Few will remember scores, all will remember fun of football
Steve Alic, USA Football Sat, 07/23/2011 - 7:34am
Canton, Ohio’s Fawcett Stadium, a pooch punt away from the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s main entrance, has embraced 73 football seasons and thousands of games in its hallowed history. On Friday, the number of players contributing to its legend grew by 128 boys.
“It was wonderful,” said a beaming Andreas Rhodin, 14, of the Sweden Blue team. “One of the best experiences of my life.”
Friday marked the on-field crescendo to a football first: USA Football’s Under-15 International Development Week. Never before had multi-national players of this age group gathered for a week of skill advancement and competition, bound by a football fellowship celebrating the game.
“It was a great experience,” said U.S. Under-15 National Team QB, WR and S Beau Hoge of Fort Thomas, Ky. “It was really fun.”
The United States’ teams won all three 10-minute quarter games as its U-15 Development Team defeated Canada, 21-0, and the Sweden Blue team, 28-0. In between those contests, the U.S. U-15 National Team defeated the Sweden Yellow Team, 35-0.
The U.S. Development Team scored on its opening drive against Canada when RB Robert Washington (Charlotte, N.C.) reached pay dirt on a 9-yard run. On the first play of the second quarter, QB Patrick Naughton (Comstock Park, Mich.) connected on a 43-yard TD pass to RB Robert Ennis (Millville, N.J.) for a 14-0 lead. Sound defensive play led to a second-half stalemate until QB Cameron McKinney (Gastonia, N.C.) found WR Dorien Dickey (Greenville, S.C.) for a 50-yard TD strike for a 21-0 final.
The day’s second game saw Sweden Yellow eat chunks of yards on its opening drive as QB Kevin Dillman hit multiple receivers, including Gustav Rasmussen, Filip Andersson and Jordan Heath to bring the ball to America’s 20-yard line. Key stops by the U.S. defense stymied the Swedes as Team USA took over on its own 20. On the next play, RB MJ Stewart (Arlington, Va.) took the handoff, weaved between Swedish defenders, and galloped 80 yards for a 7-0 USA lead.
Early in the second quarter, U.S. defensive lineman Richie Petitbon (Annapolis, Md.) tipped a Sweden pass that landed in the arms of Jimique Davis (Carol Stream, Ill.) who returned it 48 yards for a TD for the day’s only defensive score and a 14-0 U.S. cushion.
“I was covering my zone and then I saw the ball in the air,” Davis said. “At first I didn’t know where the ball was and then it fell into my hands – right place at the right time, I guess.”
U.S. QB Dwayne Haskins (Edison, N.J.) registered TD strikes of 41 and 45 yards to Andy Rodriguez (Gilbert, Ariz.) and JR Griffin (Richardson, Texas), respectively. American RB Dorian Maddox (Bowie, Md.) capped the game’s scoring after being sprung by tackle Ross Taklo (Cle Elum, Wash.), dashing to an 89-yard TD run for a 35-0 final.
The U.S. Development Team scored on its first two possessions in Friday’s third and final game when Ennis sprinted to a 48-yard TD on a sweep and was soon followed by RB Seth Thomas (Longmont, Colo.), who powered his way to a 4-yard score just before halftime. Thomas’ touchdown was set-up by a 48-yard run-and-catch from QB Tucker Beirne (Aspen, Colo.) to Washington which placed the Americans on the Sweden 20-yard line.
An impressive U.S. drive to start the second half was fueled by completions from Beirne to Di Filippo and WR Ethan Hamby (New Salisbury, Ind.), placing the ball on the Sweden 3 where RB Nicholas Studer (Blaine, Minn.) rumbled into the end zone for a 21-0 lead. America scored again on a Beirne-to-Dickey connection for 15 yards for the 28-0 final. Team USA LB Michael Faiferlick (Dodge City, Iowa) posted an interception and a fumble recovery in the victory.
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Photo: DL Bryce Rohrman (No. 50) of Indianapolis and LB Jake Zembiec (No. 1) of Rochester, N.Y., combine for a tackle in Canton's Fawcett Stadium Friday in a U.S. Under-15 National Team win over Sweden Yellow, 35-0. Photo by Shawn Hubbard.
