by Cover Photo Credit NBC Sports
It was a defensive battle that saw the New Jersey Generals capture their first win of the season with a 10-6 victory over the Michigan Panthers. Head coach Jeff Fisher’s Panthers now drop to 0-2 on the season. New Jersey used a strong ground game with Darius Victor along with a stout defense to overcome turnovers and win the game. Neither team managed to score in the second half.
After a couple of three and outs by both teams to start the game, the Generals got the ball moving on their second position thanks in part to a 21-yard sprint threw the middle of the Thrasher line by Darius Victor to get the ball inside Michigan Territory. He would pick up 9 on the next play as well, and Victor had the Generals cooking.
Sadly, for New Jersey, the drive would fizzle out and they’d settle for a 21-yard field goal after getting it all the way down to the Thrasher 6-yard line for a first and goal. Mike Riley showed faith in his kicker Nick Rose to connect on the boot. Rose only went 1 for 3 last week, but got the Generals off to a good start on Friday night.
As the second quarter began with New Jersey still up 3-0, Luis Perez, who had started the game 2 of 6 for the Generals, met with certain doom in the early moments of the second quarter as he threw an interception right in the hands of Ryan Stewart of Michigan who took it back to the Generals 19-yard line. It was a major miscue for Perez who is locked in a tight quarterback battle with DeAndre Johnson.
A few Reggie Corbin runs got the ball inside the five for the Thrashers right away. Moments later, Cameron Scarlett would finish it off from 6 yards out. Despite the switch to non-sensory image filled footballs for kicking, the Thrasher placekicker still shanked their extra point, and the game remained 6-3 Michigan early second quarter.
The score remained 6-3 Michigan for the majority of the remaining second quarter. Generals head coach Mike Riley decided to make a switch to DeAndre Johnson and it would pay off as he promptly led an 11 play, 67-yard drive over 7 minutes that was capped off by a 2-yard touchdown run by Darius Victor. Rose would knock in the extra point and take a 10-6 lead into halftime.
The third quarter saw both teams stuck in quicksand and unable to move the ball with the sole exception of a mini-Michigan drive that came up craps. The game would move to the fourth quarter with the Thrashers still trailing the Generals, 10-6.
The Generals began the fourth quarter with a nice mix of a run and pass attack to give them a chance at more points. Once again however, their kicker would come up craps as Rose missed his third field goal in two weeks. This one from 34 yards out, as it remained a 4-point game.
Michigan simply couldn’t take advantage of the momentum and saw another drive go nowhere before yet again punting it back to New Jersey. The Generals then tried to salt away some clock, but that plan was diverted when Victor fumbled it back to Michigan and Sean Williams who scooped it up at the general 40-yard line. This again, gave Michigan prime real estate to score.
Once again, Michigan Panthers quarterback Shea Patterson failed to move the ball as they were forced to punt again. Michigan fans remember Patterson from his days as a Wolverine. It was a big opportunity missed by the Panthers.
The Panthers would get one more crack at it, as they got the ball back, still down 10-6 with 1:48 left to play. The drive began at their own 20-yard line with no timeouts remaining as they were up against it.
Shea Patterson had another rough night and head coach Jeff Fisher never pulled the trigger and went to Paxton Lynch. The loyalty to Patterson almost paid off as he took the Panthers inside the General 20 yard line, before running out of time in the loss.
