The sun beat down as Villanova quarterback Brett Gordon came under center at the 7 yard-line Saturday. With his team trailing 14-7 against conference foe Northeastern, the Wildcats had a golden opportunity to knot the score at 14.
But the only thing they didn’t count on was the one thing they should have: the Northeastern defense.
With Gordon dropping back in the pocket and looking towards the left sideline, NU senior linebacker Joe Gazzola rushed the quarterback like a bloodhound after a piece of meat, blindsiding the QB with a punishing blow. The pass, deflecting off Gazzola’s shoulder and into the awaiting hands of linebacker Neil Anderson, was bobbled by the burly linebacker before he tucked the ball away at the 10 yard-line. With cornerback Art Smith flanking him, Anderson rumbled the remaining 90 yards, morphing what could easily have been a 14-14 tie into a 14-point Husky lead.
The 6,364 onlookers stood shocked. Some were elated, some frustrated, but all were surprised; they shouldn’t have been. The Husky defensive unit has had the answer all year long, coming up with big plays when the team needed them most. Saturday was no different.
NU head coach Don Brown was one of those elated viewers.
“I was thrilled for Neil Anderson. He’s been on the threshold of a number of those big plays for weeks, today he finished it,” said Brown. “It was a great play at a critical time.”
On the very next Villanova play from scrimmage, it was back to work for big-time players like linebacker Liam Ezekiel. Gordon took the snap and while handing it to running back Terry Butler, the ball came loose. Ezekiel dove onto the ball, providing his offense with brilliant field position. It took the team’s other unit only seven plays to penetrate the end zone once again, giving the Huskies a commanding 28-7 lead going into the half.
After the fumble, dejected Wildcat players scattered on the sideline, including the group that were on the receiving end of one coach’s motivational tirade.
“Get your heads up. Get ’em up. It’s still the first half,” he screamed at his apathetic players.
On a second quarter punt, Anderson acted as a heat seeking missile, detonating on Villanova linebacker Jamison Young.
“I made two plays all day: the block and the interception. The block set the tone and picked up everyone’s emotion level. When we start playing based on emotion, there’s nobody better than us,” he said.
Brown’s defensive philosophy reflects the end results of the contest.
“Our whole goal on defense is getting turnovers. Getting interceptions, getting big fumbles. We want to give the offense good field position,” he said. “We’re an aggressive defensive team, and we want to score on defense too. We were able to get that done again today.”
NU forced four turnovers on the day, three of which were converted into Husky scores. After the fourth, an interception by cornerback Charles Cameron, NU eventually kneeled the ball three times on the ‘Nova 2 yard-line, effectively running out the rest of the clock.
After the game, Anderson boldly stated his expectations of the defense.
“Our defense is based on trying to make the big play,” he said. “We try to score on defense; we don’t want to be outdone by the offense. Nobody on defense wants to be outdone by another guy either, everyone wants to make that play.”
Cornerback Art Smith, who returned the game’s opening kickoff 100 yards for an NU score, added to Anderson’s sentiments about the unit’s mentality.
“We feed off each other. When Neil layed that kid out, I almost fell over too.”
