EAST STROUDSBURG U RUNS AWAY FROM THE PACE SETTERS

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Dave Druckenmiller | September 3, 2021

WARRIORS WIN BIG 35-14

After 653 days Warriors kickoff!

East Stroudsburg University had not played football in 653 days. The 2020 season had been canceled completely by COVID-19. The band marched on the field and then coach Jimmy Terwilliger led his team onto the field and football was back at East Stroudsburg University last evening before a really good crowd for opening night.

As with any game I watch, I keep track of five to six areas of the game: turnover margin, offensive efficiency, big plays (explosiveness), hot zone (Inside the 40-yard line scoring efficiency), and field position. Penalties are another area where mental mistakes can kill your team.

The Warriors came out strong and scored on its first two drives and the defense was swarming as they took a 14-0 lead with 6:16 to go in the 1st quarter and never looked back in the 35-14 win.

On the first drive of the game, big plays included fullback David Akinwade 50-yard run and Gunner Anglovich’s (Bethlehem Liberty) 19-yard ran for a Warrior TD. The Warrior offensive line dominated on this drive and for most of the football game as their run game went for 329 yards on the evening.

After a Pace three and out, the Warriors again got the football again in good field position at the Pace 44 yard-line. The field position war was won by the Warriors last evening. The big play of the drive was quarterback Jake Cirillo’s (East Stroudsburg South) 20-yard scamper up the middle to the Pace 21 and Anglovich took it in from 1-yard out and it was 14-0 with 6:16 left in the first quarter. It was a 9 play drive and it took 4 minutes 32 seconds off the clock. Anglovich finished the game with 23 carries for 146 yards and a touchdown.

Pace had more success on its second drive but on 3rd and 3 from the ESU 32 a pass from quarterback from Pace Carlton Aiken fell incomplete the Settlers had to punt to ESU. The Warriors then went on another drive this 4 play 88-yard drive ended with a Jake Cirillo touchdown pass to Syracuse transfer James Cherry for 18 yards. It was 21-0 Warriors.

Just when you thought the route was on, at the 5:05 mark of the 2nd Quarter, Pace quarterback Aiken hit R. Tann-Davis for a 38-yard touchdown pass and it was then 21-7 Warriors.

The Warriors came right back on an 11-play 73-yard drive that consumed more than 4 minutes and it resulted in another Cirillo (finished 11-18, 205 yards, 3TD’s) touchdown pass to Clifford Brinkley, and ESU went in at the half with a 28-7 lead.

At the beginning of the second half, ESU’s Nate Reed’s kickoff went 65 yards to Tann-Davis at the six-yard line and he ran it all the way back for a touchdown to narrow the Warrior lead to 28-14.

 
Warriors get ready behind Jake Cirillo to do more damage to Pace

After no more scoring in the 3rd quarter and in the 4th East Stroudsburg finished it all off with a big-play 79-yard touchdown strike from Cirillo to wide receiver Rece Bender and it finished at 35-14.

Overall ESU outgained Pace 524 yards to 279 yards. Big-plays in the game went to ESU, field position went to ESU, offensive efficiency went to ESU (they went 5 of 10 on third down to Pace’s 2 of 12), hot zone efficiency went to ESU as they scored all 4 times they went inside the Pace 40 yard-line. Lastly, the turnover margin was even as both teams fumbled once. Finally, the penalty war was almost even as Pace had 9 penalties for 78 yards and ESU had 8 for 85 yards. An area for Terwillger to have his team improve on this week.

The Warrior defense came up big in this one with 7 sacks for 42 yards in losses. DeShawn McCarthy had 4 sacks for ESU. McCarthy also had 6 tackles and 1 tackle for a loss. But his teammate Paul Carreras (Bethlehem Catholic) also had 6 tackles and 1 for a loss on the defense.
Clifford Brinkley hauled in 4 passes for 75 yards a touchdown while Rece Bender had 2 catches for 86 yards and 2 touchdowns for the Warriors.

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