Football: La Salle-Peru rolls past Alleman

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By Shannon Heaton | Saturday, August 30, 2008 |

Alleman’s Pat Moore pulls down La Salle-Peru quarterback Sam Renk by his face mask Friday during first-half action. (John Schultz/Quad-City Times) Buy this Photo

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La Salle-Peru vs. Rock Island

Augustana College’s Ericson Field has been the home of many a Friday-night thrashing by a football team wearing green.

Unfortunately on Friday night, it wasn’t the green-clad hosts, Rock Island Alleman, doing the thrashing.

Instead, La Salle-Peru scored on three of its first four possessions, taking advantage of four Alleman fumbles — including one on a muffed punt — in a 40-12 nonconference victory.

The Cavaliers shocked the Pioneers behind a stifling run defense in the first quarter.

Alleman finished that period with minus-12 rushing yards, a stat that past Pioneers teams have hung on their opponents.

“They are a very physical team, and they get after you. This is just a very inexperienced group, I’d say, and it’s a building process that you have to go through, with some ugly times,” Alleman coach Dave DeJaegher said.

“It was a tough opener, but our kids hung in a bit. If we eliminate the real ugly stuff … I’m not saying we could beat them, but maybe we could have made a run at them.”

Misdirection and running outside the tackles suited L-P early.

Quarterback Sam Renk’s ability to get outside softened up the Alleman middle for senior fullback Dan Bergagna, who gradually ground out 130 yards, scoring four times in the process against a Pioneers team that — because of a lack of numbers — has to play most of its most-talented players both ways.

“It’s tough to play both sides of the ball all the way. You’re down a lot, but you have to tough it out and do the best you can,” senior fullback-linebacker Jared Ater said. “If we fix our mistakes, have less fumbles and work on wrapping up our tackles, we’ll be OK.”

Ater’s spirit — and that of his teammates — was challenged in the first half. He wound up leading his team with 72 hard yards on the ground, scoring Alleman’s first touchdown early in the third quarter.

But the Pioneers fumbled on their next possession, and the Cavaliers needed only six plays to seize what had been a 30-point lead one more time on Bergagna’s fourth TD of the night. Alleman did score on Joey VanderVennet’s 1-yard plunge as time expired.

“You’ve got to build on something, and I thought we gave some good effort. I thought our kids hung in there and battled,” DeJaegher said. “They (L-P) are going to be a real factor in their conference race.”

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