Speechless- Greensboro 27 Ferrum 24

I am at a loss as to what to type. It seemed like this was going to be a rout as Ferrum jumped out to a quick 17-0 lead, and carried a 17-14 lead in to the halftime.....Then the Pride got serious, and did exactly what it needed to to win...stop the run, and work through the air. Final GC 27 Ferrum 24.

First I want to look at the Ferrum Keys to Victory from an earlier post.



Keys to a Panther Victory-

Ferrum should be prepared to stay busy in the secondary. They will take what you give them. They will work to develop a routine of throwing underneath, and then look to go long. They have speed at the receiver position and will go to the well many times. Things got too busy, and Greensboro took full advantage of the Ferrum secondary.

Control the game by running the ball. It is imperative that the time of possession be dominated by Ferrum. T.O.P was controlled by the Panthers. This was not a huge factor in keeping the Pride off of the board, as they controlled the passing game. Does not take long to throw a pass for a touchdown.

Win the turnover game. Ferrum has had 12 fumbles this season, losing 5 of these. Greensboro has had only nine fumbles, losing just three. Take care of the ball on offense, and force them to fumble on defense. Convert turnovers into points. Ferrum fumbled twice, losing one of these, but was unable to force a turnover, fumble or interception from Greensboro.

Pressure the quarterback when possible. Do whatever it takes to disrupt his timing. Not much success here. 1 sack, and he threw for four touchdowns.

Lastly, Greensboro is succeeding 45% of the time on 4th down conversion attempts. They have a strong punter, but are not afraid to go for it on fourth down. They went for it on fourth down 3 times.... successfully twice. 66%

One thing that I expected was that Ferrum would control the ground game. They did, but it seemed that the yards did not come that easy. I was glad to see Vann get the carries that he did. He is a proven back that is invaluable to the offense, but it seemed like something was missing offensively. It was not Dobson, as he looked sharp through the air as well as on the ground. I think maybe Greensboro controlled the rushing attack better the second half, and stymied the Panthers offense. Greensboro came out, played hard, and produced on offense. Ferrum while it had its bright spots, fell victim to a team that prepared to defend the option, and prepared to pass the ball. While their coaches may not be happy about the way Ferrum dominated the rush, the chances are they will not hear a word about it. They played well, and got the job done.

So where to from here for the Panthers? On to Shenandoah. A chance for a win on the road, but this too is an underrated team. They took CNU to overtime this year, and have the ability to contend with most anyone. For Ferrum, contending for the conference championship just got lumped in the extremely difficult category. It will take many miracles for that to happen, but Ferrum has to play one game at a time, and focus on winning. The rest of the league will play out, and we will see where they end up. One thing is for sure, I now know that any team can beat any other one on any given Saturday.