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Andrew Downey Spring Blog - Week #2 - April 2
Last season was an up-and-down year for Maine. We had some tough losses early on, but we followed that with some great wins near the end of the season. The three-game winning streak near the end of last year was huge for our team. For the 2008 Black Bears that streak really shows that if we play as a team for all four quarters it will be tough to beats us, and like Coach Cos always says "winning is a habit." The more you do it, the more familiar it is and the easier they come. Last year at Northeastern, we trailed midway through the third quarter, but rallied as a group and pulled off a huge come-from-behind win over a team that really played well at the end of the season. It was as if a monkey was lifted off our back, and from then on I felt as a team we weren't walking on egg shells. We were loose over the next two games and we knew how we had to play to get a win. Besides just winning the games, there were many highlights during that three-game winnning streak that stand out in my mind. I'd have to say Troy Harris' 104-yard, two-point conversion return against Towson takes the cake. Momentum is a huge part of football and when Troy picked that pass off and bought it to the house it really put the momentum on our sideline. In tight CAA football games momentum is everthing. Another play that sticks out in my mind is Jonathan Calderon's interception at Northeastern which really sealed the deal for our first CAA win last season. Those two plays really stick out in my mind from that three-game win streak. They gave us levels of momentum that we hadn't had all year and they were big peices to the winning streak. The close, tough losses that we had in the middle of last season was real hard for our team. It was also really hard for me personally. It got to a point where we were getting that "here we go again" feeling, and just like Coach Cos says "winning is a habit," well so is losing. What I think we took as a team, and what I took as a player from that losing streak, is that a WIN demands all your effort for every quarter. You cant take a play off or a series off -- especially in THIS league. You have to put it out on the field evertime you step on it. Our coaches preach the word "FINISH" and that was our team's biggest problem last year. When you lose a game by one point and two games in OT, you aren't finishing. The 2008 Black Bear foot ball team is going to make sure that doesn't happen again. Like I said, that winning streak last year was huge for our football program. It showed us that we were just as talented, just as fast and just as strong as other teams in the CAA. We just lacked in one area, and that was finishing games. We've taken lessons from both steaks last year and not a day goes by that we forget about either one. I believe we've learned from all of them and it will definitely help us as the 2008 season approaches.
#10 Andrew Downey |
