The East Texas Baptist Tigers came to Clemens Stadium on Saturday to open the Johnnie’s season. The first game of the season is always an unknown for St. John’s fans and this year was no different. You see, the Tigers had set a trap for the Johnnies and mid-way through the 3rd Qtr. The Johnnies were in trouble. With an open audition going on at the QB position for SJU the Tigers found themselves in the lead at 15-14. The ETBU sideline and fan section went wild. They had traveled all the way from Marshall Texas and were leading against the perennial Division III power Johnnies on their home turf!
Enter QB Michael Crees. Choosing to wear the number 11 jersey may be a coincidence or it may be foreshadowing of events to come. Being a Johnnie football rube, I do write for this website, I recall that Alex Kofoed wore the number 7 jersey his first year and then switched to number 11 as he achieved rank (he was no longer a Freshman taking any jersey given to him and smiling) and a similar course of events occurred with Michael Crees. For those of you who don’t remember, Crees was the top backup for Kofoed in 2006 and he wore the number 7 jersey. Crees missed the entire 2007 season due to shoulder surgery and Jordan Hansel became Kofoed’s top backup and also started the game against ETBU. Crees moved the Johnnies down the field and threw a TD pass to RB Jeff Schnobrich and the Johnnies lead 20-15 at this point. The SJU coaching staff elected to go for the 2-point conversion and Crees found big TE Brett Saladin in the back of the end zone to give the Johnnies 22-15 edge. This critical TD and 2-point conversion had now put the Tigers into a trap so to speak. The Tigers would be forced to score a TD and also convert a successful 2-point conversion to leave Collegeville with a win.
The Johnnie D held and the ball was turned over deep in EBTU territory. Enter Michael Crees leading the offense to the field with 2:38 remaining in the contest to tie this one up with a bow. The offense sputtered and was unable to convert a 1st down to retain possession and was required to punt to EBTU.
The Johnnie D once again was forced onto the field and needed to tame the Tigers. The Tigers came out throwing and converted for a 22-yard gain. SJU DT Joe Luke,back in action after having his bell rung on the opening play of the game and now in a bad mood, came up with a timely sack of the QB. Two plays later SJU CB Derek Stifter made a nice break on the ball and returned an interception 68 yards for the final score of the game.
There are still many unanswered questions that remain about the Johnnies and some of those may become clearer after next week when the Johnnie host the more familiar University of Wisconsin River Falls Falcons.
The top question to be answered will be for the starting QB spot. Our friend Frank Rajkowski from the St. Cloud Times has quoted John Gagliardi as saying that Michael Crees will start the game next week against UWRF but Gagliardi also stated that “they all did some good things” referring to Jordan Hansel, Joe Boyle and Michael Crees. My opinion is that this rotation will go on until one of these three young men separates himself from the other two. There is another scenario and that being one just plays solid mistake free football and the others make a couple mistakes. This could also tip the scales in favor of one over the other two.
Question two is the defensive secondary. I was pleasantly surprised with the play of Dominic Haik, the only starter on the secondary returning from last season, Bobby Klint, Nate Anderson and Derek Stifter as a group. Not knowing how this group will play against some of the better MIAC or West Region play-off contending teams is a lingering question. Klint came up with an acrobatic interception and as noted previously Stifter turned out the lights with the “pick-six” with 20 seconds remaining in the game. Every game of experience will bring more confidence. Time will tell if this secondary can shine as brightly as the front seven.
Question three is the running game. Can the 2008 Johnnies create a ball control running game that will eat up clock time? Let’s face it; we all love to see a highflying passing attack, but when it comes to putting a team away and holding onto the ball and controlling the line of scrimmage in the 4th Qtr. Can the Johnnies do it?
SJU emerged with a 29-15 win over the East Texas Baptist Tigers and now will use this game to learn more about who they are as they look forward to bringing another MIAC Championship back to Collegeville.
