Faith Lutheran erupts in second half, rolls to win at Cheyenne

By Jesse Granger

Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015 | 12:19 a.m.

What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?

Friday night, Faith Lutheran’s high-scoring offense proved that Cheyenne’s impenetrable defense was far from it.

The Crusaders overcame a slow start to run away from the Desert Shields in Faith Lutheran’s 40-22 win at Cheyenne.

Cheyenne entered the game allowing only six points per game, but Faith Lutheran’s offense — which entered the contest averaging 45 points — proved to be too much in the end.

But things didn’t start off well for the Crusaders. Cheyenne’s defensive front stonewalled running back Christian Marshall in the first half.

Marshall and the Crusaders could only muster 23 rushing yards on 19 attempts in the game’s first 24 minutes.

But even with the offense’s struggles, three key turnovers forced by the defense allowed Faith Lutheran to stay in the game.

“They gave us a lot of momentum today,” said senior quarterback Brenden Joyce. “If it wasn’t for them we probably never would have got those scores on the board.”

Cole Thomas intercepted Anthony McConnico with only 1:20 left in the second quarter to help set up a touchdown that cut the Desert Shields’ lead to one before halftime.

“To go in down 13-14 after the type of ball we played in the first half, that told us that all we had to do was come out and play our brand of football and get the results that we want,” Faith Lutheran coach Vernon Fox said.

After being held to 82 yards of total offense in the first half, the Crusaders scored on three straight drives to start the second, and ended the game with 295 yards of offense.

“They took the coaching, they took the corrections and adjustments at half, and they came out and executed them and you saw what happened,” Fox said.

Joyce came alive in the second half as well.

After completing only one of his first 10 passes, the senior signal caller was good on seven of his last nine throws and finished the game with 116 yards and two touchdowns through the air.

“They were blitzing a ton of guys,” Joyce said. “So I knew that since they were blitzing I needed to get the ball out quick. Our receivers were beating the corners and we just got rolling.”

The Cheyenne blitz got to Joyce early and often, with junior linebacker John Tarver racking up three sacks in the first half alone. The Desert Shields were unable to reach Joyce even once after halftime though.

Joyce also did damage with his feet, rushing for 43 yards and a key touchdown in the third quarter.

“He is a great leader,” Fox said. “He does everything that we are asking him to do. When it comes to the run game we are asking him to do a lot, and he was able to see the defense and make the proper calls.”

The Crusaders' defense finished the game with five forced turnovers — two interceptions and three fumble recoveries — and held the Desert Shields to only 96 yards of offense in the second half.

“That was huge,” Fox said. “It’s what team football is all about. The first couple of weeks we struggled on defense but our offense put up a ton of points. Now in a week where we start off slow on offense we needed to pick it up on defense.”

Jesse Granger can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Jesse on Twitter at twitter.com/JesseGranger_.