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Three big pass plays in the second quarter got the Pointers untracked and two more touchdowns in the third quarter put enough points on the board for a 35-14 win over Southwestern Friday.
The win was key for the Pointers as it opened the SWAL season on a good note.
It was the Scotty Pittz to Sy Staver two pronged attack for the first two scores as Pittz nailed his receiver with a 35 yard pass to start with then added a seven yarder. Staver then connected with Alec Schmitz for a two point conversion on the first score.
Pittz and Schmitz connected on a 35 yard scoring strike and Brant James booted the extra point for a 21-0 halftime lead.
Southwestern found a way to the end zone in the third frame when Pyzer Pearce ran in from the four and Hunter Lisk kicked the extra point to make it 21-7.
The Pointers rolled in twice more in the third frame as Turner Poad scored from the four and Schmitz took a 38 yard pass from Pittz for another.
James kicked both conversions.
The Wildcats scored once more on a Jacob Banfield to Kyle Tranel pass with the play going for 66 yards. Lisk again toed up the conversion.
The Pointers balanced their offense with 37 rushing plays for 220 yards and 183 more yards through the air as Pittz connected on 10 of 19.
Poad ran for 103 yards on 16 carries and Pittz picked up 97 more on 10 tries.
Schmitz caught three passes for 96 yards while Staver grabbed three for 43 and Tarek Oellerich four for 44.
The line play of the improving Pointer men in the trenches helped account for the balanced attack.
"Southwestern stayed in a 4-2 box all night. When we get that look out of our one back formations we need to be able to run the ball," said coach Andy Palzkill. "The credit goes to our offensive line of Dylan MacGilvra, Nate Cody, Brant James, Joe Ripp, and Lance Steffes. These young men did great job of understanding our blocking scheme and executing it. "
"I was also proud of our wide-outs for their efforts in the running game. We have a group of young men who are really playing hard for each other and it shows when you get great downfield blocking like we did on Friday night," Palzkill added..
Also making the Pointer attack successful against the Wildcats was the play from the quarterback position manned by Pittz.
"Scott showed improvement on Friday night in many ways," Palzkill said. "He did get the ball out to our receivers more quickly which allows them to catch the ball on the break. This gives them more of a chance to make a nice run after the catch. I thought our receivers did a great job of running their routes. Coach Andy Busch does a great job teaching our athletes how to run routes and these kids have a year or two of experience in this offense. The athletes do a great job of adjusting to defenses and they actually gave me two adjustments that led to touchdowns against Southwestern. It is really nice to see our kids understanding football and knowing how to adjust to certain coverages and/or defensive fronts."
"Scott did a great job of calling the game on Friday night," Palzkill continued. "He made the majority of the calls at the line of scrimmage in the running game. I will give him a play concept and then he is able to call the play to what we feel is the weakness of the defensive front. Once again, having athletes that understand our system is so important because that allows us to be in good play call on every down."
Poad was a key to making the run game go.
"Turner is a very natural running back," Palzkill said. "He has great vision and understands how to cut off of blocks. He has done a great of hitting the hole and has become a powerful runner. "
Palzkill also had praise for the kicking and overall play of sophomore Brant James.
"Brant has done a great job of making himself into a good football player. He has been lifting weights since he was in middle school and that has allowed him to become stronger and more explosive. He understands football and has a lot of confidence in himself. Brant does a good job on PAT's and we will hope to be able to kick some field goals with him as well," Palzkill said..
Palzkill also gave credit to the defense for holding down the Wildcats.
"It was another excellent defensive performance," Palzkill said. "Coach Leonard has done an amazing job with our scheme and I will also give credit to Coach Mitchell for his work with our defensive linemen. They are doing a great job of eating up blockers and allowing our linebackers to scrap and make plays. We have the luxury of having many one-way players in the linebacking core which is helping us to stay fresh and finish football games."
The Pointers continue to work on their game this week.
"We will look to improve our ability to recognize and pick up the blitz offensively," Palzkill said. "Our first steps are important and we can certainly get off the ball faster. Defensively, we need to clean up some reads and footwork in our secondary and continue to improve."
The Pointers are at Boscobel Friday.
"This week we will travel to Boscobel. They run multiple formations and have a lot of size. I will expect a 4-2 cover 1 or a 4-3 cover 0 from them defensively," Palzkill said.