Earlham Echo

August 29, 2023

The Earlham Cardinals’ defensive philosophy is bend, but don’t break. That’s what happened last Friday at home against Central Decatur—but they didn’t even bend very much. The Cardinal defense allowed just 204 total yards and got 6 takeaways in the 25-7 win.

The Cardinals set the tone early on both sides of the ball with their physicality.

“Coach Caskey said the first 5 minutes are going to determine the game,” said Ryan Stiles. “I thought we came out and popped them right in the mouth. Then I feel like we controlled them the whole game.”

Central Decatur was no pushover. They ‘popped’ right back for most of the game. Eventually, though, the Cardinals wore them down and broke open a close game with two 4^th-quarter touchdowns.

CD quarterback Sam Boothe threw for over 1,700 yards last season. He tested the Cardinals early with some throws downfield, but the defense had the receivers covered up. The Central Decatur run game was limited, though Boothe did have a few good hard runs between the tackles. But the Cards never allowed the ‘big play.’

“Coming into the week, we watched a little bit of their film from last year and they didn’t seem too special,” said Stiles. “So we focused on a lot of our stuff and bettering our stuff. We came out in our 4-4 and did amazing.”

So what is the Cardinal defense’s ‘stuff?’

“I feel like our linebacker corps is definitely up there,” said Stiles. “And our d-line, I feel like they controlled their o-line and they created holes for our linebackers to fill. That’s what you need.”

Caleb Smith scored 3 touchdowns on runs of 29, 63, and 3 yards. He finished with 180 yards on 22 carries—an average of 8.2 ypc. At 6’1”, 175, he’s a fluid, elusive runner that is able to avoid a lot of hard shots by the defense. He put in the work in the off-season to be bigger and faster this season—and he was able to take advantage of the good work his offensive line did against Central Decatur.

“The blocking was just amazing tonight,” said Smith. “Great blocks, great holes, everything.”

The Cardinals received the opening kickoff, ran 3 plays, then punted. CD got a 1^st down into Cardinal territory, but then on a 2^nd-down play, Boothe threw over the middle and was picked off by Stiles. Stiles cut to his left and down the sideline, nearly breaking the return for a score, but was nudged out of bounds after a 23-yard return at the CD 48 yard line.

Stiles was surprised to see the ball coming his way.

“I just dropped back into my zone and looked at the quarterback,” he said. “And I was looking around for a receiver. I didn’t see one, and then I saw the ball coming at me and I caught it.”

Five plays later from the 29, Smith ran the ball off tackle, bounced outside, and outran everybody to the end zone for the Cardinals first TD of the year. The PAT was blocked.

The Cardinals recovered the ensuing onside kick, but on the first play of the series, quarterback Blake Reynolds was picked off trying to throw over the middle. CD moved into Cardinal territory with two 1^st downs, but the Earlham defense forced a fumble—recovered by Brandon Maxwell—on a 4^th down play at the 33 yard line with 11:52 to go in the 2^nd quarter.

One play later, Smith ran the ball up the middle, ran into one of his own lineman, sprinted to the outside, and was gone for his second touchdown of the game. Smith added the PAT and the Cards led, 13-0.

The Cards tried an onside kick, but Central Decatur recovered the ball at their own 44. They put together their best drive of the night, eventually scoring when Boothe rolled to his left and rifled a pass to Paxon Applegate for a 14-yard touchdown. The Cards led, 13-7, with 5:22 to go in the half.

The Cardinals punted on their next possession, but then forced a turnover on downs. Having one more chance with the ball with 1:20 to go in the half, the Cards drove down to the CD 10, but the clock ran out.

Neither team’s offense got anything going in a knock-down, drag-out 3^rd quarter. Jeret Petersen ended CD’s second series of the quarter with an acrobatic, diving interception off a deflection. At the 7:53 mark of the 4^th quarter, Ty Willem recovered a CD fumble at the 47. After two 1^st downs, the drive was temporarily derailed by a holding penalty, which moved the ball back to the CD 36.  On the next play, Reynolds threw to Petersen about 4 yards over the middle. Petersen bobbled the slightly high pass a couple times in traffic, but eventually corralled it and rumbled downfield, breaking tackles and dragging defenders to the 2 yard line. One play later, Smith ran for his 3^rd TD of the game. The Cards led, 19-7, with 1:50 left in the game.

On their next possession, Central Decatur fumbled again, and the ball was recovered by Petersen. Stiles then broke a 30-yard run for a TD to make the score, 25-7.

Central Decatur put a decent last-ditch drive together, but Petersen ended that with his second interception.

Stiles led the Cards with 7.5 tackles, 3 for loss. He rushed for 45 yards on 9 carries. Petersen had 4 receptions for 50 yards. Reynolds completed 6 of 10 passes for 60 yards. The Cards play AC/GC at home this Friday. The Chargers beat Ogden in their opener, 20-19.