The pattern seemed to present itself once again Saturday at Gayle and Tom Benson Stadium, the habit of Incarnate Word falling behind in yet another football game. The difference this time in the 38-20 Cardinals win over East Central Oklahoma was the deficit was small and it was short-lived.
The victory got UIW to 3-3 on this, the Cardinals' inaugural year. And, it gave them their first two-game winning string. Incarnate Word gets the chance to run it to three straight in a week when Texas Lutheran to Benson Stadium for a 2 p.m. kickoff on October 17.
East Central got on the scoreboard first and that has been nothing new for the first-year Cardinals. The Tigers got a 40-yard dash from Bryson Hall for a 6-0 lead at 11:08 of the second quarter. The PAT was missed.
Just 2:34 had elapsed after the ECO tally when quarterback Eric Massoni, making his first start, threw 58 yard to wideout Dominic Hamilton for a score. Thomas Rebold kicked the extra point and the Cardinals were on top 7-6 and would never trail again.
“We knew it was Eric's first start,” Hamilton said. “We wanted to go out there and focus and help him out the best we could.” Hamilton certainly lived up to his idea of helping out. He caught seven passes on the day for 188 yards and a pair of scores.
This was the second straight weekend this particular pair had teamed up for a double dent on the board. The week before Massoni threw twice to Hamilton for tallies in that 31-point UIW comeback win in overtime at Oklahoma Panhandle.
“We couldn't get a drive going early,” Massoni said. “But the defense did a great job out there and our O-line stepped up. Everyone was great. All week we were trying to figure out what they were doing on defense. And today after we saw what they were doing we began to settle down.”
UIW Coach Mike Santiago echoed that thought. “When we came in at halftime Eric came in and said 'here is what I am seeing, and he was echoing what we were hearing from the coaches' box upstairs. I thought then we could go out and throw it some.”
And throw it, Massoni did. For the game he was 16 of 25 for 278 yards and three touchdowns. He had no interceptions and he was not sacked.
The one touchdown pass that Hamilton did not catch went to wide receiver Matt McLaren who snagged it for 20 yards at the 1:14 mark of the third quarter.
The Cardinals got an unusual treat, twice.
“I told the defense that this was its week to score,” Santiago said. Those instructions came to life when in the second quarter safety Aaron Hernandez scooped up a Tiger fumble and headed west 43 yards down the UIW sideline for a score. And then in the fourth quarter defensive end Alan Ford laid his hands on dropped ball in the vicinity of Hernandez' recovery and Ford raced 54 yards for the final UIW tally of the day.
“On that fumble,” Hernandez said, “ I was just in the right spot. It was like candy.”
UIW had 398 total offensive yards to 277 for the Tigers. The Incarnate Word totals included 105 on the ground and 293 through the air.
Defensively for the Cardinals safety Chaz Pavliska led all with his 11 tackles including one sack and two more for losses. In addition to his fumble return Hernandez had an interception on the game's final play as ECO tried a deep one into the Incarnate Word end zone.
