Much of the challenge early in the Interhall season revolves around fixing mistakes, as St. Edward's and Carroll found out the opening weekend.
The Gentlemen lost to the Vermin 24-0 on Sept. 18 in a penalty-filled contest. The Gentlemen failed to get anything going on offense or defense. When St. Edward's did anything positive, it was almost always nullified by a penalty.
At one point, a long completion to the Carroll 35-yard line was called back for holding. They were also penalized countless times for false starts, quickly losing any ground they had gained on the Vermin defense.
The Gentlemen had penalty issues on defense, as well, particularly facemask penalties. In the third quarter, the Gentlemen finally wrapped up senior running back Nick Tammerine in the backfield. But while tackling Tammerine, one of the Gentlemen defenders grabbed his facemask, giving the Vermin 15 yards instead of a loss on the play.
Mistakes were not just limited to penalties, as St. Edward's also had a bad snap on a punt that resulted in Carroll taking over possession in Gentlemen territory. Senior linebacker and captain Jay Mathes recognized that his team needs to clean up its play.
"You can't put the ball in the end zone if you continuously move backwards," Mathes said. "Penalties hurt us, but at the end of the day we just need to get better."
The Vermin also had issues with penalties. Carroll junior linebacker and captain Keith Marrero said his team will work this week to correct those mistakes.
"We had a few too many mistakes. We're going to focus on that this week in practice, all the little things, as well as the big picture," Marrero said. "We're going to address those issues in practice and hopefully get those cleaned up for next week."
Carroll and St. Edward's both hope another week of practice will be enough to get them playing penalty-free football.
