No. 2 Siegfried, No. 4 Knott survive upset weekend
By KERRY SMITH
Sports Writer
With two of the top four men's interhall teams out of contention, rights to play in the championship game are up for grabs.
With the fall of top-seed Alumni and No. 3 Keenan, Siegfried and Knott at the second and fourth spots are the only two top teams to survive Sunday's semifinal action.
The Siegfried Ramblers took the field against the Kangaroos of Keough and emerged with a 10-0 decision, while the Juggernauts of Knott kept their heightened play rolling, holding the Dillon Big Red scoreless in a 10-0 game.
The Ramblers put points on the board early in the game when sophomore quarterback Rob Plumby ran the ball into the end zone on a 1-yard quarterback sneak.
Plumby and tailback Travis Smith combined to lead the Rambler scoring drive, resulting in a 7-0 edge. Smith ran the ball efficiently against the Kangaroo defense, continually finding holes in their defensive line formation.
The key play in the drive found the Ramblers faced with a third-and-long situation. Plumby, who was four-for-five on passing in the game, connected with Smith on the outside to put the Ramblers in scoring position.
"Our quarterback had an outstanding game," Rambler captain Jamie Bordas said. "He changed three or four plays very well that I had called. He showed a lot of composure and maturity on the field and that helped us win."
The Ramblers held on to the 7-0 lead until late in the second half when Pete Aguiar kicked the ball through the uprights to increase the lead to 10.
The Rambler defense, which has given up few points all season, put on another top performance. The Kangaroos, held scoreless, were not able to execute their offense successfully, as the Ramblers shut down their running game and stifled their aerial attack.
The Kangaroos' outside running game, which they relied on to move the ball for most of the regular season failed to produce yards against the tough Rambler line, forcing the Kangaroos into a throwing game.
"We were able to stop their outside running game," Bordas said. "They usually like to run sweeps but our defense shut them down. And when they were forced to throw we were able to put a lot of pressure on the quarterback and stop their offense in that way too."
Siegfried will face sixth seed Sorin in the quarterfinal round next weekend on their quest for a championship title.
Knott 10, Dillon 0
The Juggernauts attacked early to come up with a win over the Big Red of Dillon Hall.
On their second possession of the afternoon, the Juggernauts drove the ball down the field using a combined offense of passing and running, to score a touchdown and the extra point for a 7-0 lead. Juggernaut captain and quarterback Mario Suarez connected with Jonathan Smith in the end zone on a short pass for the score.
"We used a pretty diverse attack," said Suarez. "We had some trouble running outside, but we made some big passing plays to move the ball down the field and our interior running worked well."
The Juggernauts struck again with a minute remaining in the half. The Knott offense moved the ball down the field into scoring position before kicking a field goal for insurance points bringing the score to 10-0.
"Our offense moved the ball pretty well," said Suarez. "We kept the ball away from the other team and had good ball control."
Defensively, the Juggernauts did not allow the Big Red to gain many yards. Key plays by Joey Gonzalez and Joe Mueller kept the Big Red offense in check.
"Our defense was very good.," Suarez said. "There was a lot of pressure on their offense by our defensive lines. We didn't allow them to make many big plays."
The win moves the Juggernauts into the quarterfinals against eighth-seed Fisher. Fisher earned its spot in second-round action by upsetting top-seed and previously undefeated Alumni.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, November 2, 1999
