Football
Prepares for CWRU
by Colin Smith
With
a record of 0-2, the Oberlin football team will resume play on Saturday,
taking on Case Western University, also 0-2. The Yeomens last
scheduled game, Saturday, Sept. 15 at Earlham was canceled in the
wake of last weeks tragedy.
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Avoiding
the Pressure: Oberlins starting quarterback,
first-year Ryan Squatrito, sights the defense out of
the corner of his eye before making a pass in practice.
(photo by Jonathon Solars)
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The North Coast Athletic Conference had initially decided to go
ahead with Saturdays game, but instead announced that all
weekend games would be canceled on Friday, Sept. 14, when the Yeomen
were expected to leave for Earlham in Richmond, Ind. The conferences
new decision caused mixed feelings amongst the team,
first-year wide receiver Zach Lewis said.
Some thought that we should move on and that we owe it to
the people affected by the tragedy to keep going with our normal
lives, Lewis said. Some thought that it is
completely wrong to play football at a time like this.
Senior linebacker and team captain Sam Hobi disagreed with the NCACs
decision. I am appreciative that we have people in administration
that care so much about doing what is right. However, I feel that
play should have resumed, Hobi said. The professional
and Division I teams postponed or canceled play mainly on the basis
of travel and safety, having 60,000 to 100,000 people organized
in one place could be a strategic point for attack. We [the NCAC]
followed suit. Conference play does not necessitate air travel,
neither would it have housed more than a few thousand people.
The object of terrorism is to terrorize to the point
of altering behavior. Athletics prep school, collegiate and
professional are a large part of American landscape and lifestyle.
And considering our current level and situation I think that [the
Earlham game] would have been an appropriate diversion and a positive
event.
The Earlham game would have been Oberlins first conference
game. Instead, their first conference game will be at home against
Wabash on Sept. 29. On Saturday, the Yeomen will play their first
game in two weeks as they travel to Cleveland to face Case Western
Reserve University.
Last
year, in the third game of the season, the Yeomen lost to Case Western
37-14 at home. This year, at least on paper, the Yeomen appear to
have a bit of an edge. Through two games Case Western has scored
28 points and surrendered 66. Seventeen of those points allowed
have been in the first quarter, which bodes well for the Yeomen,
who have shown a potent first-quarter offense in scoring 21 first-quarter
points in their two games.
Overall,
the Yeomen have scored 35 while allowing 51. Oberlin has amassed
717 yards and allowed 812, whereas Case Western has generated only
522, while allowing 884. It should be noted, though, that the Yeomens
two opponents are now a combined 2-3, while Case Westerns
are 5-0.
The Yeomen will be looking to build off of their last game, in which
they lost 25-21, but held the lead for more than 50 minutes of the
game and scored three touchdowns for the first time in over a year.
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