Cosmos wear down MSJ, 45-27

The game plan of the Springfield Cosmos was to pound the ball against Mount St. Joseph Academy, employing a stable of hard running backs. The Cosmos’ ground game proved dominant and coupled with the 80-plus degree heat and the short Mountie bench, Springfield was too much for MSJ to handle.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150906/SPORTS02/709069991

Mount Saint Joseph’s Jonah Farrow tackles Springfield High School’s Zack Tubbs during Saturday’s game at St. Peter’s Field in Rutland. Photo: Anthony Edwards / Staff PhotoPublished September 6, 2015 in the Rutland Herald Cosmos wear down MSJ, 45-27 By CHUCK CLARINO CORRESPONDENT The game plan of the Springfield Cosmos was to pound the ball against Mount St. Joseph Academy, employing a stable of hard running backs. The Cosmos’ ground game proved dominant and coupled with the 80-plus degree heat and the short Mountie bench, Springfield was too much for MSJ to handle. Down 27-26 at the half, Springfield reversed its fortunes by outscoring the Mounties 19-0 and limiting MSJ to 2 yards from scrimmage to ring up a 45-27 victory in Division III action Saturday at St. Peter’s Field. Senior running back Ben Tubbs was the feature back for the Cosmos, racking up 174 yards on 12 carries, including touchdown runs of 27 and 16 yards. Tubbs also added 15-yard touchdown on a pass from QB Kyle Weeks to open Springfield’s scoring. But there was plenty of glory to spread around as 8 Cosmo back toted the pigskin and rolled up 315 yards from scrimmage overland, featuring a split of 167 in the first half and 148 in the second half. “Honestly, if it wasn’t for our line I wouldn’t have gone for as many yards as I did,” Tubbs said. “They definitely stepped it up compared to the last game we played with BF. This is going to be a good season for us. We’re trying for a playoff spot. My expectations are to keep scoring touchdowns and try and get the team wins.” The 16-yard touchdown ramble by Tubbs at 6:26 of the third period, vaulted the Cosmos into the lead for keeps. The run capped a five-play, 70-yard drive that included an 18-yard pass from Weeks to Zack Tubbs, a 15-yard blast by Chris Ficklin and a 14-yard scamper by Tubbs on the toss sweep. Springfield followed up the go-ahead score with an opportunistic 30-yard drive, following Matt LaCapelle’s interception of a Joe Ruby pass. Josh Hoy bulled the final 4 yards up the middle to paydirt at 3:12 of the third quarter, building the lead to 38-27. Springfield capped its big offensive day with a sustained 82-yard march that took 13 plays and four minutes off the clock. Ficklin, who added 83 yards on 11 carries, tallied the touchdown on an 8-yard run up the middle at 8:11 of the final quarter. All told, Springfield held an advantage of 428-171 in yards from scrimmage. But it was especially telling in the second half when the Cosmos piled up 13 first downs and ran 35 plays to MSJ’s 23 plays and two first downs. The Cosmos’ bulge in yards from scrimmage was 204-2 in the second half, after a relatively close first half of 224-169 in Springfield’s favor. “That was our game plan, we want to pound, pound, pound,” Springfield coach Rich Saypack said. “That was kind of our halftime talk, we said, ‘attrition’s going to get them.’ We got the people; we’ve got guys on the sideline we can use. We just went after them.” MSJ coach Phil Hall has to be heartened by the fact that his team, although undermanned with only 14 players dressed, played their hearts out and actually won the first half on the scoreboard. But MSJ could do little on the ground – 9 yards in the first half and the 2 in the second. The Mountie passing game had good success in the first half as Ruby fired three touchdown passes. Ruby hit tight end Jonah Farrow with scoring strikes of 83 and 6 yards and connected with Chris Bills on a 65-yard bomb just before the intermission. But Ruby, who was 12 of 24 with two interceptions, had little time to set and throw as the Springfield rush was in his face all afternoon. Ruby, a transfer from Rutland, who has not played football in two years, did well and showed a toughness and resiliency that could pay off down the line. But with only 14 players – MSJ should get five players back for next week’s game at Spaulding – in the intense heat, not to mention the steady pounding of the Springfield backfield, the Mounties faced an uphill struggle in the second 24 minutes. “Our boys played extremely hard and we ran out of gas,” Hall said. “Us being out of gas in the second half is a result of our guys playing so hard in the first half. So it’s hard to be upset because of that ...the line those guys played 90 percent of the game so the protection wasn’t there and it’s hard to get a running game going.” So Springfield (1-1) wins its first game of the season and will have a litmus test game with Woodstock at home next week. Meanwhile, the 0-2 Mounties travel to Spaulding in search of their first victory.