Knights looking for breakout performance

By BOB VARMETTE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- This could be the breakout game.

In the first three games of the season, the Martin Luther Knights have had their offensive problems. Granted it was against quality competition, but MLC has scored only 30 points.

Now the Knights have had enough.

"We're mad, the whole team's mad," MLC coach Dennis Gorsline said. "MLC has never lost three in a row. We're hoping, we'd like to run the table."

That goal starts with the offense. Gorsline is confident MLC (0-3, 0-1 UMAC) can kick its offense back into gear when they host the Crown Crusaders (3-1, 1-0) at 1 p.m. today at "The Bowl."

So is the opposition.

"Dennis Gorsline always has a sound, fundamental football team," Crown coach Kirk Talley said. "They've just played good competition. ... I think we need to score as many points as we can."

But maybe not as many as last year. The Crusaders have won three of their first four games because of their defense. Crown has allowed an average of 17.3 points per game and is surrendering only 293 yards per game.

That's a surprise, and yet it isn't for the Crusaders, who were winless last season.

"We had a lot of guys coming back, especially on defense," Talley said. "We were excited about that, we're excited about the future."

So apparently one of the early-season trends will have to end -- MLC's offensive woes or Crown's defensive domination.

If the Knights are to break out of their early-season offensive funk, it will have to start with the guys up front. The Knights are still moving around and inserting personnel in the offensive line to find the right combination to replace a line that graduated four seniors.

"I think we're going to do a better job," Gorsline said. "We're trying to change our blocking scheme a little bit to try and maybe stretch it a little bit better."

While the Crusaders are 3-1, they are not Mount Senario or Carthage -- two very big and very quick teams, both offensively and defensively.

There's no doubt the Knights have weapons to make the breakout game a reality. The offense that staggered to only 147 total yards last week against MSC is still capable of eating up yards like the offensive unit that rolled up 512 yards in the 52-38 track meet with Crown that MLC won last season.

Sustaining drives has largely been the problem for the Knights, as it was against MSC. Three times MLC drove into the red zone against the Saints and three times they came up empty -- MLC's only points came on a 69-yard fumble return by linebacker Carlos Leyrer.

But one bright spot offensively for the Knights has been the return of Eli Cloute. The 5-foot-10, 174-pound junior tailback, still recovering from a preseason hamstring injury, rushed for only 51 yards on 18 carries in MLC's 28-7 loss to the Saints, but that he played is a positive sign for the Knights.

"I don't know if EIi ever will be 100 percent," Gorsline said. "He tightened up at the end of the (MSC) game ... but he ran pretty hard, pretty fast, too.

"The more he carries the ball, the better he gets. You hear that all the time, but he's that type of back."

Flip the coin around and it looks very similar. MLC's defense is better and Crown has not been chewing up yardage in the way the Crusaders did last season.

Part of the reason has been the absence of quarterback Nick Schultz, who missed two games with a sprained knee. The Crusaders went 1-1 during Schultz's absence, but the 6-foot-3, 200-pound senior will start against the Knights.

Still, Crown's veer offense has been moving the ball, averaging 228 yards per game on the ground. Freshman running back J.T. Trotter (5-5, 160) leads the Crusaders with 342 yards and four touchdowns on 64 carries.

Talley isn't complaining about the reversal.

"It's like that old saying, 'Defense wins championships,'" Talley said. "That's trickled down to us. Last year, we couldn't seem to stop anybody. We're not having as much success offensively this year, but we're winning games -- chopping 200 yards a game on defense helps."