Defense keys Spartans' win over Central Mass. reprinted from 8/2/2010 MIDDLETOWN PRESS LEICESTER, Mass. - How tough was the Middletown Spartans defense in the team’s 16-0 win over the Central Mass. Fury this past Saturday? The Spartans registered eight sacks, three by linebacker Jaron Murphy. They intercepted four Fury passes, two by cornerback Marcus Dorsey and the defense recorded six tackles behind the line of scrimmage. The effort improved the Spartans record to 2-1. Three games into the season, the Spartans defense has allowed only one touchdown. “Not only did we play well on defense, but I also thought our defense played very hard and very aggressively all game long,” said Jim Greco, Spartans head coach. “Our defense really got after it this afternoon. “We needed that kind of an effort from them, because the Fury never backed off, they never quit. I think it says a lot about the quality and competitiveness of this division when a team as talented, as experienced and as well-coached as the Fury get off to an 0-3 start.” Though he emphasized the entire defensive unit played well, Greco did single out the play of defensive linemen Al Bonds, Josh Cleaveland, and Tyler Boswell, linebackers Keith Pratt and Ryan Thiel, cornerbacks Dorsey and Lenroy Neysmith and punter Dane Street, who kept the Fury bottled up deep in their own end throughout the entire afternoon. The Spartans opened the scoring by marching 48 yards in five plays on their third possession of the game. A 7-yard burst by Murphy followed by three straight runs by Josh Mullen that totaled 23 yards advanced the ball to the Fury 18. From there, tailback Jason Coleman took a toss sweep from quarterback Jashone Cunningham, ran to his left off a terrific seal block by left tackle Frank Liquori and burst up a seam just inside the left sideline created by another eye-opening block by wide receiver Curtis Flood for the first score of the game. Street added the extra point that made it 7-0, Spartans about midway through the first quarter. The score remained 7-0 until Cunningham hit Akwan Shabazz on a 63-yard pass play that advanced the ball to the Fury 11-yard-line with under 30 seconds to play in the half. Three straight runs advanced the ball to the four from where Street nailed a 21-yard field goal to expand the Spartan lead to 10-0 at the half. Both teams threatened but failed to score in the third quarter and the score remained 10-0 until the Cunningham-Shabazz combination struck again midway through the final quarter to seal the verdict. After an interception by safety Mike Baklik set Cunningham and the Spartans offense up near midfield, Cunningham dropped back and rifled a 12-yard bullet to Shabazz on a slant pattern. Shabazz hauled in the pass at the Fury 40, broke two tackles and then ran through two more Fury defenders to complete a 53-yard scoring play that all but iced the game. Cunningham completed only two passes on the day, but those completions, both to Shabazz, were good for 116 yards of real estate and either set up or were directly responsible for the last nine points of the game. Coleman, with 36 yards on five carries, and Mullen, with 33 on nine carries, led the Spartan ground game, which finished the day with 122 yards on 31 carries. Aside from Murphy’s trio of sacks, Cleaveland added 1 and a half sacks and made another tackle behind the line of scrimmage, while both Bonds and Pratt had sacks plus two other tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Besides his 116 yards receiving the football, Shabazz returned two punts for an additional 32 yards.