Kettering Alter vs. St. Bernard Roger Bacon
Game Four
September 12, 2008
The Mighty Alter Knights returned home after their overwhelming defeat of the
D-II Ashland Arrows to take on the Spartans of Roger Bacon at Fairmont Stadium.
Two years ago, Bacon came up to play the Knights at Centerville. With the Knights leading 35-0 early in the third quarter and set to score again, lightning struck, and instead of waiting the storm out, the Spartans boarded their buses and went home. Though umbrellas were seen on occasion during this night’s game, it was a beautiful night for football.
The Knights came out surprisingly slow given their previous three quick starts. But such will be the case now that the league games have started. Alter has gone undefeated in league play for two consecutive seasons and had an over-all 15-0 record in the GCL coming into the game. No team in the league has a bigger target on their jerseys than the Alter Knights.
And to their credit, Bacon came out putting up a solid defense at the start of the game. The Spartans made big stops on two fourth down conversions, even after great passing from senior QB #9 Austin Boucher to senior RB #4 Chris Borland, to senior WR #7 Danny Jasper, and to the very impressive junior WR #81 Connor Cummins. After Tommy’s Guns pinned the Spartans on their own one-yard line, Jasper’s punt return set the Knights up for their first score, with Boucher taking a keeper into the end zone. At the end of one quarter of play, it was 7-0 Knights.
The second quarter could be described as the Knights “Cummins of Age”.
WR Connor Cummins solidified his worth as a viable receiver by making a couple clutch catches that kept the drive alive. The Knights have a very talented and capable corps of receivers. Cummins, along with Jasper, is showing that the Knights have a very strong one-two punch reminiscent of ’07 and the O’Donnell-Jasper threat. Junior RB #42 Cody Taulbee had the first of two nice TD runs and an incredible
diving catch by Jasper in the end zone gave the Knights a 20-0 lead at halftime.
Fans were also given a glimpse of Alter’s NASCAR hurry-up offense that looks to
be a brilliant addition to the Knight’s arsenal.
The third quarter was another hard fought battle by the Spartans with the Knights only scoring once on Taulbee’s 30-yard TD run. But everyone could tell that the Spartans were wearing down. Tommy’s Guns, lead once again by the DE duo of #1 junior John Doncaster and #49 senior Philip Sowar, were again as brutal as they have become expected to be. Throughout the game, guys like #45 senior DL David Cassella (fumble recovery in Q-1), junior DL #52 Andrew Bonanno (HUGE penetration and a sack), senior LB/SS Chris Borland, junior LB #37 Cody Conley and senior DB #21 Matt Enouen were shutting the door on the Spartans. On the other side of the ball, #24 junior RB/FB David Satterfield was introduced into the offense and made quite a few nice runs, (and a swing pass catch) for good yardage as the Knights began to ground out the ball.
In the fourth quarter the Knights put the game away using it’s potent passing attack early. Great catches and running by #83 senior WR Cameron Villarreal and Borland set up an easy short pass from Boucher to Jasper for the Knights final score. Again, with the game in hand, the back-up players responded with their patented tough play. One notable player was #35 sophomore RB Justin Winters who gave the Knight’s faithful a glimpse of the exciting running he will display in the years to come.
Knights joust the Spartans Final Score
Alter 34
Roger Bacon 7
One game at a time. Four down, six to go. Next up: Hamilton Badin
