Spartans cap perfect 10-0 regular season
Nick Spring
Issue date: 11/20/09 Section: Sports
Since this year's senior class has stepped on campus, they have had tremendous success. In their first year, the team won 5 games. Winning half of your games is considered average by most standards, but for Case football at the time, it was an improvement. That year the Spartans won their last regular season game, and have not lost a regular season game since.
31 straight regular-season wins later, the team finds themselves in the playoffs for the third consecutive year, after topping WashU (4-6), 28-8 on Saturday.
Despite some miscues, the Spartans made extending their streak and their season look easy.
Case jumped out to a 7-0 lead after Greg Meyer legged in a seven-yard touchdown on the game's first drive. Meyer scored his second touchdown of the half, this time from 12 yards out, with 3:11 remaining in the second quarter. Running back Derek Bush ran for two second-half TDs.
A bad snap by the Spartans resulted in a first-half safety for the Bears. Quarterback Dan Whalen was intercepted twice.
The Bears didn't get into the endzone until the fourth quarter.
It is not hard to figure out why the Spartans have had so much success. The team has a nationally recognized quarterback, wide receivers and running backs who are all upperclassmen, and a linebacking corps that could match up against most in the country. Part of the Spartans' success however, lies behind the scenes and out of the spotlight.
There is one player in the senior class that defines what it truly means to be a Division III athlete. At the Division III level, there are no athletic scholarships. Students that play at this level play because they love the game. It takes true passion to practice every day and lift a few times a week and then not see much of the field on Saturdays. Most would have quit by now, but one man decided the team was more important and has accepted his role: Kevin Street.
Street is a senior safety and has an essential role in preparing the offense for the upcoming opponent. Quarterback Dan Whalen said, "The harder the scout team works the better they make us. The fact that Street is out there says a lot about his character. Every good team needs players like that".
31 straight regular-season wins later, the team finds themselves in the playoffs for the third consecutive year, after topping WashU (4-6), 28-8 on Saturday.
Despite some miscues, the Spartans made extending their streak and their season look easy.
Case jumped out to a 7-0 lead after Greg Meyer legged in a seven-yard touchdown on the game's first drive. Meyer scored his second touchdown of the half, this time from 12 yards out, with 3:11 remaining in the second quarter. Running back Derek Bush ran for two second-half TDs.
A bad snap by the Spartans resulted in a first-half safety for the Bears. Quarterback Dan Whalen was intercepted twice.
The Bears didn't get into the endzone until the fourth quarter.
It is not hard to figure out why the Spartans have had so much success. The team has a nationally recognized quarterback, wide receivers and running backs who are all upperclassmen, and a linebacking corps that could match up against most in the country. Part of the Spartans' success however, lies behind the scenes and out of the spotlight.
There is one player in the senior class that defines what it truly means to be a Division III athlete. At the Division III level, there are no athletic scholarships. Students that play at this level play because they love the game. It takes true passion to practice every day and lift a few times a week and then not see much of the field on Saturdays. Most would have quit by now, but one man decided the team was more important and has accepted his role: Kevin Street.
Street is a senior safety and has an essential role in preparing the offense for the upcoming opponent. Quarterback Dan Whalen said, "The harder the scout team works the better they make us. The fact that Street is out there says a lot about his character. Every good team needs players like that".
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