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Show Monday, Oct. 26, 2009 Page 8 MondaySports Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com Borel grows up against Bulldogs Game 7: USU 23, La. Tech 21 By ADAM NETTINA staff writer to get the win, especially in a close game. We were fighting to get them out on the last drive.” For much of the game, it didn’t look like USU would need a defensive stand on fourth down, late in the fourth quarter, to win. Through three quarters, La. Tech’s offense appeared predictable and callow, as it was scoreless and Jenkins had only managed 34 yards passing. With All-WAC running back Daniel Porter bottled up for the most part, that left Livas’ second-quarter 100-yard kickoff return as La. Tech’s only points. Other than that one big play, USU’s kicking game kept the ball out of Livas’ dangerous hands for most of the game. “I think Peter Caldwell did a nice job of punting,” Andersen said. “We asked him to kick it away from an unbelievably powerful Diondre Borel didn’t pass for 300 yards in Saturday’s game. He didn’t account for multiple touchdowns, and for what seems like the first time this season, he didn’t establish new career highs in numerous statistical categories. Unlike last week, the junior quarterback from Oakley, Calif., didn’t put himself in contention for ESPN.com blogger Graham Watson’s non-BCS “helmet sticker” award. Then again, Borel didn’t have to. While the 6-foot, 174pound quarterback may not have posted the kind of overthe-top statistical performance fans have come to expect over the last month of the season, he did manage to do something far more important on Saturday, leading the Aggies (2-5, 1-2) to their first conference win of the season. And he did it without throwing an interception or fumbling. There have been numerous storylines through the first seven games of the Aggies’ season, but the maturation of Borel and his ability to take to Dave Baldwin’s spread offense has been one of the most pleasant for Aggie fans. Borel’s dual-threat physical ability has always been apparent. He did, after all, run for more than 600 yards and pass for more than 1,700 yards last year, despite only starting nine games, becoming only one of four FBS quarterbacks in the country to lead his team in both rushing and passing. The first half of this season saw more of the same, with Borel accounting for 13 total touchdowns through the first six games. Still, if there was one knock - See BREAKTHROUGH, page 12 - See BOREL, page 12 WIDE RECEIVER STANLEY MORRISON evades a Louisiana Tech tackler. Morrison caught a touchdown pass in the second quarter of USU’s win over the Bulldogs Saturday in Romney Stadium. PATRICK ODEN photo Breakthrough By G. CHRISTOPHER TERRY assistant sports editor Utah State made enough key plays in the fourth quarter, including a stop on fourthand-short, to survive a 14-point rally by Louisiana Tech and get its first WAC win. USU controlled the game for the first three quarters, but a Chris Ulinksi field goal with 10:58 remaining in the third was the last points the Aggies were able to score. Trailing by 16, La. Tech scored on a 26-yard pass from Jenkins and converted for two points on a toss from Jenkins to Phillip Livas. That left the Bulldogs trailing by eight. USU quickly went three and out and handed the ball back to a La. Tech offense, which had been shut down for virtually the entire game, but was gaining confidence at exactly the worst time for the Ags. Tech proceeded to drive the football down the field, with two explosive gains, a 29-yard pass from Jenkins to Roosevelt Falls and the scoring play, a 20yarder to Dennis Morris, providing the bulk of the yardage. Trailing by just two, head coach Derek Dooley called for his offense to set up on the left hash, so he could roll Jenkins out to his right and create space for another two-point conversion pass to Livas. In the second-most important play of the game, Jenkins was pressured heavily and overthrew the 5-8 Livas. After another short USU drive ended in a Peter Caldwell punt, Jenkins and the Bulldogs went back to work, looking to drive into field-goal range with 4:01 remaining. Jenkins moved his team from the Tech 16-yard line out to the 50 but no further. After Jenkins fired incomplete for Adrian Linwood on fourth and three, USU took the field in victory formation. “Obviously it was a team victory,” USU head coach Gary Andersen said. “All phases played a key factor, in a good way and a bad way, all the way through the game. It was fantastic Skatin’ Aggies dismantle Utes By LANDON HEMSLEY staff writer Utah was checked, hard, back into reality after surrendering two hat tricks and three shorthanded goals when the Utes lost to Utah State at the Eccles Ice Arena, 10-2, Friday Night. Previous to its trip to Logan, Utah was 5-2 on the season, having squeaked by the likes of Cal State Fullerton, Mesa State University and Boise State University by a combined margin of nine goals over seven games. By comparison, the Aggies played one game against Boise State last weekend. In that one game alone, USU topped the Utes’ margin of victory, outscoring Boise 11-1. Last year, when USU played Utah, the Ags gored the Utes by more than 15 goals per outing, regardless of the venue. The previous matchup between the two schools left Utah gasping for breath after a 20-1 pounding in North Logan. USU was the heavy pregame favorite, and the Aggies certainly did not AGGIE WING TYLER MISTELBACHER closes in on the Oliver Freij for one of his three goals in the Eccles Ice Arena Friday night. PETE SMITHSUTH photo disappoint. With less than five minutes gone in the first period, USU’s assistant captain Billy Gouthro had two goals on the board for the Ags. The first of those came at the 17:59 mark. Gouthro and his team set up their powerplay in Utah’s zone. They swung the puck left, right, back and forth looking for a weakness. Matt Hamilton took a pass from behind the Ute goal and swung it laterally to a cutting Gouthro. He shot and scored. Precisely 1:54 later, with USU still maintaining Utah in the forecheck, captain David Wyman advanced on the goal from the left side. He moved behind the goal, looking for an opportunity, and dished it to Gouthro. Gouthro controlled the puck behind his goal, moved out, saw an opportunity on the slim side of the goal and took it. Shorthanded situations have proven to be quite fruitful for USU as of late. The Aggies have scored multiple shorthanded goals in each of the last three games they have played, and Friday’s in-state showdown was no exception. As USU took on the penalty kill, Jeremy Martin found himself with possession far behind his own blue line. He sent it up the boards to Gouthro, who outskated one defender, and passed the puck to a streaking Wyman. Utah’s goaltender never saw it coming. The pass connected, Wyman went left - See UTES, page 12 Vandalized: Women’s volleyball squad falls in three sets By Connor Jones sports senior writer The women’s volleyball team lost in three sets to the Idaho Vandals on Saturday night (26-24, 25-19, 25-19), just five days after losing to the same team at home in five sets. The three-set shutout is the team’s second winless match in a row and its eighth straight set loss. The Aggies continue to lose pace, dropping closer to .500 on the year with a 12-11 overall and a 3-7 conference record. Hitting errors hurt USU in the first set. After leading 24-20 in the first set, USU dropped six straight points to the Vandals, who took the set 26-24. The final three points for ISU came off Aggie hitting errors. For the set Idaho hit a .191 (18-9-47) percentage while USU hit a .151 (13-5-53). The Aggies were unable to fight back after the disappointing first set, losing the second set by six points. Idaho led at one point by eight points and outhit the Aggies .222 (14-6-36) to .050 (119-40). The third set saw the Vandals jump out with a 7-1 lead before putting the Aggies down by the same score of 2519. As Idaho’s hitting percentage got progressively better, Utah State’s got progressively worse. In the final set USU hit .028 (10-9-36) to Idaho’s .273 (13-4-33). For the night Idaho had 18 more digs, 11 more kills and 2.5 more team blocks than the Aggies. Shantell Durrant, middle blocker from American Fork, had a team-high eight kills and three blocks while Christine Morrill, libero from Neola, led the Aggies with 17 digs. After a disappointing 0-3 week for USU, the girls return home to the Dee Glenn Smith Spectrum, where they are 26-10 in WAC play, to host Louisiana Tech on Thursday at 7 p.m. – c.h.j@aggiemail.usu.edu TouchBase WAC soccer tournament to stream online By USU ATHLETICS The Western Athletic Conference, in conjunction with its Web-site partner JumpTV Sports, has announced it will stream all of the matches of the 2009 WAC soccer tournament. Viewers can sign up by visiting www.WAC.tv. The soccer tournament will be held in Boise, Idaho, Nov. 5-8, and will feature the top six teams in the WAC. Two first-round matches will be played on Thursday, Nov. 5, with the winners moving on to face the top two seeds in the semifinals the next day. The championship will be played at 1:00 p.m. (MT) on Sunday, Nov. 8. All five matches can be seen on WAC.tv by accessing the soccer tournament package for a one-time price of $10.95. Men’s hoops concludes first week of practice By USU ATHLETICS Utah State’s men’s basketball team concluded its first full week of practice with a closed scrimmage Saturday morning in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum as veteran head coach Stew Morrill ran his team through four 10-minute sessions. Senior point guard Jared Quayle led Utah State as he finished the scrimmage with 13 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and no turnovers. Quayle, who was named to the Western Athletic Conference’s preseason first-team earlier this week, shot 4-of-7 from the field, 1-of-1 from threepoint range and 4-of-5 from the free throw line. Utah State’s leading scorer on Saturday was junior college transfer Nate Bendall who played at USU as a freshman during the 2005-06 season, before serving an LDS church mission and then spending one season at Salt Lake Community College. The junior forward had 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting to go along with a teamleading nine rebounds. Junior forward Tai Wesley, who was named to the WAC’s preseason second-team, had 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, to go along with seven rebounds, while fellow junior forward Matt Formisano finished with 14 points as well on 7-of-9 shooting. Sophomore forward Brady Jardine also scored in double-figures as he had 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting to go along with six rebounds, while junior forward transfer Morgan Grim had 10 points on 5of-8 shooting. Junior guard Tyler Newbold also played well during the scrimmage as he finished with four points on 1-of-5 shooting. but had six rebounds and seven assists. |