Though the Shenandoah University football team had a gutty win last week against Methodist, it wasn’t a blueprint for what the Hornets need for consistent success.
The Hornets (1-0) have won three straight games in their series with today’s non-conference opponent N.C. Wesleyan (noon kickoff at the Vernon T. Bradley Complex in Rocky Mount, N.C.). To make it four, Hornets head coach Scott Yoder said there are definitely things that are going to have be better against the Battling Bishops, who lost their season opener to NCAA Division II Emory & Henry 36-7 last week.
“We can’t spend a quarter offensively getting in our own way,” Yoder said. “Defensively, we’ve got to cause turnovers and we’ve got to get off the field on third down.”
SU was shut down in the first quarter and gained only 26 yards on 13 plays through its four possessions in its 28-23 win over Methodist, turning the ball over twice and struggling with snaps and catch attempts. The Hornets didn’t have a single turnover last week, and while they got better over the course of the game SU’s defense allowed Methodist to convert all five of its third downs on a touchdown drive on the first possession and both of its fourth downs on a touchdown drive on its second possession.
NCW lost all five of its spring games but went 6-4 in 2019.
The team comes into this game off a short week. Battling Bishops player Matthews Clemons passed away on Thursday, Sept. 2, and the game with Emory & Henry was postponed to Sunday.
The Battling Bishops scored a touchdown on their first possession last week, but struggled on offense after that. N.C. Wesleyan finished with only 177 yards, including just 11 rushing (the Bishops lost 41 yards on five sacks).
N.C. Wesleyan used two quarterbacks in the game — Storm Yarbrough (7 of 18 for 80 yards, one touchdown, one interception) and Alex Stack (9 of 17 for 86 yards). Yarbrough played the first possessions until giving way to Stack with 6:13 left in the second quarter, and Yarbrough also played the entire fourth quarter.
Yoder expects to see Yarbrough, who was not the quarterback when SU had five interceptions against the Bishops in a 35-19 win in 2019.
“He’ll pull it and he’ll run around a little bit,” Yoder said. “The big thing for us is just like last week — tackle. They’ve got some good athletes, they’ve got a good ballcarrier. If we get the guys down on the ground and make them earn it, I feel good about our chances.”
Yoder said the Hornets will also have to keep an eye on NCW running back Jeff Black (5-foot-6, 150 pounds, 13 carries for 49 yards last week).
“They basically run inside zone, and he gets behind that O-Line and just hits it downhill, and finds a little crease, and doesn’t take a lot of negative plays,” Yoder said. “If you give [Black] a little bit, he can make a big one. We need to find a way to get a lot of white jerseys around him and get him on the ground.”
SU’s defense will feature middle linebacker Ben Burgan (team-high 11 tackles), who will be able to play the entire game after an NCAA video review determined he shouldn’t have been flagged for targeting late in the fourth quarter against Methodist.
An SU offense that will feature freshman starting quarterback Steven Hugney, running back Rashadeen Byrd Jr. (21 carries, 78 yards, TD) and Old Dominion Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week Ethan Bigbee (five catches, 176 yards, 3 TDs) will take on a defense that Yoder said that could give SU a lot of different things to look at. The Bishops gave up 383 yards (220 passing) last week.
“They played about five or six different schematic fronts last week,” Yoder said. “I think they want to be a four-man front that goes to a three-man front when it’s long distance, when it’s third-and-long. We’ve got to stay pretty vanilla in our schemes because we don’t know exactly what they’re going to be in right from the get-go.”
Yoder said the Hornets need to be a ready for an emotional Bishops team, which is now playing on a campus facility built in 2019 that SU has never played on before. The Hornets have previously played NCW at three different off-campus facilities.
“They’re going to be pretty focused after not getting the result they wanted last week,” Yoder said. “We’re going to get their best shot.”
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