Belles Depth Enough to Down Titans  

Written by: Willie McGonigle ( Eastern PA Football .com) on Sunday, May 10th, 2009
 

WAYNE NJ: One thing that every good team has in common is depth, and the Philadelphia Belles showed theirs on their way to a 14-12 victory over the New Jersey Titans Saturday night at Passaic County Technical Institute. For the game the Belles were without their offensive leader Marirose Roach who was forced to sit this one out with an injury. In the Belles first two games of the season Roach rushed for 556 yards on just 20 carries. “Coach is always stressing our depth, he always tells us to know our plays whether you step on the field or not because you never know when you’ll get your chance, and tonight we showed them” is what Jeanette Hibbs would have to say about their depth.

In the first quarter the Titans used their offense to keep the high power wing offense of the Belles off the field as in the first fifteen minutes of play the Belles would only run seven plays. The Titans couldn’t capitalize on time of possession, as the Belles would show their bend but not break defense. The Belles stuffed the Titans twice inside their 20. “Our red zone all year has been pretty tight, anytime the teams get in the twenty we hunker down well, is how Belle Head Coach Bill Sytsma describe his defense’s outstanding play in the red zone this season.  

In the second the Belles needed just seven plays before Mikaelyn Austin would connect with Dawn Yergey on a post pattern out of counter jet flea flicker from 29 yards out. Hibbs would add the extra point giving the Belles the 7-0 lead. When asked about the play Austin said “we just added it, we added it after our first two games when people started keying in on our reverse” After forcing the Titans to punt on the ensuing possession Hibbs would give the Belles the ball at the Titan 11 yard line with her 39-yard punt return. Facing a fourth and five from the Titans the Belles once again reached into their bag of tricks and pulled a fake field goal option in which Carol Grubb would pitch it to Hibbs for the touchdown. Hibbs would add the extra point giving the Belles the 14-0 half time lead.  

The Titans would cut the lead down in the third quarter when Nasira Johnson would bust through the Belle defense and take it in from 68 yards. Hibbs would intercept Stacy Townsend's pass attempt on the two-point conversion giving the Belles the 14-6 lead. Johnson would finish the game with 194 yards on 25 carries for the Titans  

On their first drive of the fourth quarter the Titans would drive 53 yards on eleven plays before Danielle Green would power her way through the Belles for a two yard touchdown. The 2-point conversion would be no good persevering the Belles 14-12 lead.  

Al-Nisa Flood would give the Titans one final chance to win the game when she intercepted Austin with 56 seconds left in the game. The interception was Austin’s second of the game. Jaya Echevarria would put an end to the Titans hopes when she intercepted Townsend with 36 seconds to give the Belles the 14-12 victory and to get the Belles undefeated at 3-0 while the Titans fall to 2-1 and one game behind the Belles in the standings for Women’s Football Alliance Region I. “In practice they (the coaches) teach us to stay in our zones and watch the quarterback. I didn’t want to let my team down so I just did my job.’’ Is what Echevarria would say about the interception she added "It just wasn’t for me it's for the team we worked so hard we are a family.”