The Outlook

“We challenged our offensive line this week,” Urbana coach Geron Stokes explained. “We didn’t think we were as aggressive and physical as we should have been; they answered the bell a little bit tonight.

“Our offensive line did an outstanding job, and [Lawrence] found the holes.”

Hillclimber quarterback Bret Buchanan had an effective night as well, completing 10 of his 17 pass attempts for 149 yards and adding a pair of one-yard touchdown runs.

“Bret is awesome,” Stokes said. “Never played quarterback before, and he’s just poised and composed. He spends so much time in the film room and just works his tail off.”

Despite the powerful Urbana attack, Northeastern (0-2) hung tough late into the contest. Ryan Adkins had the evening’s biggest play, sprinting diagonally from one sideline to the other en route to an 88-yard third-quarter kickoff return touchdown that pulled the Jets within 28-19, but that was as close as the home team would get.

 “I thought we came out and competed for a lot of the game,” said Northeastern coach Scott Rolf. “It was really a shame the way the score ended up there, because I think it was closer than that.”
Both teams struggled to find an consistent rhythm in the ballgame, due to an abundance of penalties. Urbana was flagged 12 times for 142 yards, while the Jets were whistled for 174 penalty yards on their dozen fouls.

The Hillclimbers took advantage of three turnovers, including a fumble that senior linebacker Anthony Marino scooped up and returned 85 yards for the final score of the evening.

“That’s huge — that’s three extra possessions,” Stokes said of the giveaways his squad forced. “Last year, we were terrible; we couldn’t create a turnover for our life. This year, we preach it.”

Rolf agreed that the turnover margin cost his team dearly. “We can’t put the ball on the ground on offense,” he said. “We’ve got to eliminate mistakes. Offensively, we can move the ball; we can score. I think we did it last week, and to some degree we did it this week, but we can’t beat ourselves.
“Good teams have to be consistently better than that. If we want to be good, we’re going to have to get consistent.”

Urbana hosts Springfield Shawnee in a CBC cross-over game this Friday, September 10, in the Hillclimbers’ first home game of the 2010 season. The game will kick-off at 7:30 p.m.