Team play put Lightning on top

After notching their third straight win of the season, the Shell Lightning are not getting too full of themselves after shutting out the Barbarians, 22-0, on Saturday at the CPA Airport Field, as all of the players of the Commonwealth Football League’s lone undefeated team agree that their success is from their focus on playing a team game.

With their starting quarterback coaching from the sidelines, the Lightning relied on Clas Ngeskebei to lead them to victory, but the selfless back-up gave all the credit to his teammates.

“It felt great. It was one year off since I broke my shoulder and I had a good coach in Brian [Hahn]. I had butterflies in the first two quarters but my running back and my offensive line were so great. It was really a run game and the offensive line—I’ve got to give props to them. Props to the defense for staying in there and keeping it zero,” said Ngeskebei.

Bruising running back Jeff Boyer was one of the weapons at Ngeskebei’s disposal, and he said that he liked what he saw on the field as his team made some strides in the right direction.

“The team is slowly coming together. We played without some players, and as you can see we made some adjustments when we had to, people stepped up, and we made it happen. We kept the discipline going, we kept the execution, and I think it turned out pretty well. It feels great,” he said.

Another one of the weapons was wide receiver George Lieto, who’s three receptions for 66 yards and a touchdown gave his QB the confidence to keep throwing. While the aerial attack sputtered in the beginning, Lieto explained that they mixed in some running to lull the defense before hitting the 25 yard pass in the end zone.

“We kept running the option right, option left, and that opened up the passing lane. They bit on the option and we just threw it deep. The cornerbacks kept cheating—they kept blitzing, so we opened up the outside. It was some good play calling,” he said

Hahn gave pats on the back to the whole team and said that the offense was able to put some pints on the board after making a few adjustments during the game.

“We did really well. We had a new quarterback and we needed to learn his strengths. He tried to go drop back but he’s a good athlete and an option quarterback, so we switched over to the option and it flowed a lot more smoothly and we were able to be more productive,” he said

The coach for the day said that it wasn’t all about the offense, as the boys on the defensive side of the ball shut down “Plas Pass” and the Barbarians by holding them to just 58 yards of total offense.

“Our defense came up big. The war was won in the trenches. Our offensive line played good, but the defensive line played a little bit better. We were more aggressive, we flowed to the ball, we were quicker off the ball, and by playing hard and playing like a team we were able to execute, keep them out of the end zone, and do our job,” he said.

One of the defenders that experienced a successful day on the field was Jason Gay, who picked off a pair of passes and racked up 4.5 tackles on the day. Gay followed his teammates lead by giving credit to the way the unbeaten squad worked together to make things happen in their favor.

“I’m just trying to help my team out there by doing the best I can. There are 11 guys out there and each of us got a spot that we’ve got to fill. I just try to be a leader and hope everybody follows my call. I was lucky to get two interceptions but that’s because my defense was doing the job, it wasn’t because of me. Everybody played well. We didn’t have any mental mistakes and we just got to keep that going,” he said.

Just hours before getting stitches removed from his back, Hahn said that there are still some things that the Lightning will have to work on in preparation for his return to the field this Saturday against the Eagles at 1pm.

“I’m going to come back to practice to prepare and hopefully we’ll work hard to get the kinks out, get our timing and execution down and be back on the field on Saturday. I’ll be back on the field on Saturday,” he said.

Though he’ll be returning to his receiving duties, Ngeskebei said that he’s going to be ready for the weekend.

“We’ve got a big game next week, so that’s why we’re going to prepare hard. I’m excited because we’re 3-0 now.”