Ferrum holds on for win over Bridgewater21-14

Game Recap

Ferrum College travelled to Bridgewater College, and came away with a hard earned win, 21-14. While this post will typically analyze statistics, and draws conclusions from them, this was a game where Ferrum controlled the first half, and Bridgewater controlled the second.
After the opening kickoff was returned 61 yards giving the Eagles the ball on the Panther 35, It took just 6 plays for a field goal, and Bridgewater led 3-0.
After each team traded turnovers, Ferrum on their second possession, scored on a 13 yd. run by LeBryan Patterson. The Clint Slappey extra point was good, and with no other scores in that period, the quarter ended Ferrum 7 Bridgewater 3.

There was no more scoring until the 4:51 mark of the second quarter when Ferrum QB Matt Dobson scored on a 4 yd. run, and with the Slappey kick, Ferrum led 14-3. After being stopped on their next possession, Bridgewater punted, and Ferrum took the ball on a drive that culminated with a 34 yard run for the final Panther touchdown of the game. Clint Slappey's extra point was good, and the Panthers led 21-3
The ensuing kick off gave Bridgewater the ball at their own 44 yard line. with :39 seconds left in the half. Bridgewater was able to complete a 47 yard pass and get into position for a 36 yard field goal as time expired, with the score Ferrum 21 Bridgewater 6.

On the opening kick off for the second half, the Panthers were set to receive, when Bridgewater executed a perfect on side kick, and took possession. On the first play, Bridgewater scored on a 65 yard pass from Driskell to Tyler Beller. The two point extra point was good, and what had been a 18 point lead in three plays was now a 7 point lead. With that, the score was Ferrum 21 Bridgewater 14, and that is how it ended.


Panther Pride


Rushing

Ferrum dominated the rushing yards by out gaining the Eagles 243 yards to 45. This speaks well of both the offensive and defensive lines of Ferrum. Ferrum utilized the wishbone offense and 7 ball carriers for the total yardage. LeBryan Patterson led the Panthers with 95 rushing yards.



Passing

In the wishbone, Ferrum will not pass all that often. Matt Dobson was 3 of 7 for 89 yards, and Mayo attempted 1 pass that was incomplete. The main receiving targets were Quinn Tibbs and Mike Vann.



Special Teams

Ferrum had no field goal attempts, and were 3 for 3 on extra points. Punting played a big roll in the outcome, as Ferrum punted 8 times for a 43.6 yards per punt average. The Panthers did a great job of containing the returns only allowing 37 yards on 5 returns.






Panther Ponderings

While a win is a win, and Bridgewater is certainly a better team than I anticipated, Ferrum needs to solidify their stature as a team that will contend for the USA South conference title.


In most areas, Ferrum executed well, but there are a few areas that need to be improved upon.



Kickoff Return Coverage- The Eagles had an average of 27.5 yards per return. Granted that most of this was gained on the opening kickoff return, (61 yds.) This needs to be a consistent strength.

Defensive Secondary- Again this week, Ferrum gave up big numbers to their opponent through the air. Bridgewater threw the ball 46 times completing 18, for 321 yards. This is an average of 17.8 yards per completion. On a positive note, the secondary did contribute 2 interceptions, one of which led to a touchdown. In short, the Bridgewater passing game accounted for 321 of their total 366 offensive yards. Ferrum only had 312 total offensive yards.

Offensive production- There was a stark contrast on the productivity of the offense, depending on who was quarterbacking. While Matt Dobson and Marcus Mayo each commanded 6 separate offensive drives, statistically, Dobsons' drives were far more productive. Over his six drives, Dobson ran 38 plays for 281 yards, and 3 touchdowns. The yards per drive for the Panther offense was 46.8 yards.

Under Mayo, the Panther offense went into hibernation. On Mayo's six drives, the offense managed 21 plays for a total of 33 yards, and a per drive average of 5.5 yards.

I will not speculate as to why, but it was apparent early on, that the offense was responding when Dobson was under center. I know in an earlier post, I expressed that Mayo was the future for the Ferrum offense. While I still believe that Mayo will be a huge factor in the success of the program in the future, it is apparent that now the full time quarterback needs to be Dobson. With conference play beginning next week, there needs to be a rally point for the team, and I believe it is Dobson.

Final Analysis

Ferrum can take away many positives from this game. They controlled time of possession, they minimized penalties, and were able to get to the opponents quarterback for three sacks. Ferrum played, in many aspects a sound game against a better than expected Bridgewater team. A win on the road makes it even more satisfying.

Ferrum returns home next week to open conference play, and face the Shenandoah Hornets. I think Ferrum will find a strong Hornet team who has the ability to win on the road...They beat Bridgewater at the Eagles home last week.

I will preview the upcoming Panther /Hornet match up in a later post.