IUP Survives Early Scare, Pulls Away from Miami
IUP Survives Early Scare, Pulls Away from Miami
Top-ranked DII team IUP defeated in-conference rival Miami of Ohio in fairly convincing fashion Friday night, taking the game 54-17.
IUP's vaunted defense was a little humbled early on as some shifty running and quick ball put Miami over for a converted try before seven minutes were up.
Chagrined, IUP responded a few minutes later flyhalf Santino Fischio capped off a period of sustained pressure for the Hawks. A quick break from scrumhalf and captain RJ Beach set up wing Ryan Hornickel and just a couple of minutes after that prop Cam Taylor picked up from the base of the ruck and just charged through. That made it 19-7 midway through the first half and IUP held a comfortable lead from that moment on.
They did need some defensive stands to keep Miami at arm's length, but when Taylor showed his breakaway speed, galloping through from 60 meters, the Hawks were on their way.
"They came out physical, got behind our gainline, and caused panic mistakes," said IUP Head Coach Seth Erwin. "We lacked some patience early and early on we were a touch too aggressive at the breakdown."
But after adjusting to the referee IUP did well. Center Dom Hollmes, Beach, Fischio, and No. 8 Trent Stalling settled the IUP team down and reminded the players they had plenty of time.
"We knew Miami would play a more old-school, physical style," said Erwin. "Once we started using the foot more, we were able to set their defense back some and open up some gaps."
Inside center Lukas Maasikas provided plenty of hard running and really asked questions of the Miami defense and tackled superbly. Taylor was a handful while emerging freshman Grant Euker does a lot of the unglamorous work at lock and was clearing out rucks all day.
