Week 3: Bolzano Giants

      This week we headed north for our first away game to the city of Bolzano, which is up in the mountain country about 3 hours northeast of Parma. We didn't know much about Bolzano because it was their first contest of the season but other than Bergamo, the Giants were billed as one of the toughest teams in the league and one that we really needed to beat to ensure a spot in the playoffs. They featured the supposed best back in Italy, a Brooklyn native by the name of Reggie Green who's been playing out here for six years or so. The past few season's he's shredded the opposing defenses and was yet to be held to under 100 yards in single game. Other than him they had an American quarterback and a TE/WR who were good but nothing special. Our main focus was to stop Reggie and make them beat us through the air. We were riding pretty high after the win against Ancona and with Danny healthy again we were ready.

The bus ride up was actually kind of nice as we traveled along some scenic highways passing by traditional villages all throughout the countryside. I was told that this region used to be part of Germany before WWII and you can see that there is still a strong German influence in the cities there. The buildings looked more similar to what we saw in Frankfurt and a lot of the signs were posted in German as well as Italian. Bolzano has a nice stadium set right at the foot of a mountainside, and it is also one of the few actual American football fields in Italy. However it also happens to be fifteen year old astro turf, so, although it was nice to actually have hash marks for a change, I think I would have rather played in the street. We arrived at the stadium around 6:30 for an 8:00 kickoff (Italians are not know for being punctual) so there wasn't much time to take in the surroundings. I was excited though to be playing in our first night game and with the sun setting behind the mountains it was a slightly less than perfect stage. 

We came out pretty flat and the first half was all Giants. They jumped out on us early hitting a fade down the right sideline on the third play of the game. Two plays later they were in the endzone and it was 7-0. Nothing was working on offense as their D-line and linebackers were crashing into the backfield on almost every play. With nowhere to run and no time to throw we struggled to move the ball and were forced to give it back. They hit another fade, this time for a touchdown, and on their next possession Reggie broke through an arm tackle and went 40 yards to put them up 21-0. Things were looking pretty bleak at halftime but our guys refused to throw in the towel and after a rousing a speech by the ol' ball coach we came out determined to make a comeback. We kept pounding the ball, looking for a crease between their blitzing linebackers and things finally started to open up. We mounted a decent drive gaining about 6 or 7 yards at a time on either the Iso or the Toss but nothing was coming easily. We traded possessions but after getting the ball back on a fumble, Danny capitalized as he burst through the middle on a designed draw and scampered forty yards for the score. There was still plenty of time and our defense was playing with a ferocity Reggie hadn't seen in years. Our coach put me in the middle at about 6 yards and I was to mirror Reggie wherever he went. I was in his pocket on every play and we shut the door, not giving up a first down the rest of the game. We continued to grind it out on offense and with their D constantly on the field you could see that they were starting to tire. Finally in the first few minutes of the fourth quarter Danny hit Corey on a post corner in the back of the endzone to bring us within 7. Upon scoring Corey unleashed a vicious spike that I think he had been bottling up for all five years at Harvard...no celebration penalties here! We kept up the pressure on D as they tried to run out the clock and forced them into a third and long. Corey picked off the QB and brought it deep into their territory, however a phantom pass interference call brought it back yet due to some fuzzy officiating we somehow retained possession of the ball. In need of a score we were forced to go to the air but with Corey doubled and tripled and without any other deep threat it was an uphill battle. After a dropped ball that would have been for sure been a touchdown we were forced to punt. Again the D stepped up they had to give the ball back to us with just under 2 minutes left. A personal foul though pushed us back inside our own ten so we would have to take it 90 yards to tie. We ran the 2 minute drill nicely and managed to get inside their territory but with 27 seconds left on a fourth and nine we failed to convert and that was the game. Although it was a tough loss, I think we found our character as a team and hopefully we can ride the momentum we had in the second half.