The Stags Go Gangster with “Tommy gun” Factor

 

You might not know it yet, but the Stags are going gangster this year. There has been so much talk of other players in the league (like Good Counsel’s Caleb Porzel and Jelani Jenkins) that I sense that the Stags have a chip on their shoulder. Once again, the Stags get to play from the underdog position and I believe that it suits this team of overachievers lead by senior quarterback Tommy Chroniger.

A senior quarterback with a WCAC championship experience under his belt has got to be given the due respect that he deserves or he’ll simply mow you down. Chroniger may be the boss that just declared all-out war for the rest of the season. Maybe that is why when the DeMatha Stags took on the Middletown Cavaliers, the defending Delaware state champions, in their first game of the season this past Friday (Sep. 5) they decided to make an example of them? The Stags ganged up on the Cavaliers 37-0 and left absolutely no doubt after the massacre that they mean business this season.

Everybody got in on the act with both the offensive and defensive lines controlling scrimmage and the clock equally. Coker was able to rush for 180 yards on 17 carries (131 in the first half alone) and the defense managed three sacks including a safety. The constant pressure and intimidation by the defense may have also contributed heavily to the accidental dropped passes that plagued the Cavaliers all night. The Stags mobbed the Middletown quarterback (Anderson) who was reduced to completing a dismal 25% of his 20 passes for only sixty yards, and one interception.

Tommy completed just fewer than 50% of his eleven passes but he made good by running for a 50 yard score and for channeling his former safety self after throwing an interception and making a shut-out saving tackle. The three rushing scores by Coker meant that DeMatha had their way on the offensive end with big holes created by the big boys up front. The Stags played a very conservative game, running 77% of the time complimented by a stellar, stingy defense that only allowed two first downs through the first three quarters.

In one of the few times that the Stags decided to air the Tommy gun out, Chroniger found McPherson on the fade route for a touchdown for the last touchdown of the game. I have a feeling that as the season progresses the Tommy Gun will be the weapon of choice, and the Stags will continue la cosa nostra for a record six years in a row. In only one touchdown pass I saw this as a sign that this could be the year of the DeMatha quarterback break-out. This season will answer all of the questions and I don’t think that I should really write that much about it.

Can Chroniger slang it every now and again or will the Stags continue to push Coker? The Stags have a stable of running backs that was previously thought to be weakened by the injury of star sophomore transfer, Knox.  However, Coker is a junior and may have just won himself the starting job even if Knox were to come back from his separated shoulder.  This is a really good problem to have if you’re DeMatha Coach Bill McGregor because nobody sees his secret weapon on the field.  If no one discovers that it is the "Tommy gun" Factor we could be asking ourselves how good is it going to feel to hold up the Championship trophy numbers with two hands?

Don’t you have to hold a real Tommy gun with two hands, anyway?  Doesn’t anybody see this coming? Do you know how gangster it is to be up by 30 points late in the fourth quarter and chuck a fade to the end zone for a score with your best receiver?  Again, sign me up for 6.