Hang Down your Head:
No salvation for Cougars in this loss
SAVANNAH, Tenn. – So here we are again, with the football fluttering toward the same pale end zone against the same Southern sky. More heartbreak, down here on the river. More deja blues in a corner of the world where the churches outnumber the honky-tonks, and the only second chance that matters is the sweet salvation of Jesus.
But stand here now where Chris Bramell stands, flexing one aching arm inside a sleeve stained the color of earth, and tell him where the salvation is in this. it here where Paul Carter sits – off by himself on a flimsy sideline table, his helmet still plopped defiantly on his head in these final hopeless moments – and tell him how you swat the ball away from history.
Listen to the guy back there behind you, some Saint Francis fan above the big blue blanket that reads “Believe,” some guy for whom belief has reluctantly been turned, secured and pinned by reality … “Are you kidding me?” he yelps, as Carroll College downs one last punt at the Saint Francis 5-yard line.
One more glance now at the scoreboard, which reads Carroll 27, Saint Francis 10.
A sigh.
“Well,” he goes on. “Guess when it goes your way, everything goes your way.” And so, yes, this was last year all over again, another triumph for Carroll and another miss for the Cougars at the summit of their particular universe. And, no, it was not. Last year, after all, the football etched against the sky above the north end zone in the final seconds was a field goal that saved Carroll’s third-straight title.
This year it was just one last incomplete pass wobbling a few impotent yards off backup quarterback Eric Hooks’ hand and dropping to earth, a metaphor for everything that happened to the Cougars on Saturday. What happened was a hard loss, and harder truth: When you have something like a national title within your grasp, you’d better take it. Because you might not get that close to it again.
And on Saturday, the Cougars didn’t.
On Saturday, they used 17 plays and 8:40 on the clock to take a 3-0 lead after the opening kickoff, and the game and national title for which they hunger so desperately was never on their racket again. Carroll came back with an 8-play, 65-yard drive of its own, and the game would never fully swing back the other way again. Salvation? Second chances?
None here for poor Bramell, who rushed for 39 yards on seven carries on that first drive and then found all his favorite places thick with gold helmets thereafter. He finished with 72 yards on 15 totes and wrung only six completions from 18 pass attempts, finally departing after being thrown hard to the ground in the fourth quarter by a defensive back 5 inches shorter and 35 pounds lighter.
Second chances? None for a Cougars offense that found all its normal avenues neatly sealed up, scratching out just 277 yards and averaging 4.1 yards per play, 2 full yards less than its average. None for a defense that surrendered 459 yards and chased and chased but never caught Carroll’s Tyler Emmert, the NAIA Player of the Year.
“They just outplayed us, I guess,” Saint Francis defensive lineman William Knepper said when it was done, stating the obvious.
“I think we played hard, but they were just the better team today,” offensive lineman Nick Krinn concurred. “Bottom line is, we didn’t make the plays when we had to,” summarized wide receiver Andy Papagiannis. He nodded toward the other end of the field, where the Saints were lifting the NAIA trophy high and posing with victory stogies jutting from their mouths at jaunty angles.
“They played a great game over there, you know. And we didn’t.” And so maybe it’s time for another hard truth, one which even the Cougar faithful seemed resigned to: that Carroll was simply the better team. The Saints might not have been last year, when the feeling was that Saint Francis let it get away. But they definitely were Saturday, when Carroll undeniably reached out and took it.
“What this group accomplished was unbelievable,” maintained Cougars coach Kevin Donley when it was done, acknowledging his team’s 40-0 regular-season record across the last four autumns, telling his boys – rightly – that what happened Saturday shouldn’t be allowed to erase all that. “I think this loss was harder this year, because I wanted it so badly for those players. They didn’t deserve to end up in a loss.”
He turned his head away, muttering. South across Jim Carroll Stadium a thick knot of purple jerseys still lingered on the weary winter grass; south beyond that, another final score that will bleed for awhile glowed on the scoreboard. “At least you can say it took a great team to beat you,” you say.
Donley grunted faintly.
“Yeah … yeah,” he said. “Yeah, a great football team.”
And then he was silent.
(Ben Smith did better writing about the game than me, I am still in a state of shock)
JQP
SAVANNAH, Tenn. – So here we are again, with the football fluttering toward the same pale end zone against the same Southern sky. More heartbreak, down here on the river. More deja blues in a corner of the world where the churches outnumber the honky-tonks, and the only second chance that matters is the sweet salvation of Jesus.
But stand here now where Chris Bramell stands, flexing one aching arm inside a sleeve stained the color of earth, and tell him where the salvation is in this. it here where Paul Carter sits – off by himself on a flimsy sideline table, his helmet still plopped defiantly on his head in these final hopeless moments – and tell him how you swat the ball away from history.
Listen to the guy back there behind you, some Saint Francis fan above the big blue blanket that reads “Believe,” some guy for whom belief has reluctantly been turned, secured and pinned by reality … “Are you kidding me?” he yelps, as Carroll College downs one last punt at the Saint Francis 5-yard line.
One more glance now at the scoreboard, which reads Carroll 27, Saint Francis 10.
A sigh.
“Well,” he goes on. “Guess when it goes your way, everything goes your way.” And so, yes, this was last year all over again, another triumph for Carroll and another miss for the Cougars at the summit of their particular universe. And, no, it was not. Last year, after all, the football etched against the sky above the north end zone in the final seconds was a field goal that saved Carroll’s third-straight title.
This year it was just one last incomplete pass wobbling a few impotent yards off backup quarterback Eric Hooks’ hand and dropping to earth, a metaphor for everything that happened to the Cougars on Saturday. What happened was a hard loss, and harder truth: When you have something like a national title within your grasp, you’d better take it. Because you might not get that close to it again.
And on Saturday, the Cougars didn’t.
On Saturday, they used 17 plays and 8:40 on the clock to take a 3-0 lead after the opening kickoff, and the game and national title for which they hunger so desperately was never on their racket again. Carroll came back with an 8-play, 65-yard drive of its own, and the game would never fully swing back the other way again. Salvation? Second chances?
None here for poor Bramell, who rushed for 39 yards on seven carries on that first drive and then found all his favorite places thick with gold helmets thereafter. He finished with 72 yards on 15 totes and wrung only six completions from 18 pass attempts, finally departing after being thrown hard to the ground in the fourth quarter by a defensive back 5 inches shorter and 35 pounds lighter.
Second chances? None for a Cougars offense that found all its normal avenues neatly sealed up, scratching out just 277 yards and averaging 4.1 yards per play, 2 full yards less than its average. None for a defense that surrendered 459 yards and chased and chased but never caught Carroll’s Tyler Emmert, the NAIA Player of the Year.
“They just outplayed us, I guess,” Saint Francis defensive lineman William Knepper said when it was done, stating the obvious.
“I think we played hard, but they were just the better team today,” offensive lineman Nick Krinn concurred. “Bottom line is, we didn’t make the plays when we had to,” summarized wide receiver Andy Papagiannis. He nodded toward the other end of the field, where the Saints were lifting the NAIA trophy high and posing with victory stogies jutting from their mouths at jaunty angles.
“They played a great game over there, you know. And we didn’t.” And so maybe it’s time for another hard truth, one which even the Cougar faithful seemed resigned to: that Carroll was simply the better team. The Saints might not have been last year, when the feeling was that Saint Francis let it get away. But they definitely were Saturday, when Carroll undeniably reached out and took it.
“What this group accomplished was unbelievable,” maintained Cougars coach Kevin Donley when it was done, acknowledging his team’s 40-0 regular-season record across the last four autumns, telling his boys – rightly – that what happened Saturday shouldn’t be allowed to erase all that. “I think this loss was harder this year, because I wanted it so badly for those players. They didn’t deserve to end up in a loss.”
He turned his head away, muttering. South across Jim Carroll Stadium a thick knot of purple jerseys still lingered on the weary winter grass; south beyond that, another final score that will bleed for awhile glowed on the scoreboard. “At least you can say it took a great team to beat you,” you say.
Donley grunted faintly.
“Yeah … yeah,” he said. “Yeah, a great football team.”
And then he was silent.
(Ben Smith did better writing about the game than me, I am still in a state of shock)
JQP
posted by John Q. Public esq. at 5:07 AM
<< Home