Ground game gives club football season opening victory
The fledgling Wolverine football team chalks up a win in their season opener. Photo: Kevin Bryan/UVU Review
The UVU football team is not going to get too fancy with their offense one game into the season. Their style is simple: run, run and then run some more.
The Wolverines look like they will be a monster to stop, with speed in all positions and particularly their run game. They can beat teams to the outside with quick backs and receivers or with their dual threat quarterback. It is still early in the season, but there doesn’t seem to be a team that can keep up with them.
Unlike the football we are accustomed to, the club team plays with only nine players and three linemen on the field. With a narrower field than normal gridirons, teams have to be fast to get to the outside and beat the defense.
The team was able to gain over 200 yards on the ground in their season opener against Ibexs, including over 80 yards from their featured back James Andersen. Anderson has the quickness to get by just about anybody. He is relentless in his running attack and can wear teams down by making them chase him all around the field.
Anderson, who scored three touchdowns in the game, doesn’t claim that his ability is the reason for their success and defers it to his offensive line.
“I have way good blocking up front,” Anderson said. “There is nothing but green from the handoff.”
The Wolverines will need a consistent run game this season to beat their opponents. Despite a strong finish from their quarterback, Theron Anderson showed some shakiness at the beginning of the game, going 1-of-6 and throwing an interception.
Despite the setback in the passing game, Theron was able to make up for it with his legs, rushing for over 50 yards. Theron has the speed and athletic ability to keep the defense honest, and can burn them if they try to cheat. Several times throughout the game he made huge gains with heads-up decisions to tuck the ball and run. In the first series of the season he made the play of the game on what looked to be a broken play.
Rolling out to his left to throw the ball downfield, Theron saw that the coverage was tighter then he liked. He was able to avoid the rush by getting to the outside and turn up field when he pitched it to his receiver Jordan Gleason, who easily scampered 43 yards for the touchdown,
“Theron was going to fake the screen and go deep, but he broke down and I just stuck behind him,” Gleason said. “Theron made a heads up play and pitched it to me, and I was able to break free and take it in.”
If the Wolverines have any dreams of repeating as league champions, they will need to rely heavily on their running attack.
“Every time we run we pick up three, five, six yards. I keep saying in the huddle we are only going to run, we are only going to run,” Theron said. “It may not always be the most exciting brand of football, but it did lead them to an opening 35-0 shellacking of their opponent.
UVU took its momentum from last Saturday into the weekend’s game against the PG Spartans, who lost their season opener 25-12 to Stealth.