Tough One

LIU Post fell to Shepherd 40-21 to end their season last Saturday. The Pioneers trailed the entire day and had no answer for the Rams. They finish their season at 12-1.

Post allowed 591 yards of offense to Shepherd and just did not have an answer for any of their weapons.

"I thought that we had the right game plan going into the game," LIU Post head coach Bryan Collins said. "It was just a play here or there that was the difference."

Shepherd was able to run the ball and that helped to open up the passing game.

"We rolled the coverage and played a little more cover 3," Collins said. "But we had to get out of it to stop the run and then we were 1 on 1 and that is tough to deal with."

Post tried to make it a game in the second half but Shepherd answered each time to move on to their second consecutive regional championship.

Playoffs

For just the third time in their history, a NE-10 school hosted a second-round game. New Haven hosted in 2011 and 2012. They split those games.

Post is in the second round for the second time in school history. They defeated Shepherd in 2005 on the road for the first NE-10 school to make it to the regional final.

Overall, it is the fourth time in six years that the NE-10 has made it to the second round. That is a far cry from 2009 and 2010 when the league had zero participants in the playoffs.

Improvement

The NE-10 got two teams into the playoffs and Shepherd beat both. The Rams have had some history playing the league in the playoffs and the regular season but not for a couple of years.

"They were two really good ball clubs," Shepherd head coach Monte Cater said. "I thought that Assumption was a really good team and obviously, Post was good this week. There is no doubt that we were going to have our hands full both weeks."

Regional PowerUnstoppable

Shepherd wide receiver Billy Brown was a man among boys last Saturday. He finished the game with 11 catches for 189 yards and three touchdowns. The LIU Post secondary had no answer for him.

"Our game plan got taken out a little because of their running ability," Collins said. "He is a good player and if you roll your coverage, they have Davis and Feiss out there. It all started with not being able to stop the run effectively."

Brown proved to be a NE-10 killer. He hauled in 23 passes and six touchdowns in two playoffs games against Assumption and Post.

Mr. Dependable

On the other side of the field, Post wide receiver Shane Hubbard finished his career with a nice afternoon. He hauled in 10 passes for 155 yards in a losing effort for the Pioneers.

He made several key third down catches for the Pioneers and seemed to be the only player to have the ability to make some yards after the catch.

The Shepherd defense wrapped out the pass catchers quickly and did not allow them to find any separation on the outside.

Hubbard also rewrote the Post record book as he leaves as the all-time leader in receiving touchdowns.

Red Zone Nightmare

LIU Post had been a solid team in the red zone this year and that was part of the reason that were undefeated in the regular season. Last week against Winston Salem State, they were unstoppable in the red zone.

But against Shepherd, it was a different story. They had a couple of chances inside the red zone but came away empty handed. First it was a fumble by Malik Pierre at the two-yard line on their opening drive of the game.

Then in the second quarter, Post had the ball on the 10-yard line with a first and goal. Two rushes for no yardage and then a sack set up a 4th and goal from the 18. Quarterback Jeff Kidd was not able to find a receiver and Post was not able to capitalize.

"When you have the opportunity down there, you need to come away with points," Collins said. "We got zero points on those two drives when 14 points might have been different story. It comes down to execution."

The two scores might have not won the game for the Pioneers but they might have been a momentum swing as Shepherd was in the middle of putting up 26 points in the opening half.

ProtestField Judge

The field judge in the game was Jennifer Berke. I can't remember seeing a game in the NE-10 over my years covering the league with a female official. It looks like she is a regular in box scores throughout the state of Pennsylvania for the PSAC and even the Northeast Conference.

She was even in the middle of splitting up some jawing early in the game and not afraid to separate players when necessary.

Post DL

The Shepherd offensive game plan was to avoid the LIU Post defensive line and they did a good job at that. Brandon Hlavach had a career day as the Ram offensive line was solid in opening holes on the outside.

"I didn't think that they were going to run the ball as well against us," Collins said.

He had plenty of room to run behind and just gashed the Post defense.

"We like to be balanced," Cater said. "You take advantage of what is there. Our offensive line played very well."

Legacy