WEEVILS TO OPEN HOME, CONFERENCE SCHEDULE AGAINST OUACHITA SATURDAY

Why not
e-mail us?

e-mail

Faculty/Staff

Student

Resources

WebCT

Faculty/Staff directory

Weevils Open Home, Conference Schedule Against OBU

Courtesy of
Media Services

   To say that University of Arkansas at Monticello head football coach Gwaine Mathews has been looking forward to Saturday’s home opener against Ouachita Baptist is an understatement.

   After last year’s 51-28 beating by the Tigers at A.U. Williams Field in Arkadelphia, Mathews has prepared for this year’s game with a higher level of intensity than normal.

   “Without question, I consider this to be the biggest game of my head coaching career,” Mathews said. “We’re opening up at home, and we need to step up and make a statement.”

   Mathews finds it difficult to take too many positives away from last week’s 41-3 loss at Sam Houston State. “Our running game has been virtually non-existent,” he said, “And when your tailback is your leading passer for a game, you’ve got some serious problems.”

   However, Mathews was quick to note improvement in several areas. “We had time to throw the football against Sam Houston, and we went up against three defensive linemen who were all-Conference. Elijah (McDonald) had time to throw, but our young wideouts had a hard time getting started off the line.”

   Despite allowing 41 points, Mathews still saw some bright spots in his team’s defensive play, only taking issue with the game’s opening drive, which saw Sam Houston march 46 yards downfield in three plays, scoring their first touchdown 58 seconds into the game.

   “There was no reason to let them go down the field and score like that,” Mathews said. “We just lost our cool, and our composure.”

   However, Mathews was happy with the fact that the Boll Weevil defense avoided up giving big plays. “Up until their last touchdown run, we hadn’t given up a play of over 35 yards,” said Mathews. “It would have only been the second time in my college coaching career that my defense has gone eight quarters without giving up a play of over 35 yards. I think if you can avoid giving up the big play, you’re heading in the right direction.”

   Mathews hopes that the bumps, bruises and sprains that come with playing on an artificial turf surface will have a chance to heal by Saturday’s kickoff.

   “We’re walking wounded right now,” Mathews said. “In the second half of the game, we were without Ricky Miller, Josh Newton, and Jerome Perez; Wes Ables and Calvin Sojourney both got banged up, and it’s not a good thing. None of it is physical conditioning, it’s all ankles and hamstrings, the kinds of injuries that you get on turf.”

   “We’ve got to get a lot of people back defensively,” he added, “but we’re still in a better spot than last year. Last year if we had three defensive linemen get hurt we might not have been able to finish the game.”

   However, Mathews plans to put Saturday’s game behind him and show just what his team can do this week against Ouachita Baptist.

   “Our kids are going to be ready,” Mathews said. “I guarantee you this; Saturday’s game will be the best game we’ve played since I’ve been head coach at UAM. With this being our first conference game, it really doesn’t matter what happened in the first two games. We just have to learn from the mistakes we made, and I think we’ll get there.”

   A 6 p.m. kickoff is scheduled, with tailgating beginning at 3 p.m. and the Walk of Champions at 4 p.m. The game will be carried live on KWRF-FM 105.5 in Warren and KXFE-FM 106.9 in Dumas, as well as online at www.uamsports.com.

Have a comment? Please e-mail us.