Week 8 Review
By: CSFL Staff | Collegiate Sprint Football League | November 8, 2016
Penn wrapped up the 2016 CSFL title by posting its second undefeated season ever and its first unblemished 7-0 record since 2000 to highlight the final week of the season. All three of the other games in the league finished as one-possession games as the league saved the best for the final week. Highlights included a defensive battle that saw Navy top Army 10-3 and Mansfield and Franklin Pierce both winning close games.
WEEK 8 PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Offensive Player of the Week: Jake Klaus, RB, Penn (Haddonfield, N.J.)
As a part of a 41-12 championship clinching win over Post, Penn running back Jake Klaus had a career afternoon, rushing for 248 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries, the most yardage for any CSFL player this season and the fourth-best ground performance in program history. Klaus' monster performance was a large chunk of Penn's 372 yards on the ground, also a league-high this season.
Co-Defensive Player of the Week: Mike Bucek,LB, Mansfield (Millersville, Pa.)
Mike Bucek saved his best-for-last in Mansfield’s 26-21 win at Chestnut Hill. The senior linebacker not only recorded a game-high 12 tackles, including 11 solo and two for a loss, but he also forced two fumbles, recovered one fumble, had one sack and recovered a Chestnut Hill onside kick with 1:06 to play to preserve the 26-21 win.
Co-Defensive Player of the Week: Nick Abramson, LB, Navy (Walnut Creek, Calif.)
Navy’s defensive captain led the Mids’ merciless defensive attack from his starting linebacker position with a career-high 13 tackles, which included two sacks and a third tackle for loss. In total, his three tackles behind the line of scrimmage accounted for a loss of 18 yards. As a unit, Navy’s defense held Army’s high-powered offense to just 122 total yards (87-passing and 35-rushing).
Special Teams Player of the Week: Alex Revere, WR, Franklin Pierce (Boston, Mass.)
Revere averaged 36 yards on two kickoff returns, including a 59-yard return that set up a short field the Ravens used to score a touchdown in a seven-point win over Cornell. Revere also caught three passes for 45 yards and one touchdown and finished with a game-high 117 all-purpose yards.
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WEEK 8 REVIEW
Recaps from each of the four games played in week eight of the CSFL season can be found below.
Penn claimed the 2016 league title with a perfect 7-0 record. Navy edged Army to finish second in the league standings with a 6-1 mark. The Black Knights finished third with a 5-2 record. Franklin Pierce finished fourth in the league standings at 4-3, followed by Chestnut Hill, Mansfield and Cornell, which all tied for fifth with 2-5 records. Post rounded out the league standings with an 0-7 mark. This marks the first time since the 2010 season that a squad other than the service academies has claimed the league title. Penn was the last to do it, sharing the crown with Army after the 2010 season.
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Penn (41) at Post (12)
The Quakers wrapped up their unbeaten season with a 41-12 win on the road at Post, but they needed a strong second half to do it after the Eagles trailed just 14-12 at the break. Penn put up 14 points in the third quarter and posted a 27-0 shutout in the second half to pull away for its first perfect season since 2000.
The Quakers put up 540 yards of total offense in the game, including 372 rushing yards and 168 passing yards. Post managed 315 yards of offense after throwing for 219 yards and rushing for 96 yards.
Jake Klaus was the workhorse for Penn, carrying the ball 27 times for 248 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged 9.2 yard per carry in the game. Eddie Jenkins chipped in 51 rushing yards and one score.
Mike McCurdy completed 11-of-21 passes for 168 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Aidan Kelly caught three passes for 89 yards and one score and Chaz Augustini caught the other TD pass.
The Penn defense was paced by Tom Console with 10 total tackles. Patrick Boyle added five stops and 2.5 tackles for loss, including two sacks. Neither team recorded a single turnover in the game.
Post was led by Buddy Enriquez, who completed 15 passes for 219 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. LaDarrius Phillips pulled down four passes for 99 yards and two touchdowns.
Greg Volpe and Chris Leggio each recorded 10 tackles for the Eagles defense, with Volpe tallying the lone sack of the day for his squad.
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Franklin Pierce (24) at Cornell (17)
Franklin Pierce led 24-10 early in the fourth quarter and fought off a late charge from Cornell to win 24-17 to wrap up a winning season for the second straight year. The Ravens won their last two games and three of their last four to finish at 4-3 on the year.
A trio of individual single-season records fell in the game for Franklin Pierce. Alex Revere set the new single-season record for receiving yards with 315 yards on 19 catches. Josh Castro set a new program record for tackles for loss with 10.5 and Andrew Pelkey broke the sack record with 6.5 sacks on the year.
Cornell outgained Franklin Pierce 237-188 in the game after throwing for 160 yards and rushing for 77, but threw three interceptions and lost three fumbles in the game. The Ravens threw for just 73 yards and ran for 115, but used the turnover battle to their advantage.
Ahzir Turner rushed for 84 yards and Kobie Smith rushed for 51 yards and two scores to pace the FPU offense. Jose Melo completed eight passes for 73 yards and two scores. Revere caught one of those passes and finished with 45 receiving yards. The other TD went to Alex Powell.
Castro finished with a game-high nine total tackles, one fumble recovery and one interception. Adam Ebodi and Andrew Jean each recorded one interception as well.
Cornell was led by Kevin Nathanson with 56 rushing yards and one touchdown. Connor Ostrander completed 9-of-20 passes for 150 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. The TD pass went to Ryman Seeley, who pulled down four passes for 96 yards.
Christopher D’Antonio led Cornell with eight total tackles. Ryan Jackson intercepted two passes for the Big Red defense and Marcus Weeks added six stops and one sack.
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Mansfield (26) at Chestnut Hill (21)
The Mountaineers jumped out to a 20-0 lead and held off a furious rally from hosting Chesntut Hill to hang on for a 26-21 win. It marked the second straight win to end the season for Mansfield.
Chestnut Hill scored a touchdown with 1:11 to play, but couldn’t recover an onside kick attempt as Mansfield hung on for the win.
The Griffins put up a 361-278 edge in total offense, passing for 191 yards and rushing for 170 with a balanced attack. Mansfield managed just 39 rushing yards and threw for 239 yards.
Adam Hutchison led the Mounties by completing 18-of-30 passes for 239 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Kurt Logan caught seven passes for 77 yards and one score and D.J. McLean, Jr. caught five passes for 90 yards and two scores.
Chestnut Hill got 177 passing yards and two touchdowns from Michael Marino, who connected with Reginald Robinson, Jr. four times for 102 yards and one TD. He also hit Kadeem Pankey twice, including one for a score.
Mike Bucek led the Mansfield defense with a huge game, recording 12 total tackles, including 11 solo, one sack and two tackles for loss. He forced two fumbles and recovered one after his own sack that set up a touchdown drive.
Chestnut Hill was paced on defense by Brian Layden with 10 total tackles, including eight solo and two for loss.
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Army West Point (3) at Navy (10)
Two of the highest scoring offenses in the league were nearly shutout in a defensive battle in the annual Star Game between Army West Point and Navy. The Midshipmen came away with a 10-3 victory to regain the Star after holding Army to just five total first downs in the game.
Army scored first with a field goal early in the first quarter and led 3-0 at halftime, but Navy scored 10 points in the third quarter and that would be enough as the defense shut the door.
The Mids posted a 327-122 edge in total offense and recorded 20 first downs in the game, while holding Army to just five. Navy ran for 144 yards and threw for 183, while Army rushed for 35 and threw for 87.
Brendon Clements wrapped up the league rushing title by going for 91 yards and one touchdown on 16 carries to pace the Navy offense. Nick Deterding completed 16-of-33 passes for 183 yards with two interceptions. Miles Whitlow caught six passes for 73 yards and Clements caught three passes for 62 yards to finish with 177 all-purpose yards.
Marqus Burrell rushed for 48 yards to lead the Army ground game, but QB Keegan West was sacked five times to negate most of his progress on the ground. West finished 9-of-18 for 78 yards with one interception. Cooper Lycan caught three passes for 49 yards.
Nick Abramson led the Navy defense with 13 total tackles, including 3.0 for loss and 2.0 sacks. Kendal Mackey came up with one interception and Alex Oldham recorded 2.5 tackles for loss.
Army was paced on defense by Tanner Andrews with 10 total stops, including nine solo and 3.0 tackles for loss. Angelo Matz also had 10 tackles with seven solo and 2.0 tackles for loss. Christian Hess recorded one interception and returned it 78 yards.
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ALL-CSFL SELECTIONS
The All-CSFL team will be voted on by the league’s head coaches at the annual meeting and will be announced in December.
