Jonas Emilsson
www.krammag.com

It’s not unusual for football coaches to agonize over every single detail concerning the play their team or what to expect from an opponent.

Legendary stories are often told about coaches at all levels pulling all-nighters pouring over game film after game film to develop an iron-clad game plan.

For Notre Dame Pride head coach Dave Diluzio, it was a certain player from the St. Francis Browns that was giving him some serious concerns, which lead to hours upon hours of time spent staring at a television to prepare for his teams’ upcoming clash against the legendary high school.

“Their quarterback” (Jamie Baldauf), proclaimed Diluzio. “He has kept me up the last three nights looking at film. He is such a great scrambler. We did a good job of keeping him in the pocket because he’s dangerous. If he gets outside you’re going to lose, so I think our outside guys did a good job with that and for the most side we kept him in the pocket.”

Based on his teams’ 21-7 victory, it’s safe to assume the time spend reviewing game tape was worth it, especially considering the stellar effort put forth by the team’s defense.

“I think we played well as a unit and we attacked the ball very well,” said Pride’s safety Mitch Koch. “We had a good week of practice to prepare and we played our hearts out on the field and we came out successful.”

Although Diluzio and company were concerned about the abilities of Baldauf, they could sit back and relax when their own star pivot Jimmy Underdahl lead the offense out on the field.

Underdahl threw two touchdown passes to David Finot and Matt Lamoureux and found the end zone on a one-yard quarterback sneak.

“We had a really long week of practice and with the weather conditions it was a little bit harder but we went through their plays to prepare for what to expect from them and for what we needed to do ourselves to get ready for the game,” said Koch.

The Pride first got on the board at the 10:13 mark of the second quarter on a 20-yard screen pass to Finot, who used his blazing speed to fly down the sideline and into the end zone untouched.

Two possessions later, Underdahl again showed why he’s one of the top quarterbacks in the league by unleashing a 50-yard bomb to running back Taylor James, who made a terrific catch before being brought down on the one-yard line.

On the next play Underdahl plunged into the end zone to give his team a two touchdown lead.

Perhaps the biggest play of the game came late in the first half when Pride’s defensive back Matt Sackney picked off a pass at mid-field and ran the ball back to inside the Browns’ 10-yard line.

“I thought out team played very well,” said Koch. “St. Francis is a tough team and they had some good plays on us and we had to react and make some plays ourselves.”

With only 36 seconds left on the clock Underdahl wasted no time spotting Lamoureux streaking across the end zone to connected for a picture-perfect over-the-shoulder catch.

The first half certainly belonged to the Pride’s offense, but the second half was dominated by both defenses.

The two defensive squads put some serious wear and tear on the middle portions of the McMahon turf as they forced each other’s offense into plenty of two and outs, giving the punters plenty action.

“I thought out team played very well,” said Koch. “St. Francis is a tough team and they had some good plays on us and we had to react and make some plays ourselves.”

The Browns eventually got on Lau’s short run into the end zone to spoil the Pride’s dreams of shutting out the mighty Browns.

“I thought it was a really hard-hitting game by both teams,” said Diluzio. “I thought this was an extremely physical game and I liked the intensity our kids came out with.”

“They have such a great tradition, great program and great coaches so any time you play against them it’s an honor. I’m glad out kids weren’t intimidated and they really stepped up to the challenge. I liked out kid’s focus and their intensity.”

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