11th Marine Cannon Cockers

With one little stutter step and one big hit, Kennth Pless and Jeremy Knutson changed the entire complexion of the game. It was the opening kickoff of the second half, and up to that point Monday evening, everything had gone against the 11th Marine Football team. The Cannon Cockers had watched three early touchdowns be wiped away on horrible rulings by the referees. The squad could feel it was physically beating the 1st FSSG Outlaws, but they had nothing to show for it. Until Pless got his hands on the ball and Knutson delivered a punishing hit. First to make the momentum change was Pless, when the speedster recived the kickoff 1 yard deep in the endzone he raced for daylight, juked FSSG's Aaron Lang and tiptoed down the sideline for a record 101 yards and a tie-breaking touchdown, the Cannon Cockers were on their way to an 18-0 victory at the 43 Area Field. " I just gave it all I had," Pless said of the return that broke the Outlaws hearts. " I saw the kicker (Lang) stubbling, and i just tried to get by him and was able to take it to the house." That touchdown marked one turning point in the game. The other was Jeremy Knustons big blow to an Outlaw reciver on a 4th down play. On the play Outlaw QB Damien Mitchell was scrambling for his life and fired the ball to a double covered #22. The pass was nealy intercepted by DB Marc Harris but it slipped thruogh and was caught for a brief second by the reciever, that is until Knutson arrived on the scene and deliverd a powerful pop that could be hear thru out the area. The hit sent the Cannon Cocker side line into an uproar. From that point on out the Outlaws were punished hit after hit and sack after sack. However the Outlaws had been fortunate to be tied at 0 at the half, because the Cannon Cockers had three disputed TD elimimanated on officiating decisions. The first to be nullified was a great catch in teh back of the endzone by WR Larry Lawrence. But the 2001 Golden helmet PLayer of the Year was ruled out becuase the offical claimed he did not have possesion of the ball. The second score was Chad Morgan's 23 yard rushing TD, but was called back for holding and the third TD was Lawrence one again who sprinted around the left side uncontested for 76 yards, which was called back for an illegal motion. Needless to say, the Outlaws were in position to register the biggest upset of the young season. But not on this day. With the Cannon Cocker defense playing as nasty and stubborn as ever and with Pless's kick return, FSSG was a beaten squad. " I wouldnt say we put our heads down or anything like that," FSSG QB Damien Mitchel said. "But it was a big play. It broke the stalemate and it was hard to recover from that blow." Riding a new charge of momentum, 11th Marines had no trouble marching down teh feild for a 12-play-60 yard drive kept alive by TB's Larry Lawrence and James Russell, and was capped off with a 6 yard TD pass from QB Steven Phelps to 6-foot-7 TE Javier Rivera. "We needed that," Phelps said of the drive that included 10 running plays by four different ball carriers." We just rammed the ball down thier throat, play after play. It was a big drive for us." Later in the fourth quarter the team scored again on a 25 yard TD pass to WB Chad Morgan. The speedy reciver made a nifty, over-the shoulder-catch and raced to the endzone, ending any hopes of an Outlaw upset over the Cannon Cockers, who are quickly becomeing the Leagues new powerhouse. "If we want to be the No. 1 team on base, we need to keep playing like we did in the second half today all the time." 11th Marines Coach Jacob Puda said of his squad, which was flagged for 7 penelties in the first half but went the entire second half flag free. "That was the best half of football we have played so far. Our Defense kept us in the game the first half, they are like our gaurdian angels," Puda said of his blistering defense, who are under the close supervision of Defensive Coach Gregg Long. " SSgt Long knows his football, and does a damn good job with our defense, they always give us the spark we need to get rolling." The 11th Marines now sit atop the League, tied with SOI, at 3-0. The Outlaws fell to 0-2. Next action for the Cannon Cockers will be Monday Aug. 25th @ 1800 on the 43 Area Field vs. TSB.