Belles Depth Enough to Down Titans

Written by: Willie McGonigle on Sunday, May 10th, 2009. Follow Willie McGonigle on Twitter.

WAYNE NJ: One thing that every good team has in common is depth, and the Philadelphia Belles showed theirs on their way to 14-12 victory over the New Jersey Titans Saturday night at Passaic County Technical Institute. For the game the Belles were without their offensive leader Marirose Roach who was forced to sit this one out with an injury. In the Belles first two games of the season Roach has rushed for 556 yards on just 20 carries. “ Coach is always stressing our depth, he always tells us to know our plays whether you step on the field or not because you never know when you’ll get your chance, and tonight we showed them” is what Jeanette Hibbs would have to say about their depth.

In the first quarter the Titans use their offense to keep the high power wing offense of the Belles off the field as in the first fifthteen minutes of play the Belles would only run seven plays. The Titans couldn’t capitalize on time of possession, as the Belles would show their bend but not break defense. The Belles stuffed the Titans twice inside their 20. “Our red zone all year has been pretty tight, anytime the teams get in the twenty we hunker down well, is how Belle Head Coach Bill Sytsma describe his defense’s outstanding play in the red zone this season.

In the second the Belles needed just seven plays before Mik Austin would connect with Dawn Yergey on a post pattern out of counter jet flea flicker from 29 yards out. Hibbs would add the extra point giving the Belles the 7-0 lead. When asked about the play Austin said “ we just added it, we added after our first two games when people started keying in on our reverse.” After forcing the Titans to punt on the ensuing possession Hibbs would give the Belles the ball at the Titan 11 yard line with her 39-yard punt return. Facing a fourth and five from the Titan six the Belles once again reached into their bag of tricks and pulled an fake field goal option in which Carolyn Grubb would pitch it to Hibbs for the touchdown. Hibbs would add the extra point giving the Belles the 14-0 half time lead.

The Titans would cut the lead down in the third quarter when Nasira Johnson would bust through the Belle defense and take in from 68 yards. Hibbs would intercept Stacy Townsend pass attempt on the two-point conversion giving the Bellles the 14-6 lead. Johnson would finish the game with 194 yards on 25 carries for the Titans

On their first drive of the fourth quarter the Titans would drive 53 yards on eleven plays before Danielle Green would power her way through the Belles for a two yard touchdown. The 2-point conversion would be no good persevering the Belles 14-12 lead.

Al-Nisa Flood would give the Titans one final chance to win the game when she intercepted Austin with 56 seconds left in the game. The interception was Austin’s second of the game. Jena Echevarria would put an end to the Titans hopes when she intercepted Townsend with 36 seconds to give the Belles the 14-12 victory and to get the Belles undefeated at 3-0 while the Titans fall to 2-1 and one game behind the Belles in the standings for Women’s Football Alliance Region 1. “In practice they( the coaches) teach to stay in our zones and watch the quarterback, I didn’t want to let my team down so I just did my job.’’ Is what Echevarria would say about the interception she added” It just wasn’t for me its for the team we worked so hard we are a family.”

Up next for the Belles is a date with their interstate rivals the Keystone Assault on May 16

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4 Responses to “Belles Depth Enough to Down Titans”

1. Willie McGonigle says:
   May 14th, 2009 at 9:42 pm

   Thank you sir.I wlll keep these in mind.thanks for reading my story. I’m a college student

2. SportsWriterPro says:
   May 14th, 2009 at 5:18 pm

   Good for the Belles!

   But, the story doesn’t read very well at all. As an ex-sports writer, with 30-plus years in the business, I’d write it like this. As it stands, it kind of reads like a community college athletics press release. The quotes are rather bland and add nothing to the story.

   Hopefully, the young man who wrote the article can take some learn something.

   -FRANK C.

   ————————————————-

   WAYNE, N.J. — One thing that every good team has in common is depth. (Very generic opening)

   The Philadelphia Belles had plenty of it in Saturday’s 14-12 victory over the New Jersey Titans at Passaic County Technical Institute High School.

   The Belles were without offensive leader Marirose Roach, who was sidelined due to injury. In the Belles’ first two games of the season, Roach rushed for 556 yards on just 20 carries.

   “Coach is always stressing our depth, he always tells us to know our plays whether you step on the field or not because you never know when you’ll get your chance, and tonight we showed them” (who is she and where does she play?) Jeanette Hibbs said.

   The Belles knew it wouldn’t be an easy task winning without their superstar.

   In the first quarter, the Titans kept the Belles’ high-powered wing (wing-T?) offense off the field. Philadelphia ran only run seven plays.

   But the Titans couldn’t capitalize on time of possession due in large part to the Belles’ stingy defense. Philadelphia stuffed the Titans twice inside their 20-yard line.

   “Our red zone all year has been pretty tight,” Belles coach Bill Sytsma (is that correct spelling of his name?) said. “Anytime teams get (inside) the 20, we hunker down well.”

   (The following is pretty well-writen for the most part)

   In the second quarter, the Belles needed just seven plays before Mik Austin connected with Dawn Yergey from 29-yards out on a post pattern out of a flea flicker . Hibbs added the extra point, giving the Belles the 7-0 lead (I don’t think you need to describe the extra-point…. unless, of course, they missed it).

   “We just added (that particular play). We added (it) after our first two games when people started keying in on our reverse,” Austin said.

   The Titans failed to move the ball on the next possession, setting up Hibbs’ 39-yard punt return that, giving the Belles 1st-and-goal on New Jersey 11.

   Facing a 4th-and-5 from the Titans 6, the Belles reached into their bag of tricks and pulled a fake field goal option. Carolyn Grubb pitched the ball to Hibbs, who scampered in the end zone for a touchdown. Hibbs would add the extra point giving the Belles the 14-0 half time lead (again, not necessary).

   The Belles led, 14-0, at halftime.

   The Titans sliced the deficit in the third quarter when Nasira Johnson burst through the Belles defense and ran 68 yards. New Jersey failed on the two-point conversion.

   Johnson finished the game with 194 yards on 25 carries for the Titans (good to have an overall record here, or an additional fact. Don’t just end the sentence like this).

   On their first drive of the fourth quarter, the Titans drove 53 yards on 11 plays before Danielle Green 2-yard touchdown run.

   Trailing 14-12, Al-Nisa Flood gave the Titans a last chance to take the lead when she intercepted Austin with 56 seconds left in regulation. The interception was Austin’s second of the game.

   Jena Echevarri, however, put an end to the Titans’ hopes when she intercepted Townsend with 36 seconds left, sealing the two-point victory improving the Belles’ undefeated record (3-0).

   The Titans fell to 2-1, one game behind the Belles in the standings for Women’s Football Alliance Region 1 (League? Conference?).

   “In practice(the coaches) teach to stay in our zones and watch the quarterback,” Echevarria said. “I didn’t want to let my team down, so I just did my job.
   “It just wasn’t for me — it’s for the team. We worked so hard. We are a family.”

   Up next for the Belles is a date with their interstate rivals, the Keystone Assault, Saturday.

3. ANT DEE says:
   May 12th, 2009 at 9:34 pm

   Philly Daily News Here We Come. its That
   Good Willie.

4. Eric Waldron says:
   May 10th, 2009 at 10:54 pm

   Good Job Willie! Nice work. See what happens when you put in the work, IT GOES HARD!