Rain doesn’t dampen Alpha Tau Omega offense
Story by Blake Bernier, Staff writer
Alpha Tau Omega defeated Phi Kappa Tau 28-0 with steady rain falling on the intramural fields Monday night.
Senior quarterback Matt Higdon from Owensboro, Kentucky, scored on the third play of the game for Alpha Tau Omega.
Higdon dropped back to pass near his own endzone and, after a few moments of looking downfield, he scrambled down the left sideline, avoiding defenders and reaching the endzone.
Alpha Tau Omega needed to go the length of the field after they received a penalty on second down.
Phi Kappa Tau headed to the field trailing 7-0 and proceeded to go three and out on three consecutive incomplete passes.
Each time the ball hit the ground the slickness increased, and the towel that was used to dry the ball lost its effectiveness quickly, snapper for Phi Kappa Tau Will Stuart from Paducah, Kentucky, said.
“We kept the same game plan that we worked on in good weather and it was raining cats and dogs,” Stuart said.
After a punt, Alpha Tau Omega got back on offense and into the endzone on another run by Higdon.
“We wanted to stick to the ground,” Higdon said. “We had a good ground game that had two touchdowns and that feels pretty good.”
The next two possessions from each team resulted in interceptions and no points scored. Time expired in the first half and Alpha Tau Omega held a 13-0 lead.
Teams huddled up and discussed strategy for the second half as the rain continued.
Trailing by two scores, Phi Kappa Tau mixed things up with a new quarterback on their opening drive, but failed to convert on fourth down.
At that point, Alpha Tau Omega decided they had a comfortable lead and opted to throw in the wet conditions.
Higdon connected on a corner route to freshman Will Alexander from Michigan City, Indiana, for the first touchdown of the second half.
On the conversion they decided to go for three and again Higdon found Alexander in the endzone.
Higdon said they decided to open up the offense because they were up 13-0.
Phi Kappa Tau struggled to move the ball on their next possession with dropped passes, throws that were off target and penalty flags that voided good offensive yardage.
With the possibility of the mercy rule, Alpha Tau Omega struck again on a pass to Alexander.
“The rain made it a lot harder to catch the ball and hold on to it and we were slipping around with cleats,” Alexander said. “It was a little tough but Phi Tau really wasn’t that fast so it was an advantage.”
After the touchdown the game ended 28-0 as Alpha Tau Omega moved to 1-1 in the season and Phi Kappa Tau dropped to 0-1.
“Phi Tau IM have not been the best these past few years,” Stuart said. “We’ve been mercy ruled before, we know what it feels like.”
Intramural supervisors monitored the weather throughout the game and during the second wave of games, made a decision to postpone the rest of the games for the night.