Bees notes: Ducey not satisfied with 300-yard day

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By Steve Batterson | Saturday, October 4, 2008 8:02 PM CDT | () comments

The perfectionist in Will Ducey wasn’t pleased Saturday.

The St. Ambrose quarterback threw for 354 yards and three scores in the 16th-ranked Fighting Bees’ 34-16 win over No. 18 St. Francis (Ill.), but it didn’t feel like a 300-yard day to the senior.

“The fourth quarter wasn’t pretty, and that’s the thing that is stuck in my mind,” Ducey said.

The Bees and Saints combined for 13 possessions in a final quarter that saw St. Ambrose miss a field goal and turn the ball over on a fumble and saw two interceptions and a fumble end St. Francis possessions.

“With a good fourth quarter, that 300-yard day could have been a 400-yard day,” Ducey said. “We didn’t sustain many drives late, and that is something we have to work on next week. It’s great to win, but to play the way we did lets us all know we have work to do.”

Early exit

A calf strain sent the Bees’ leading rusher, Brennan McCarron, to the sidelines during the first quarter. He carried four times 10 yards before the injury force him off the field.

“It’s pretty stiff right now, but we’ll have to take a look at it the next couple of days and see how it goes from there,’’ McCarron said.

Not-so-special

St. Ambrose made a number of personnel changes on special teams over the past week, hoping to strengthen the play-making capability of those units.

“We saw St. Francis (Ind.) use a lot of their top guys last week, and they’re one of the top teams in the country. If we want to get to that level, there isn’t any reason why our veterans shouldn’t be out there, too,” Bees senior Hank Belshause said.

Things didn’t go exactly as planned. St. Ambrose gave up a first-quarter safety when a punt snap sailed over the head of Scott Langel and out of the back of the end zone, one area where the Bees had made no change in personnel.

“I hadn’t even seen that in practice all fall,” coach Mike Magistrelli said. “We’ll get it straightened out. It just seems on special teams we’re taking one step forward, two steps back and we know we have to improve.”

Nine straight

Saturday’s homecoming win was the Bees’ ninth straight over St. Francis, which hasn’t beaten St. Ambrose since 1991. It was also the 17th straight victory in Midwest League play in the Mid-States Football Association for the Bees.

Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com.