Auburn Citizen -
MORAVIA | Missing one of the most important pieces to their
season's puzzle, the Moravia football team struggled against Dryden on
Saturday afternoon.
The mistakes didn't help much, either.
The
Blue Devils turned the ball over three times and committed nine
penalties in a 34-12 loss to the Lions, in Moravia's home opener.
While
Jared Lyon and Bryant Hough ran for more than 200 yards collectively,
it was apparent early that the Blue Devils were missing their biggest
weapon. Senior tailback Cody Spaulding, in street clothes and crutches
nearby, was on the bench. One of the team's biggest leaders, Spaulding
suffered a torn ACL in the first quarter of last week's game against
Unadilla Valley.
"He probably got 10 plays in and his season's
over," said Blue Devils coach John Crossgrove. "There are some things, I
can't even explain, that we were going to do this year that now we
might not be able to do. Now we have to have a different look on things.
We've been trying to figure out how to adapt the offense without that
other option. We have good kids, we'll be fine, the guys have a lot of
confidence in Bryant and Jared in the backfield, we know we have guys
that run it. It would have been nice to have all three of those guys."
The
Blue Devils were also without Spaulding's backup, junior Alex
Dzikiewicz, who had an ankle injury. Lyon and Hough played well in their
absence, though, with a score apiece. Lyon had 26 carries for 185
yards, while Hough carried 12 times for 51 yards.
Moravia played a
close first quarter, tying the score with 56 seconds left on Lyon's
54-yard scamper. BUt one play after the ensuing kickoff, Lions
quarterback Alan Davis found Stuart Stahlman for a 59-yard score to end
the period.
The ball didn't bounce the Blue Devils' way for much
of the contest. Whether it was an-almost big interception, a would-be
stop that turned into a fourth-down conversion, or a Lyon fake punt on a
fourth-and-13 that fell about a grass blade short.
"Not finishing
drives and giving away the ball, but it was a close 22-point spread at
the end," Crossgrove said. "We had a play where we almost deflected a
ball that turned into a reception, a lot of tight, competitive plays,
but that's football. Sometimes it comes down to just a couple of inches
on any play, couple inches on a fake punt would have been a first down
and we could've come right back."
Down 26-6 at the half, the Blue
Devils marched down the field to begin the second half. A short kickoff
because of a Dryden defensive penalty at the end of the first half put
Moravia on the Dryden 29-yard line to start, and two Lyon runs set up
Hough for a 4-yard score.
"I think most of the kids believed that
we could drive on (Dryden) as long as we finished it and we did, we
figured we'd get it back," Crossgrove said. "But some untimely
penalties, when you're a run-first team, its kind of hard to be first
and 15."
Two fumbles and an interception crushed Moravia, but
Crossgrove was encouraged by some things. His rotating quarterbacks,
Dylan Richards and Cole Johnson each did some things well. Richards
carried the ball three times for 39 yards, while Johnson completed four
passes for 42 yards.
"They both make mistakes and they both do a
lot of things right, I guess its working out as it is right now,"
Crossgrove said of his first-year QBs. "They're both learning and
getting better. I have a lot of confidence in both of them."
On
the other sideline, the Lyons' signal-caller played great. Davis scored
four times, three on the ground - while racking up 113 yards on nine
carries. He also went 6-for-16 for 164 yards, one score and one
interception. Eymel Deas led Dryden's running backs with 83 yards on 16
carries.
Moravia (1-1) heads to Watkins Glen Friday night, with an
attitude of moving forward, despite the player that isn't in uniform
with them.
"We still have a lot of confidence," Crossgrove said.
"It's why the team was ticked off today, they feel that they could have
beat this team and I feel that way too.
