[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: three down, sixteen to go?
No, no, no, don't get over excited now...

The Merchantmen were back in business. Third game in as many game day weeks and this time facing the winless Rochester Razorbacks, in their place.

First quarter, first possession. Malachi Pierson finally showed why we signed him, bringing the opening kickoff to our 48-yard line. Earnest Ashley's first deep throw to Ed Schulz got defended, but after finding Clay Gaynor for 13 yards, it was Schulz on the 35-yard reception. And then Schulz again from 4 yards out to take a 7-0 lead after just 2 minutes. We stuffed their running backs on their first two plays, but after Clayton Jackson allowed an 18-yard catch, we needed two more runs for no gain to make their next pass completion come short for the first down. Mark Perkins returned the punt 16 yards and after Ashley found Schulz on third and four, the big one became Ashley's 40-yard throw to Pierson to reach their red zone. George Stuckey came 2 yards short on second down, but on third down Clay Gaynor made the scoring catch. 14-0 Merchantmen, yay. Our defense continued to dominate, but the Razorbacks took the gutsy move on fourth and second near midfield and kept the drive alive on a run up the middle. Eventually quarterback Kai Silvanic found Gus Perez for a 7-yard touchdown, making it 14-7.

The second quarter saw us start with getting stopped after three plays, but not for the first time this season the defensive line dominated and forced three and out in return. Only to see our offense get stopped short for the second time. But just as the fans though their home team was about to drive downfield, Jerome Shumate was on duty to strip sack Kai Silvanic and also recovered the losse ball. Defensive domination continued, until we surprised them on third and short with letting Earnest Ashley run, seeing him gain 17 yards. It was short lived, three plays later he was rushed into throwing the ball away and all we could do is pin them at their 6-yard line. More domination from our defensive line and for a second we thought Richie Piotte sacked their quarterback in the end zone, but it was eventually called a sack at the 1-yard line. The punt return was moved up field 16 yards by Mark Perkins and on third and long, Ashley connected to Malachi Pierson for 17 yards to move the chains again. Their pass defense showed up on the next three plays and we settled for a 38-yard field goal to increase the lead to 17-7, the half time score.

The second half began with our defense forcing another quick stop and although we were pinned deep inside our own territory, we managed to gain enough ground to push them back to within their own half. This time the pulled the throw on a likely running down trick on us, their wide receiver turn a screen pass on fourth and one into a 27-yard reception. Four plays later, they did run it on another fourth and one. But that's where it ended, the next fourth down turned into a 34-yard field goal to make it 17-10, still in our favor. Our our next possession it was Earnest Ashley to Ed Schulz again for the chains moving plays, leading up to our own fourth down moment, where Ashley failed to connected with any of his receivers, where a 51-yard field goal could have made it a two-score lead again. The defense stood strong on the next drive and Mark Perkins returned the punt 18 yards, while George Stuckey made a 13-yard catch to have the third quarter end with that 17-10 lead for us.

Sitting at midfield, you'd think this was a spot to work on our lead, but as we tried to make a bit of a hail mary pass on the first play in the fourth quarter, it ended up getting intercepted in the end zone. Three plays by Richie Piotte halted the Razorbacks quickly and after another neat punt return from Mark Perkins, we were inside their half to start our drive. Earnest Ashley found Clay Gaynor on third and short and then on the next play saved the drive with a fumble recovery after his running back had dropped it. Bert Ta'Amu is still struggling on our offense, got stopped short on third and short, making us settle for a 38-yard field goal for a 20-10 lead.
Our defense was once again dominant on their possession, but after a 24-yard punt return, Mark Perkins lost the ball and the Razorbacks got it back at their own 34-yard line. This time around they didn't go for it on fourth and one, punting the ball back to us. We failed to gain any ground or waste much time on our possession, seemingly giving them the opportunity to get their drive going for what could be their next to last chance to save the game. Quarterback Kai Silvanic kept the drive going and the chains moving several times, but just past midfield our fast defensive tackles infiltraded their backfield and after Harold Gough sacked the quarterback, Caleb Domis picked up the fumbled ball. Bert Ta'Amu finally woke up with a nice 8 yard run on third and 6, soon after followed by a 13-yard run. Dylan McMullen was given the opportunity to extend the lead to two touchdowns, but his 44-yarder went wide left. Rochester needed Silvanic to run for it on fourth and one to save their drive, but with time running out, he ended up finding our linebacker Brandon Brady to seal the deal. With 1 second remaining, victory formation was called. Maassluis 20, Rochester 10. Another win!

The rest of the division got swept by their Northeast division foes, helping us into the division lead:
1. Maassluis 3-0
2. Gothenburg 2-1
3. Paris 0-3
4. Bordeaux 0-3

For week 4 we'll return home to face the San Antonio Tidal Force, a rematch of the two 2094 drafted quarterbacks Jonathan Freeman, taken #1 overall, and Earnest Ashley, by now the highest paid player of their class.

Earnest Ashley comes off another typical game as he completed only 18 of 38 passes, but still threw for 206 yards and 2 touchdowns. 10 more incomplete passes went to Ed Schulz, which is quickly turning into a trend. It's time to make some adjustment to the game plan to help them both into not getting overused. Bert Ta'Amu continues to struggle and not help Ashley out here, despite that Ta'Amu gained 92 yards today. The defense was tremendous once again.

And now, we're getting to the spot where we're going to expect too much from this team. I can vaguely remember the last time we started the season 3-0, I may have mentioned it the other day already - yes, I did. With this team, you can never know what happens next. Three good showings from a team that I know that can play this well, but we're not sky high talented all around enough to proclaim we're 12-4 bye week material. I mean, some of our players are, but we can't expect Richie Piotte to also play on our offensive line. He'd probably be considered too short and underweight to succeed at it. So, let's keep him on the defensive line, which is actually just barely above average in the pass rush categories, go figure if they'd start playing up to their potential even more... But combined with the secondary and linebackers, they're currently making the case of being a top-notch pass defense.

Reason for optimism is there, now let's not spoil it and continue playing well. Some tweaks to the offensive game plan will be made, as will we make some defensive personnel changes after the arrival of Preston Bradford as our new elite zone defending linebacker. Keep this going, Merchantmen.