPage threw two touchdown tosses -- a 32-yarder to Kyle Korth and a 19-yarder to Michael Hayward -- and ran for one on a scramble that covered 27 yards.

That left the 4-2 Bees at 3-0 in the Midwest League and dropped McKendree to 3-3, 2-1. SAU remained tied atop the league standings with Olivet Nazarene (3-3, 3-0), a 47-20 Saturday winner over Trinity International.

"This is huge," DuPage, a senior, said of the victory. "We've sputtered a little bit here and there, but when we execute to the highest level, we're prtty much unstoppable on offense. Today, the defense did a great job against the punishing offense they have."

The Bees allowed the Bearcats 346 yards total offense, with 274 of those on the ground out of the bulldozing Wing-T attack. Linebackers Dan Eble and Chance Jenkins led the Bees' defense by each snaring an interception and recovering a fumble. Eble had a team-high 12 tackles and Jenkins had nine.

"It's not a start you'd like to get off to," said SAU coach Mike Magistrelli. "Give the defense credit; they played well after that and held them to a field goal."

A key, said Magistrelli, was SAU finishing drives with either points or punts on a day the offense totalled 295 yards -- 216 passing. "When you go up against McKendree, it comes down to field position. We made them start within their own 20 and didn't give them a short field to work with."

With the defense holding its own, DuPage & Co., took over. The senior signal-caller completed 21 of 33 passes.

"It was probably the most intelligent game of my career, maybe my life, to be completely frank," admitted DuPage. "I pretty much threw to who I needed to the whole game."

Magistrelli really liked what he saw from DuPage.

"Jim played an excellent football game, ran the offense extremely well and made great decisions," said Magistrelli. "He played an excellent football game. Considering the circumstances, I think it may have been one of his best."

And when the passing wasn't perfect, DuPage still managed to make something happen, as he did on the TD run.

"It was like the Red Sea parting," said DuPage with a laugh. "I just tried to run for a first down and my initial thought was to get about 15 yards and slide. But there was nobody around me so I just kept running."

Now, the Bees are hoping to run the table in the MSFA Midwest League race.

"That's been the goal ever since we lost that second game," said DuPage, who also led the Bees to their 10-0 regular-season last fall. "We've showed that we can play with the best in the country."