Syracuse Strong: Rashad Burns leads team to strange season opening victory

The Syracuse Strong got their 2019 season out to a raving start with a “strange” victory in Week 1. Here are the details and all the highlights.

After a successful 2018 campaign, the Syracuse Strong had a massive target on their back heading into this new season.

Syracuse opened up the season on Saturday evening vs the Charlotte Colonials and before the game even got started, things were getting a little chippy on the field.

The Strong won the opening coin toss and wanted the ball and it didn’t take long for this team to punch it into the endzone.

While Syracuse returned the majority of their starters from last season, there were a few new additions including their new quarterback Jason Boltus.

Team President Khalid Bey and several players I spoke to before the game couldn’t hide their giddiness about what this experienced leader could bring to the Strong.

Teammates of Boltus and staff in the press box said Jason reminded them of future Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning. In the first game there was a lot of similarities:

• Quick release.
• Leadership and worldly experience.
• Pre-snap reads and constantly changing the play at the line of scrimmage.

As a matter of fact, getting back to Week 1 for the Strong; on the opening touchdown by Syracuse, Boltus noticed a mismatch on defense and moved his running back Rashad Burns to the left side of the formation.

The defense didn’t adjust and Jason snapped the ball quickly fired a quick flare route to Rashad who handled the rest dancing into the endzone.

That would end up being one of three touchdowns on the day for Rashad Burns who earned Player of the Game honors with his outstanding performance.

He finished the game with 13 carries for 96 yards and those aforementioned three touchdowns (two rushing and one through the air).

Despite having a new offensive coordinator this season (James Tyler) who we’ve heard likes throwing the football, the gameplan vs the Colonials was simple: feed Rashad Burns the ball as often as possible.

Sometimes the tried and true formula is better than overcomplicating things.

That was especially true because throughout the first quarter Mother Nature decided to impede the action with some rain. Which led to some sloppy footballs bouncing around in the first half.

Syracuse really had control of this game throughout but really the turning point in the game came with just over four minutes remaining in the second quarter when Charlotte decided to go for it on their own 12-yard line.

The Strong defense did their best lunch ladies impersonation and served a cold side of stuffing in the backfield and took over on downs. On a one play drive, Jason Boltus tossed a beautiful ball to a wide-open Joshua Thomas to increase the lead to 26 to nothing.

After a quick half-time, the Colonials received the second-half kickoff and finally got on the board with a 44-yard touchdown strike down the left hash. Throughout the game, Charlotte had looked pretty anemic offensively.

That touchdown came with a little over 11 minutes remaining in the third quarter and the game was then put into a lightning delay at 8:47 p.m.

Perfect timing by the officials because after some light rain in the first quarter, then the lightning strikes in the distance during the third, monsoon-like conditions took over at the Valley Sports Complex.

34 minutes later the officials came into the booth and called the game. Initially, there was some confusion on what the result of this game would be. Despite the Strong dominating throughout the contest, there was a fear that the game would be labeled a no-contest.

Fortunately, after convening with the head official post-game we were able to rectify the situation. Strong got the victory in the shortened contest, which honestly just delayed the inevitable, which always was going to be a Strong victory.

Mother Nature wasn’t the only one raining in this football game. The Strong was raining… touchdowns on those poor Colonials and they never were able to truly respond to the adversity.

Other notable performances:

• QB Jason Boltus (No. 10)
  • 8-of-12 (66 percent completion percentage) for 99 yards and a touchdown.
• WR Nic Barksdale (No. 17)
  • Two receptions for 40 yards.
• WR Joshua Thomas (No. 3)
  • Three receptions for 28 yards and a touchdown.

Over 200 people attended the season opener for the Syracuse Strong. Next week the Strong will continue their 2019 season against the East Penn Raiders, gates open at 6 p.m at the Valley Sports Complex for ticket and other important information click here.