Take Five Scholar Lance Ramer made his professional football debut this past weekend and helped the Rochester Brigade to a 61-34 victory over the New Haven Ninjas.
“The atmosphere before the game was just pure anxiousness and excitement,” Ramer said. “The players couldn’t wait to start the game, with many people like me beginning their professional football careers.”
The pre-game jitters were quickly alleviated when the Brigade came out strong and posted a 19-13 lead after the first quarter.
The Brigade played a solid defensive game, and Ramer played a huge part of the defense in recording four tackles, two of which were sacks.
“The crowd was really into the game and the players feed off that,” Ramer said, “that’s why playing on the road is so going to be so tough.”
Rochester was able to hold New Haven to 191 yards offensively, and picked up key interceptions to keep them in the lead for the entire game.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Brigade put the game out of reach when they scored a touchdown to put the score at 47-26. The Brigade finished the game just as strong as they started, and scored another 14 points to win 61-34.
Ramer picked up one rush, one catch, two sacks, four tackles, and four quarterback hurries to help the team in the convincing win.
“My two sacks were definitely my personal highlights,” Ramer said, “but the fact that we were able to start off the season on such a positive note by winning convincingly at home outweighs any personal accomplishments.”
Even though the Brigade made the win look easy, they still have their work cut out for them when they face stiffer competition from more competitive teams.
“We talked about the game and we were definitely happy that we won,” Ramer said, “but we also discussed the fact that we committed too many penalties that could hurt us down the road against better competition.”
The Brigade play at home this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. when they take on the Albany Conquest at the Community War Memorial at the Blue Cross Arena.
The Brigade have reserved a limited number of tickets for UR students. The tickets cost $8 and can be purchased at the Common Market until 3 p.m. Friday.
If the Common Market is sold out, call Corey at 292-1530 and ask for tickets reserved for UR students.
Ayub can be reached at aayub@campustimes.org.
