Herzlich Returns as Eagles Win

There was a lot to be thankful for today, as Mark Herzlich made his much anticipated return to the football field and the Eagles beat Weber State 38-20 in the season opener. There was also a lot of room for improvement.

A 10-year-old Ewing’s Sarcoma survivor, the same cancer Herzlich battled last year that kept him from playing in the 2009 season, started things off by singing the National Anthem. After, #94, on 9/4, led his team out of the tunnel and sprinted to the student section where he removed his helmet much to the delight of the student section, packed full with anxious SuperFans, and Sister Barbara Anne from Notre Dame who sent letters to Herzlich while he was sick.

While the day held so much hope, things got off to a bad start. There was a delay of game penalty before the first play, followed by an interception thrown by Shinskie at the 20-yard line. Then Herzlich came into the game, his first game back since the 2008 Music City Bowl. The defense held and Weber managed only to get a field goal for an early 3-0 lead; that would be the only time Weber was up on the Eagles.

BC scored on its next four possessions for a 24-3 lead in the second quarter.

Shinskie found Chris Pantale for a 6-yard touchdown to start the scoring off. Next, Shinskie connected with Ifeanyi Momah for a 17-yard touchdown pass. No surprise that Montel Harris had a 4-yard touchdown run in the first game of the year. After an outstanding 2009 season, I expect even better from him this year. He had 115 yards off 19 carries in the game. Redshirt freshman Nate Freese kicked a 33-yard field goal to cap off the four consecutive scoring drives for BC.

The next score came from backup quarterback Mike Marscovetra. After he led the Eagles 63 yards down the field, he hit Sterlin Phifer for a 22-yard touchdown pass to give BC a 31-10 lead for halftime.

The game lost a little bit of its spark until DeLeon Gause caught a tipped ball and ran it back for a 66-yard touchdown, giving the SuperFans a boost of energy and the Eagles a 38-13 lead.

With only 19 seconds left in the game, the Wildcats scored to make it 38-20.

One player who picked up right where he left off was sophomore linebacker Luke Kuechly. He had a great season opener, as his name was all over the loud speaker, amassing five solo tackles and six assisted. Coach Spaz remains impressed with him, saying, “Luke is a very good player. We only hope that he can just get better and better and he will. You can’t work that hard and have that instinct and not improve week in, week out. He is a special football player.” Herzlich adding, “Luke played awesome.”

This game was about Herzlich’s triumphant return, though, and he finished his comeback game with three solo tackles and two assisted. More important, though, is how he felt, saying, “I felt good. I overran some plays and they threw a couple check downs and I was a little out of position, but that’s to be expected I guess. Not that I’m settling for that because obviously we’re going to get in the film room and work on it but it’s a step in the right direction. We’re going to have to take bigger steps in the right direction as we go on.”

Of how his team played in this season’s first game, Coach Spaz said, “We showed flashes of a couple of things that would lead you to believe that there’s a lot of potential there. There are some things that didn’t just quite look right. Once again we’re young in a lot of areas. The receivers made a couple of nice catches and Montel Harris of course ran well. So there’s a lot of positive things to build on but we certainly have a long way to go in the whole spectrum, offense, defense and kicking. The operation didn’t run very smooth. I attribute that first to myself and then the way the team is structured right now, the depth, the youth and different guys in positions. It’s not quite as smooth as we’d like.”

Overall, Coach Spaz was happy they accomplished what they set out to do, and that was to get the first win. He was glad they were able to put a win together against the “very well coached, athletic Weber team.” Although there were a lot of mistakes and he admits the Eagles have a lot of work ahead of them, he said that it was a good way to start the season and it is something they will build on as they go forward.

Next on the Eagles schedule is Kent State who will travel to Chestnut Hill, after beating Murray State 41-10 in their own home opener.

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