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09/20/2014 12:00 AMWith its back against the wall and in danger of the program’s first 0-2 start since 2008, the Hand football team’s defense rose up and became a blistering brick to help get the Tigers back on a winning track.
Hand hosted Hillhouse on Sept. 19 at the Surf Club and pitched a 17-0 shutout. While the Tigers’ offense scored bookend touchdowns in the first and final quarters, their defense forced a trio of Hillhouse turnovers and prevented the Academics from taking a snap inside the Hand 30-yard line to lead the Tigers to the victory.
“Our defense was incredible; the kids were spot-on in terms of their assignments on the field and executing them,” said Head Coach Steve Filippone. “They played with passion, enthusiasm, and a sense of urgency. On a scale of one to 10, our defense was a powerful eight. Barring the first quarter of the New Canaan game, our defense is way ahead of where it was last year.”
Also defensively for Hand, it held the Academics to 81 total yards of offense and only 22 of those came following the halftime break. Junior quarterback Nick Van Dell was 13-of-23 with 132 yards through the air, while he also ran for another 24.
“There are a lot of things holding us back, but one that is not is Nick Van Dell, who is even better than he was last year. He just doesn’t have the cast of characters around him,” said Filippone. “We are realizing that we have a lot of kids with heart, but they have physical limits because they are small, and then their strength gets negated because of them being smaller. We are playing in a very competitive field, and some people may say that Hillhouse is the weakest team on our schedule, yet versus teams like them, they are good enough to have players dominate, and their defensive line dominated tonight.”
On the second offensive possession for the Tigers (1-1), they got on the scoreboard when senior running back Ryan Whelahan (37 yards on 25 rushes) found the end zone on a 4
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-down, 8-yard scoring scamper with 5:06 to play in the first before an extra-point kick from senior Tyler Phan put Hand ahead 7-0 following the opening frame—a lead that remained at halftime after a scoreless second quarter.
For the Academics (0-2), they fought their way into Hand territory only twice, and the Tigers’ defensive squad made its presence felt with those three turnovers, as Hillhouse fumbled on its own 30 in the first quarter following the Whelahan touchdown and was intercepted twice by junior cornerback Ryan Kaufmann and senior corner Connor McShane at the 5:01 and 1:15 junctures, respectively, of the second period.
At the 8:31 mark of the third frame, the Tigers’ offensive issues continued, as Phan missed a 30-yard field goal prior to Hand fumbling at the Hillhouse 1-yard line with about four minutes remaining in the quarter. Phan did redeem himself, though eight seconds into the final frame on a field goal from 15 yards out to put the Tigers up by 10.
“We had a lot of breakdowns on our side, but Hillhouse has a couple of good players in their down linemen,” said Filippone, whose squad dropped seven passes in the contest. “But again, it’s not about the work ethic or courage of our kids. It’s not that they aren’t trying their hardest; it’s just their physical limits because of size.”
Hand forced an Academics’ punt at its own 3-yard marker as 10:13 was left on the clock, but that ensuing possession ended with Hillhouse blocking a Tigers’ punt to take over at the Hand 36-yard line.
The Tigers later took control of the ball seven yards out from the Academics’ end zone with 1:39 to go and then entered it when junior running back Tristan Dowd ran it in from three yards as six ticks were left in the game.
Offensively for the evening, the Tigers struggled to take advantage of strong field positioning. Hand opened seven of its drives on Hillhouse’s side of the 50, including three inside the 20-yard line.
“The consistency we play with and what we need to do on a regular basis, we just aren’t doing it,” said Filippone. “And that’s on our coaching staff and me in particular. Our staff needs to make it better and figure it out.”
Hand moves on in its tough opening portion to the season when it travels to undefeated SCC Division I East rival Cross (2-0) on Friday, Sept, 26 at 4 p.m.
“Cross is a capable team and maybe even better than Hillhouse, so we have our work cut out for us,” said Filippone on the Governors. “We have our work cut out for us and have to put our head to the grindstone. We can be certain of one thing and that’s that we won’t accept this as the way things will be for us.”