Occidental quarterback Andy Collins threw for one touchdown and caught a
10-yard touchdown pass to lead the United States to a 28-7 win over
Mexico at the 2006 Aztec Bowl at Estadio Victoria in Aguascalientes,
Mexico.
On the night Collins completed 7-of-17 passes for
142 yards, including a 54-yard scoring toss to Augustana’s Mike Guzman.
Collins set a Team USA record for passing attempts and his yardage total
was the second highest total in Team USA history. The scoring toss was
also the longest pass completion in team history. The performance earned
Collins Team USA MVP honors.
"It’s exciting when you can have that kind of
night playing with this kind of talent," Collins said. "I didn’t do this
by myself."
Defensively,
Team USA limited Mexico to 150 yards in total offense, including just 38
yards in the second half. The total yardage is the third-lowest for
Mexico against the U.S. in the series. DePauw’s Dustin Hertel led the
way with nine tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks and a forced
fumble.
King's College senior safety Craig Haywood
(left), who was selected as a Team USA captain two days
earlier, posted two tackles in the game, one unassisted, the other
assisted.
The United States also got second half
interceptions from Dubuque’s Walner Belleus, Christopher Newport’s Rob
Rodriguez and Texas Lutheran’s Jake Robbins to stifle Mexico’s offense.
Team USA now leads the decade-old series 9-1 and
has outscored Mexico 101-25 in the last three meetings.
"I think the biggest thing tonight was the fact
the defense kept us in the game in the first half," USA Head Coach Bill
Manlove said. "Going to the no-huddle to start the second half changed
the game for us. The three interceptions and the blocked punt helped
too."
After a scoreless first period, Collins hooked up
with Guzman on a 54-yard catch and run after the Augustana back looped
out of the backfield, hauled the pass in at the Mexico 43 and rumbled
the rest of the way for the score.
Mexico answered with just 43 seconds to go before
intermission when Alejandro Trejo slipped into the end zone from a yard
out to knot the score at 7-7 heading into halftime.
"Mexico changed up and we couldn’t get in a rhythm
in the first half," Collins said. "We were thinking too much. We all
know how to play, we just needed to go out there and do it."
The United States answered that score on the
opening series of the second half when North Central’s Kam Kniss
orchestrated an eight play, 84-yard scoring drive that was capped off by
a 35-yard pass from Kniss to John Carroll’s Joe Konrad to put the U.S.
up 14-7. The no-huddle attack the USA implemented to start the half
resulted in 21 points in a little more than one quarter of play.
Four minutes later Muskingum linebacker Jack
Junker swooped in and deflected a punt by Mexico’s Hector Garza to set
Team USA up at Mexico’s 26-yard line. Two plays later Union’s Tom
Arcidiacono scampered 18 yards into the end zone to extend the lead to
21-7 with 6:35 to go in the third.
Mexico’s next drive was its best of the second
half as Rodrigo Perez, the career passing leader in Mexican college
football, led his team 57 yards to the USA 23 before the Team USA
defense silenced the predominantly pro-Mexican crowd of 16,000 by
forcing Mexico to turn the ball over on downs.
Collins capped the scoring when he hauled in a
10-yard fourth-and-goal pass from Wisconsin-Stevens Point running back
Cody Childs on a twisting, turning, tumbling dive to give the United
States a 28-7 lead with 11:18 to go in the game.
This year’s Aztec Bowl was the first since the
death of long-time Team USA Head Coach and College Football Hall of
Famer Ron Schipper earlier this year. The pre-game ceremony included a
moment of silence in Schipper’s honor.
"We were talking about Skip late in the game,"
Manlove said. "We were all thinking about him. He was on all of our
minds."
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