Morningside's Saturday foe boasts impressive defense
By Steven Allspach Journal sports writer | Posted: Friday, November 23, 2007
Morningside boasts a mighty impressive defense. Coach Steve Ryan's defenders have given up more than two touchdowns in just two games, they've allowed just 69.7 yards a game rushing and recorded 25 sacks.
Lookin' good, right?
Well, then there's Carroll College, the host for an NAIA quarterfinal football playoff clash with Morningside Saturday in Helena, Mont. (1:07 p.m. kickoff, CST).
Coach Mike Van Diest's Fighting Saints have shut out five foes en route to a 12-0 record, but have permitted only two touchdowns in two wins, one TD in another and suffocated four other victims by allowing one field goal each.
And, here's the kicker. Carroll has recorded a whopping 75 sacks -- 50 more than Morningside. In one of its two wins over Montana Tech, the Techsters found no offensive mechanisim to prevent the Saints from making 13 sacks.
Eliminate the 13 sacks and the Saints would still lead the NAIA in the category by almost 20 over runner-up Northwestern with 43. Morningside defeated Northwestern 33-7 in a Great Plains Athletic Conference game on Nov. 3.
Carroll's Frontier Conference kings, the NAIA national champion four straight years from 2002-05, has outscored its pretty much hapless opposition 320-89.
"Carroll's defense is fantastic,'' says Morningside's Ryan. "On paper and on film they are the real deal. Some of their numbers are incredible.
"They get tremendous pressure on the quarterback and the whole defense is built on speed.''
Like Morningside, Carroll operates out of a 3-4 defense with Phhil Lanoue (235), Mike Paffenhausen (262) and Nick Gilchrist (255) working up front and Brandon Day (210), Owen Koeppen (232), Mack Gordon (224) and Rick Young (230) manning the linebacker posts.
Koeppen is the leading tackler with 89, including eight quarterback sacks and 12 tackles behind the line of scrimmage totaling 35 yards.
Lanoue, a bull rusher from his end position, has 10 quarterback sacks and 17 tackles totaling 45 yards in losses. Paffenhausen and his backup, 255-pound Will Harrison, have met at the quarterback or running back 11 and 10 times, respectively, combining for 60 yards in losses.
Another backup, end Mike Orgin (6-4, 250) owns six quarterback sacks.
If and when the Morningside offense can get past an aggressive front seven, Carroll strong safety Zach Richardson has four interceptions, a total matched by the opportunistic Day.
Morningside quarterback Ian Gilworth has completed 249 of 378 passes for 3,270 yards and 34 touchdowns and Antuan Bloom has caught 79 passes for 1,097 yards and 13 TDs.
In a 45-14 rout of Jamestown College in the first round, the 5-11, 170-pound speedster from Miami, Fla., snared nine passes for 66 yards and a TD.
Carroll blanked Black Hills State in its opener, 34-0.
"Obviously, we've got to protect our quarterback,'' said Ryan, whose Mustangs are 9-2 with losses to Nebraska Wesleyan and No. 1-ranked defending national champ Sioux Falls. "This will be the most aggressive group of defensive guys we've faced all year.''
Morningside's probable starters in the offfensive line are tackles Rob Mosby (6-3, 315) and Pat Dempsey (6-4, 270), guards Skyler Schindler (6-1, 260) and Andy Scott (6-2, 26) and center Cody Fisher (5-11, 280).
The tight ends are Chris Becker (6-5, 250) and Dexter Haskell (6-4, 230).
Morningside's defense has also been superb with All-American Chad Hustedt and Mike Buckley intercepting seven passes each.
Hustedt returned interceptions 54 and a school-record 99 yards in the win at Jamestown.
"Our defense is probably our greatest strength,'' says Ryan. "They've given our offense short fields to work with.''
Van Diest, in his ninth season at Carroll, is 101-18 and is a spiffy 22-3 in playoff games.
He's got the Saints in the playoffs for the eighth straight year, while Ryan has his fourth straight Morningside team in the postseason.
"Morningside is the best football team that we've seen by far in the past few years, overall,'' said Van Diest, who directed 15-0 and 14-0 seasons in 2003 and 2004, respectively. "If you just look at stats, they're very scary.''
Morningside defeated St. Ambrose in the first round last year, then lost to Sioux Falls 37-7 in the quarterfinals.
Carroll opened its 2006 playoff run with a 20-7 conquest of Montana State-Northern, but was upset by St. Xavier (Ill.) in the quarterfinals. Carroll beat Sioux Falls 55-0 in the 2005 semifinals and defeated St. Francis (Ind.) 27-10 in the title game.
Lookin' good, right?
Well, then there's Carroll College, the host for an NAIA quarterfinal football playoff clash with Morningside Saturday in Helena, Mont. (1:07 p.m. kickoff, CST).
Coach Mike Van Diest's Fighting Saints have shut out five foes en route to a 12-0 record, but have permitted only two touchdowns in two wins, one TD in another and suffocated four other victims by allowing one field goal each.
And, here's the kicker. Carroll has recorded a whopping 75 sacks -- 50 more than Morningside. In one of its two wins over Montana Tech, the Techsters found no offensive mechanisim to prevent the Saints from making 13 sacks.
Eliminate the 13 sacks and the Saints would still lead the NAIA in the category by almost 20 over runner-up Northwestern with 43. Morningside defeated Northwestern 33-7 in a Great Plains Athletic Conference game on Nov. 3.
Carroll's Frontier Conference kings, the NAIA national champion four straight years from 2002-05, has outscored its pretty much hapless opposition 320-89.
"Carroll's defense is fantastic,'' says Morningside's Ryan. "On paper and on film they are the real deal. Some of their numbers are incredible.
"They get tremendous pressure on the quarterback and the whole defense is built on speed.''
Like Morningside, Carroll operates out of a 3-4 defense with Phhil Lanoue (235), Mike Paffenhausen (262) and Nick Gilchrist (255) working up front and Brandon Day (210), Owen Koeppen (232), Mack Gordon (224) and Rick Young (230) manning the linebacker posts.
Koeppen is the leading tackler with 89, including eight quarterback sacks and 12 tackles behind the line of scrimmage totaling 35 yards.
Lanoue, a bull rusher from his end position, has 10 quarterback sacks and 17 tackles totaling 45 yards in losses. Paffenhausen and his backup, 255-pound Will Harrison, have met at the quarterback or running back 11 and 10 times, respectively, combining for 60 yards in losses.
Another backup, end Mike Orgin (6-4, 250) owns six quarterback sacks.
If and when the Morningside offense can get past an aggressive front seven, Carroll strong safety Zach Richardson has four interceptions, a total matched by the opportunistic Day.
Morningside quarterback Ian Gilworth has completed 249 of 378 passes for 3,270 yards and 34 touchdowns and Antuan Bloom has caught 79 passes for 1,097 yards and 13 TDs.
In a 45-14 rout of Jamestown College in the first round, the 5-11, 170-pound speedster from Miami, Fla., snared nine passes for 66 yards and a TD.
Carroll blanked Black Hills State in its opener, 34-0.
"Obviously, we've got to protect our quarterback,'' said Ryan, whose Mustangs are 9-2 with losses to Nebraska Wesleyan and No. 1-ranked defending national champ Sioux Falls. "This will be the most aggressive group of defensive guys we've faced all year.''
Morningside's probable starters in the offfensive line are tackles Rob Mosby (6-3, 315) and Pat Dempsey (6-4, 270), guards Skyler Schindler (6-1, 260) and Andy Scott (6-2, 26) and center Cody Fisher (5-11, 280).
The tight ends are Chris Becker (6-5, 250) and Dexter Haskell (6-4, 230).
Morningside's defense has also been superb with All-American Chad Hustedt and Mike Buckley intercepting seven passes each.
Hustedt returned interceptions 54 and a school-record 99 yards in the win at Jamestown.
"Our defense is probably our greatest strength,'' says Ryan. "They've given our offense short fields to work with.''
Van Diest, in his ninth season at Carroll, is 101-18 and is a spiffy 22-3 in playoff games.
He's got the Saints in the playoffs for the eighth straight year, while Ryan has his fourth straight Morningside team in the postseason.
"Morningside is the best football team that we've seen by far in the past few years, overall,'' said Van Diest, who directed 15-0 and 14-0 seasons in 2003 and 2004, respectively. "If you just look at stats, they're very scary.''
Morningside defeated St. Ambrose in the first round last year, then lost to Sioux Falls 37-7 in the quarterfinals.
Carroll opened its 2006 playoff run with a 20-7 conquest of Montana State-Northern, but was upset by St. Xavier (Ill.) in the quarterfinals. Carroll beat Sioux Falls 55-0 in the 2005 semifinals and defeated St. Francis (Ind.) 27-10 in the title game.
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