Norwich goes out on top
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Norwich freshman Orwin Etkins follows his blockers into the end zone for one of his five touchdowns in the Cadets’ 49-14 conference championship victory over Mount Ida on Saturday. Photo by Jeb Wallace-Brodeur |
Toolbox
By TOM HALEY
STAFF WRITER - Published: November 15, 2009
NORTHFIELD — A week ago the taste of maple was mighty sweet for the Norwich University football team. On Saturday, the smell of mud was downright intoxicating.
After hoisting the Maple Sap Bucket in the inaugural trophy game against Castleton State, the Cadets forged a 49-14 victory over the Mount Ida Mustangs in the mud and goo of Sabine Field in a driving rain. The win capped an undefeated season in the inaugural campaign of the Eastern Football Conference. This was the ECFC Championship Game, an event put in place for the first and second-place teams in the conference to give the league members something to play for as the conference does not have the automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III playoffs for its champion until 2011.
The MVP of the game was Norwich freshman running back Orwin Etkins, who amassed 212 yards with three touchdowns in the first half alone. He finished with 269 yards rushing and five touchdowns.
"I had to keep my feet under me and change my whole running style," Etkins said about the deep mud. "The offensive line did a great job."
It was the first postseason game for the Cadets since 2004 and the first championship game on Sabine since 1984.
Etkins is a little guy (5-foot-6, 159 pounds) who came to Vermont from Florida.
"We didn't have games in the mud like this in Florida," Etkins said after the victory.
When Etkins visited the Northfield campus, he knew it was the place for him. "The atmosphere here meant something to me," he said.
The atmosphere got a whole lot better this fall as the Cadets ripped off eight straight victories after an 0-3 start.
The Cadets never trailed after Etkins scored on a 20-yard run and Ryan Kelly kicked the point with 1:57 left in the first quarter.
The Mustangs answered when ECFC Offensive Player of the Year Johrone Bunch scored from 7 yards out but Matt Beale's kick failed, 33 seconds in the second quarter.
Norwich quarterback and BFA-St. Albans graduate Kris Sabourin, the ECFC Rookie of the Year, hooked up with Chris Denton on an 18-yard TD pass and Etkins added two more TD jaunts, one of 27 yards, to push the lead to 28-6 in the second quarter, the same score the Cadets beat the Mustangs by in the regular season.
But the Mustangs went into the locker room on a high after freshman quarterback Scott Drosendahl threw a 28-yard pass to favorite receiver Kyle Watkins just 17 seconds before the half. Bunch then tossed a pass to Watkins for the two points, closing the lead to 28-14.
It was nearly the Cadets going to the locker room on an emotional high. Tom Kane took the ensuing kickoff all the way to the Mount Ida 3-yard line. But the Cadets had only time to run one play and Ida's Julien Baptiste tackled Etkins at the 1.
But the Mustangs' momentum was short-lived. Etkins scored from 14 yards out in the third quarter and then got loose for a 39-yard TD ramble early in the fourth for his fifth TD of the day, giving the Cadets a comfortable, 42-14 lead.
Kevin Ober scored from 2 yards out with 8:43 remaining and Kelly made his seventh PAT of the day to account for the final score.
Sabourin was 4-of-9 for 87 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
"Kris has been consistent for us all year and when you need him to, he comes up big," Norwich coach Shawn McIntyre said. "And his passing is only going to get better and better."
Bunch had 26 carries for 107 yards and a touchdown. He also had three receptions for 19 yards.
"J.B. is a special player," Mount Ida coach Mike Landers said. "He is starting to mature as a running back."
Drosendahl, who threw four TD passes in the season finale against Utica, was 11-of-23 for 159 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
But this day belonged to the Cadets and Etkins.
"It was a team effort," Etkins said. "The line, the defense, the special teams and everybody."
"He is very explosive," McIntyre said of Etkins.
"We have a lot of very good backs. Etkins, Danny Triplett, Andrew Fulford and Kyle Marzeoti have all run very well for us this year."
Etkins was flirting with the school record for rushing yards in a game when he had his 212 in the bank by halftime. Dennis Gareau has the Cadet standard, rushing for 300 in 1988 against Middlebury.
Rocco DiMeco led the Norwich defense with nine tackles, including a tackle for a loss on a fourth-and-two situation when the Mustangs were still very much in the game, trailing 28-14.
McIntyre has touted the defense as the strength of the team all season and that was reflected in Reza Afsarmanesh, Zach Suchareski, DiMeco and safety Donovan Brown all earning first-team All-ECFC honors on defense. Afsarmanesh was named ECFC Defensive Player of the Year.
ECFC Commissioner Julie Muller, presenting the trophy, said the rotating hardware is "Norwich's for a year or until their reign as champion is over."
With Etkins and Sabourin as freshmen, and many other talented underclassmen, the Cadets look forward to a chance to extend that reign.
But Landers' club is even younger. The 33-year-old coach refers to them as the "Baby Mustangs."
Both teams have plenty to look forward to.
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