Issue date: 9/17/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Alestle file photo he SIUE Club Football team huddles up at halftime of its game at Central Methodist last season. The Cougars were defeated by the Eagles 54-14 in this year's contest.

The SIUE Club Football team left its season opener at Central Methodist University with a long list of things to work on.

The Cougars were battered and bruised by the Junior Varsity Eagles squad 54-14 Tuesday night. They were unable to get their offense rolling for much of the game, while the secondary broke down to allow the Eagles to put up inflated numbers on the scoreboard.

"We weren't anticipating this type of score," Club President and Senior Offensive Lineman Jason Bradley said. "It has given us a lot of points that we need to focus on to get better at through the rest of the season."

Club Football Head Coach Kevin Nesselhauf said the Cougars encountered problems on both sides of the ball during Tuesday's contest.

"We couldn't get the ball rolling downfield. We were beat up front on blitzes, and the offensive lines were not giving a big enough hole for our running backs," Nesselhauf said. "We were beat a lot in the secondary and just need a lot of work."

Central Methodist's team is sponsored by the university, which is affiliated in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Early on, the Cougars showed some promise and grabbed an 8-7 lead with about seven minutes to play in the first quarter on a Matt Ringkamp touchdown catch. SIUE bobbled the snap on the extra-point attempt and ran the miscue in for a two-point conversion.

After defensive stands by both teams, CMU struck again, and on the ensuing kickoff, the Cougars fumbled, leading to another Eagle touchdown.

"We lost a big chunk of momentum with that fumble," Bradley said.

After going into the locker room down 27-8, the Cougars continued to struggle, while CMU kept piling on.

"We were struggling finding ourselves on the field," Nesselhauf said. "We were really down and out."

The Cougars second touchdown of the night was scored on a pass from Justin Chappell to Garrick Picky, and defensively, Mike Moeller snatched two interceptions.

Bradley said the Cougars had trouble defending the quick offensive schemes CMU rolled out.

"They started attacking with a deep spread offense in the no huddle, and our guys were getting hit with a play about every 20 seconds," Bradley said. "That created a few big plays on our secondary."

The Cougars are back in action Sunday with a 2 p.m. game at Illinois College.

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