Within the game’s first eight minutes the Chaparrals had put up 21 points and Olivet Nazarene looked shell shocked. The defense continued to swarm a Nazarene offense that simply could not get out of their own way. False start penalties and holding calls were littered throughout the Tigers first half offensive drives. Freshman quarterback Bailey Shire was running for his life as he was hit on seemingly every play. The running game did him no favors as their offensive line couldn’t find the strength to get a push on the stout DuPage defensive front.

The College of DuPage Chaparrals opened up the game as fast as they possibly could this Labor Day. After a solid opening kickoff, running back Quinton Brown took a simple stretch play for a 70 plus yard touchdown. The Chaps defense would follow the long touchdown with an interception returned for a touchdown by the second year defensive back, Edmond McGhee. Head Coach Matt Foster was very impressed with the fast start. The Chaps would ride that fast start to a convincing 39-7 win.

Coach Foster said of the team’s preparation “We we’re just preaching execution defensively. All we try to do is get better every week. So the biggest focus for us is execution. Emphasizing assignment football, tackling, no mental mistakes.” The players executed what the staff preaches. The defense was swarming to the football as Olivet Nazarene couldn’t muster the physicality to compete with the DuPage defense. The following Nazarene drive was ended by yet another interception of quarterback Bailey Shire by linebacker Walter Jenkins.

The DuPage offense could not be stopped that afternoon. The offensive line was blowing players off the ball as running backs Quinton Brown and Chris Baldwin  were finding creases for solid gains. Offensively, DuPage was doing a variety of different motions that the Nazarene defense was not identifying immediately and paid for it. DuPage quarterback Asher O’Hara did a good job of orchestrating a formidable option attack. Coach Foster was adamant about his commitment and variation in the run game. “It’s all similar. We don’t want to be one dimensional. We’d like to have a multi-faceted offense. It comes down to assignment football and putting our hats on the right people.”

By the second half, the Chaps were able to put in the second team players as they had simply out played Olivet Nazarene in every facet of the game. The defensive backfield continued to swarm as Shire was picked off twice more. With such a dominating first half it can be hard for a team to play with the same energy in the second half. Coach Foster was able to keep his message consistent. “After last week, we just wanted to take the next step forward to get a little better this week and next week. Hopefully progressing through the season that way. That’s all were trying to do. Get better and end with an A on the test every Saturday.”

The Chaparrals did a great job of dominating from the opening whistle in their home opener but one of the tough things for young football teams to overcome is complacency and being too fond of what they did last week. Coach Foster is well aware of that with his football team. “When you look at film, that’s a thing because I don’t care how long you’ve been playing the game, guys at the highest level are still making mistakes. It’s easy for players and coaches to look at what we did right and what things we need to improve on for the next week.” There was very little that the Chaparrals seemed to do wrong this past Monday but I’m sure the coaches will find how their team can improve upon a solid win. The DuPage football team will look to improve next Saturday against Wisconsin-Osh Kosh.