Game Notes |
Live Stats |
Live VideoAVE MARIA, Fla. --- The Ave Maria Gyrene football team opens the 2014 season on Thursday night when they travel to Tigersville, S.C. to take on the North Greenville University Crusaders. The opening kick is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Live stats and live video will be provided by North Greenville. The links can be found at AveMariaGyrenes.com.
The Blue and Green look to build off an 8-2 2013 campaign that concluded with the Gyrenes winning their final eight games of the season. AMU returns 65 letterwinners from last year's squad including nine starters on the offensive side of the ball and 10 on the defensive side.
The high-powered Gyrene offense that averaged 37 points a game last season will again be led by rising sophomore quarterback
Clayton Uecker (Akron, Ohio) who ranked ninth in the NAIA in passing yards last season.
Uecker, oft-targeted receiver
Travis Makauskas (Jacksonville, Fla.) (41 receptions, 740 receiving yards, six touchdowns), and the rest of the AMU offense will be going up against a North Greenville defense that allowed 33.2 points and 454.8 yards per game.
Ave Maria might find their advantage on the defensive side of the ball where they return 10 of 11 starters and seven of their eight leading tacklers from a year ago. A pair of senior linebackers will anchor the AMU defense with
Kurt Joseph (Miami, Fla.) (92 tackles, 12 TFL, 2 INT) and
Tanner Bowling (Lakeland, Fla.) (68 total tackles, 47 solo tackles).
The Blue and Green defense, however, will be going against an offense the like they haven't seen since early on in the 2013 season. North Greenville averaged nearly 28 points per contest in 2013 and return seven starters on offense.
The Gyrenes will have to contain junior quarterback Nelson Hughes who completed 66.6 percent of his passes for 3,202 yards and 24 touchdowns last season. He also ran for three touchdowns.
KD McDonald (64 tackles) and Tony Godbolt (62 tackles) lead the defensive attack for North Greenville, who returns seven starters on the defensive end.
