[10…..9…..8…..7…..6…..5…..4…..3…..2…..1]
As we come to the sixth spot in the countdown of the best moments in the 2011-12 UC football and basketball seasons, you’ll notice most of them leading up to this point are team-related. Sure the pick-fest against the Akron Zips was a result of solid individual efforts of Camerron Cheatham, Dominque Battle, Deven Drane, and J.K. Schaffer but they weren’t athletically ‘over the top’ type plays.
One such play came from none other than Mr. Twitterless-but-he-don’t-care himself, Walter Stewart. He was finally (FINALLY) moved to the defensive line on a permanent basis last season after spending the first half of his career floating around as a hybrid OLB/DE. With his hand firmly planted in the ground, most of us thought he would have a breakout year. And in many ways he did. But Walt got off to a slow start in which he averaged just 2.8 tackles, 0.6 tackles for loss, and 0 sacks per game. That is very unWalter Stewart-like.
However as competition became better he rose to the occasion. Stewart went HAM in Big East play averaging 4.1 tackles, 1.1 TFL, 0.75 sacks, and 0.33 forced fumbles over the first six games. The seventh conference game is when he really shined. Opposing the Bearcats that day was the UConn Huskies and Johnny McEntee. Here’s a lesson for you, kids: Just because you make a YouTube video doesn’t mean you’re qualified to be a starting quarterback at the D1 level. But for whatever reason Paul Pasqualoni was so blown away by the ‘dagnab newfangled technology’ that he made McEntee QB-1.
Those trick plays definitely didn’t scare Walter Stewart. On UConn’s third offensive play from scrimmage, he made the best individual play of a Cincinnati player of all of last season. It was certainly one of the most spectacular plays from a Cincinnati Bearcat I’ve ever seen. With UConn just feet from their own endzone and the student section barking at them only a few yards beyond that, Stewart burst through the offensive line and forced McEntee to his left. The quarterback was already trapped. Stewart quickly pick pocketed McEntee ripping the football out of his hands like it didn’t belong to him. The crowd erupted, I spilled my Diet Pepsi, and the Bearcats were on the board. It was incredible!
Not to be outdone was strong safety Drew Frey. The Black Cats, as UC’s defensive players call themselves, are ultra-competitive. While their ultimate goal is to one-up the offense, I’m sure there is friendly competition existing among the individual position groups in the defense. This has to be true between the defensive line and secondary. While their performances certainly complement each other, I doubt Frey wanted the hogmollies up front to have all the fun against McEntee. Someone had to give the DB’s something to brag about.
So, on UConn’s fourth drive, Frey did just that. It was 2nd and long with the Huskies again backed up at their 11 yard line. The tight end cut outside with the pass thrown perfectly to meet him. Frey read the play all the way and jumped the route. There was nothing but turf in front of Frey as he strolled into the endzone to put the Bearcats up 14 – 0.
What Stewart and Frey showed was that UConn couldn’t run or throw against them. They were just too suffocating, too fast, and hit too hard. Through the first three-quarters of play the Huskies had amassed just 246 yards of total offense and were forced to punt 7 times. Now this wasn’t an Oregon offense the Bearcats were stifling or anything but it was certainly exciting to see. Adding to the energy at Nippert Stadium was a raucous crowd pumped up for Senior Day and another Big East Championship. Overall it was just an incredible capper to a season that was highlighted by defensive plays like these.