By Ryan McCord
When a football team has dug itself a hole so large that even the offensive line has wiggle room, it typically marks a point in time when the head coach has no choice but to look into an alternate direction to pull his troops back to ground level.
With the offense skipping the same beat on the road versus Maine on Saturday, Dave Cohen decided it was junior backup signal-caller Dennis Davis’s turn in attempt to circle the team’s wagon.
“Dennis deserved the opportunity,” said Cohen, whose Pride team spotted the Black Bears 21 points to open up the first half. “This was the only position on the team that we haven’t made changes or substitutions. Why not give him a shot?”
The instant energy that Davis managed to inject into the Pride offense, however, resembled the effects after one consumes a can of Red Bull. As a rapid 10 point, second quarter Pride buzz turned into a drowsy pillow fight in the second half and No. 19 Maine managed to fend off their slumping conference rival for a 21-10 homecoming victory.
QB or not QB, was not the question on Saturday afternoon. The answer, however, was the battle in the trenches dominated by a highly touted Maine defensive line that physically wore out what proved to be an outmatched Hofstra offensive line.
“The defense has done a great job lately in stopping the run,” Maine head coach Jack Cosgrove said.
“They’ve been a big reason why we’ve been able to go on this winning streak.”
The self-proclaimed, “Black Hole” defense held the Pride to a season low minus nine yards rushing for the game to go along with only 25 total yards of offense in a second half that saw zero points generated by either team.
Maine tinkered with a route in the first half, pulling the improbable rabbit out of the hat with a fake field goal for a touchdown following an onside kick attempt that caught everyone on the Pride off-guard.
“They were a team out for revenge,” said Cohen, alluding to last year’s 44-0 route between the two teams won by Hofstra. “I have to give credit to our players, they were more ready for this one than the coaching staff.”
Emotions were certainly running high in a contest that saw eight personal fouls between two teams clearly going in opposite directions.
Blackbear senior tailback Arel Gordon contributed to the Pride’s frusterations, rushing for 118 yards on 20 carries, including a touchdown that got the scoring started.
Davis did his best to get the Pride back into the contest once he was thrown into action after Clarkson was sacked, threw an incomplete pass, and fumbled in consecutive plays the second quarter.
With a Maine defense now blood-thirsty, and chomping at the bit to welcome Davis to the party they were throwing in the Hofstra backfield, Davis held his composure and connected with Shaine Smith on a seven yard pass and catch in the endzone to cap a 10 play, 58 yard drive.
The score not only put some pep in the offensive step, but energized the Pride defense, as the Black Bears managed only three plays with negative yardage on the ensuing drive.
After a 23 yard Maine punt, Hofstra started with ideal field position to possibly round out the second half scoring. Davis and the offense, however, could only muster eight yards and Rob Zarrilli was called upon to salvage the drive.
Fighting a typical, New England in autumn swirling wind, Zarrilli managed to boot through a career-high 52 yard field goal with under a minute left in the first half.
Just when Hofstra was clicking on offense and getting some balls to bounce their way, halftime approached. Into the locker room both teams went, and the offenses apparently stayed, as both defenses took control, yielding zero second-half points.
The Black Bears improved to 4-0 in Atlantic-10 conference play and with an improving offense to merit a ferocious defense, this just may be the team to beat once the playoffs surface in November.
