It was a remarkable year for the Lindenwood athletic program in 2009-10. Over the next 10 weeks, www.lindenwoodlions.com will bring you the top 10 moments of the last school year.
The No. 1 moment comes from the Lindenwood football program and its win over Carroll College on the road in a driving snow storm to move onto the National Championship.
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The 2009 football season ended for the Lindenwood Lions in Helena, Mont., as a failed two-point conversation attempt harmlessly fell to the turf. The Lions fell one point short of going to the national championship game.
A year later the Lions were right back in Montana with a chance for redemption. The NAIA national semifinal against Carroll College is the top moment of the 2009-10 athletic season.
The Lions went into the game against Carroll dismantling their first two opponents in the playoffs. In the opening round the Lions beat Langston 42-14 and in the second round took care of the Ottawa Braves 64-26.
Carroll came into the semifinals ranked second in the country and had won both its playoff games by an average of over 36 points.
As the Lions prepared for the game against the Saints the weather forecasters were calling for temperatures to be in the single digits and snow showers. The Lions did not let that faze them as they practiced on Friday in shorts and t-shirts.
“It was just something we had to deal with,” head coach Patrick Ross said. “It's football and it was December in Montana. We didn’t expect anything else.”
When the Lions awoke on Saturday morning the forecasters were exactly correct. On the way to the stadium the snow began to fall and did not stop until the Lions left Montana.
Field conditions right before kickoff.
The Lions arrived at Carroll College to see the field covered in snow. But after both teams finished pre-game warm-ups the field was cleared and the much anticipated semifinal game was set to start.
With the temperature hovering around the 10 degree mark the game was underway with the Lions getting the first possession.
The game started just like the Lions would like. Backed up to their own 15 yard line, the first play got the Lions out from under their goal post, as
Philip Staback would connect with
Matt Bramow for a 15-yard completion. The Lions would march down the field and would not even face a third down until they reached the 30 yard line of Carroll.
But that didn’t mean much to the Lion offense as Staback connected with
Matt Angell for a first down. Just three plays later the two would hook up again for an 18 yard gain just one yard short of a score. Staback would finish off the drive with a one yard TD run to put the Lions out in front early 7-0. It was a 12-play 85-yard drive that took up over four minutes.
Staback would score the game's first touchdown.
The opening drive of the game on offense went just like the Lions had hoped and it was much of the same on the other side of the ball. The defense shut down the Saints on three straight plays, two possessions and two successful series for the Lions.
The Lion offense began their second drive just like the first, moving the ball down the field. With the Saints on their heals, the Lions made the first mistake of the game. After Bramow caught a pass for a nice gain inside Carroll territory, he would fumble and give the ball back to the Saints.
The defense responded though, forcing the Saints to punt after a six-play drive. That punt would be the last for either team over the next quarter and half.
After getting the ball back the Lions went on a four-play 80-yard drive capped off by a Staback to Bramow touchdown.
With the Lions leading 14-0 the Saints offense finally got something going.
Carroll would string together a nice six-play 48-yard drive that ended with John Camino scoring to cut the lead to seven.
But right back came the Lions as they answered with another score, this time
Denodus O’Bryant scored to extend the lead back to 14.
Just like any champion would, the Saints would not go away, answering four minutes later when Gabe Le would score on a fourth-and-one from the Lions one-yard line. Once again the lead was down to seven but the poor field conditions were not affecting either offense.
The Lions would extend the lead back up to 14 after O’Bryant broke free for a 43-yard touchdown scamper.
Trailing by 14 once again Carroll would again be faced with a fourth-and-one from the Lions one. Just like its previous possession the Saints would score. The lead was back to seven.
The only thing that could stop these two offenses was the clock as it would run out on the first half. Lindenwood would enter the half on top by seven, 28-21.
“We knew the game was far from over,” Ross said. “They have been national champions many times and they were a championship caliber team again and we knew we they would not give up.”
After the teams warmed up in the locker rooms they would emerge ready to do battle for 30 more minutes with the winner moving onto the national championship game.
The Saints would start the second half with the football but the Lions defense was able to slow down them down and force a punt.
O'Bryant (5) had a big day against the Saints.
Halftime did not affect the Lions offense as they retook their 14 point lead after O’Bryant would score his third touchdown of the game. The packed house at Carroll College was in shock. The perennial powerhouse in the NAIA was on the ropes and the Lions were trying to knock them out for good.
But after stopping the Carroll offense, the Lions offense was finally slowed by the Saints. The two teams would trade punts and the Saints were not ready to get knocked out just yet.
A nine-play 74-yard drive once again got the Saints within seven points. At this point in the game the Carroll offense was having a lot of success running the football and controlling the clock. The Saints would have the ball for over 10 minutes in the third quarter.
With the Saints trailing by just seven the Lions would give the ball back to the home team when O’Bryant fumbled. It didn’t take the Saints long as they would turn the turnover into seven points to tie the game at 35.
Now the momentum was clearly on the Saints sidelines and the crowd was right back in the game. For the second straight possession the Lions offense would cough up the football when Staback would be sacked and fumbled the ball.
So far in the game it was the Lions offense that was carrying the team but now it was the defense's turn to step up. With Carroll holding the football inside Lion territory and a chance to take the lead for the first time all day, the Lindenwood defense shut the door. On a fourth-down play the Saints were unable to connect on a pass and the defense did its job.
The defense came up big when it needed to.
With the game tied, the two teams would each punt twice with time dwindling down. Lindenwood would get the next possession and it would start on its own 12 yard line with just 2:15 to play.
Backed up deep in its own half of the field, Lindenwood would go for it all on the first play. Staback would loft a pass down the left side of the field for
Marcel Thompson and the 6’3” receiver would go up and catch the ball for a 49 yard gain all the way to the Carroll 39.
The Lions were now getting yards in chunks again as O’Bryant would then run for 29 yards to the Saints 10 yard line.
“I didn’t know what Coach Ross was thinking,” said Staback. “We got down to a minute and thirty left in the game and I was probably thinking he was going to run out the clock and then we’d kick a field goal. He called two runs, then a time out.”
During the timeout the Lions had a decision to make. Go for the touchdown or play it safe and kick a field goal.
“You can tell when you look into a quarterback's eyes if they are comfortable with throwing the ball or running the ball,” Ross said. “I saw in his (Staback) eyes that whatever we called he was going to execute.”
Staback recalled, “I went up to coach and said, ‘you want us to run the ball and run out the clock, kick a field goal?’ He was like, ‘No, I want you to throw a touchdown pass.”
So on third and goal Staback would take the snap and slide to his left and would loft a pass to the back corner of the endzone to Bramow. Bramow was forced to make a little adjustment but did so, caught the pass and sent the Lions sideline into bedlam (
video of touchdown play).
“The ball was on the right hash so I had a lot of room to work with. I stuck it to the post pretty hard with one quick step and faded out,” Bramow said. “I was trying to fade out to the ball and it was kind of behind me a little bit to the outside so I had to re-adjust my body. Once I caught it I just knew we had a great chance of winning.”
But before the Lions could celebrate a trip to the national championship game the defense had to stop the Saints.
After Carroll connected on a 11-yard pass on first down the Lion defense would stop three straight plays to force the Saints to a fourth-and-seven. The next pass would be knocked down by the defense and the Lions and their fans could officially celebrate as the team would be playing for its first ever national championship.
The scoreboard said it all after the game.
“To go up there and play them in their element with a driving snowstorm and single digit temperatures, it was great to watch our guys execute and just play with such focus,” Ross said.
Lindenwood dominated the air passing for 382 yards compared to the Saints 49. But the Saints were dominating on the ground rushing for 322 yards.
O’Bryant was named the Offensive Player of the Game piling up 164 rushing yards, scoring two TDs on the ground and one receiving. Staback was also stellar completing 26-of-36 passes for 382 yards and three touchdowns.
Senior captains
Brandon Gould and
Logen Wright led the defense in tackles with eight apiece.
No. 2 Moment of the Year:
Hockey Programs Win Triple Crown
No. 3 Moment of the Year:
Men's Soccer Wins HAAC Tournament Championship
No. 4 Moment of the Year:
Lindenwood Women's Lacrosse Wins Conference Tournament
No. 5 Moment of the Year:
Men's Basketball Scores Win Over No. 1 Team in the Country
No. 6 Moment of the Year:
Lady Lion Table Tennis Wins First Ever National Championship
No. 7 Moment of the Year:
Softball Scores a Huge Win Over MidAmerica Nazarene
No. 8 Moment of the Year:
Baseball Wins a Wild One Over Central Methodist
No. 9 Moment of the Year:
Women's Soccer Scores Upset Win Over Ranked Team
No. 10 Moment of the Year:
Women's Tennis Wins HAAC Tournament