Shane’s Edge defense dominates Tau Gamma in flag-football
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Shane’s Edge dominated Tau Gamma defensively in a 20-7 residence-hall league victory at the Hawkeye Recreational Fields on Sunday.
With five interceptions on the night, Shane’s Edge looked a lot like Iowa’s secondary against Iowa State on Sept. 12. Every pass thrown by Tau Gamma seemed susceptible to being picked off, and the Shane’s Edge players continually swarmed to the ball.
Freshman Jack Cumming helped lead Shane’s Edge to victory with two interceptions and a handful of tipped balls.
“Individually, I was proud of myself … two interceptions is a good night,” Cumming said. “To be honest, though, it wasn’t just me. I have to give credit to [my teammates].”
The poor throwing effort by Tau Gamma seemed to be the cause of poor play-calling decisions.
The team constantly ran deep crossing and fly routes, choosing to be overly aggressive instead of taking the conservative five-yard options.
Going for the end zone nearly every play proved to be a fatal decision.
Cumming said his team figured out his opponents’ aggressive play calling behavior early, and that was why Shane’s Edge was able to capitalize.
He said that watching the eyes of the Tau Gamma players was key.
“I just stuck with their best receiver, and I just watched the ball because usually they were just chucking it up,” Cumming said. “[We] really watched the quarterback and his eyes.”
Tau Gamma freshman Matt Ploessl said he was pleased with the effort of his team, but he said a change in play calling must be made to ensure Tau Gamma is not on the wrong end of the turnover margin again.
“We were kind of unprepared,” Ploessl said. “We need to run a few more short passing plays instead of always going deep.”
Fatigue also played a role in the contest. Tau Gamma only had eight players, which forced the team to play both sides of the ball.
In contrast, Shane’s Edge had enough players to comfortably rotate for fresh lineups when possessions changed.
Ploessl said that the low numbers may have hurt Tau Gamma.
“We haven’t had the same team at all this year,” Ploessl said. “We normally have 13 guys but only eight tonight.”
Despite the turnovers, Tau Gamma had a 7-6 lead midway through the second quarter. That changed when Shane’s Edge executed a beautiful deep pass down the right side of the field for a touchdown, which ultimately changed the game.
Although Tau Gamma was on the losing end of the contest, freshman Alec Fetter had an outstanding performance, catching every pass thrown remotely close to his vicinity.
Fetter said he was able to create some offense because of the mismatches he created.
“It was a mismatch because the corner was, like, half my size,” Fetter said. “We knew that I could go deep, and the safety just couldn’t out-jump me. We had some good spacing.”
Fetter said Tau Gamma will improve as the season moves forward. Better preparation, better decisions, and better play calling are a must for the squad.
“You really have to have a true grasp of the offense,” Fetter said. “You need to know what to do when under pressure.”
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