By: Noah Nunez
Contributor
The university’s first home game of the season ended with a dominant win against American International College, leading 30-19 on Saturday, Sept 19.
With this being an early game in the season, men’s football were practicing hard mentally and physically to make sure their first appearance at home this year would be one to remember.
“We were quietly confident, with some apprehension. You’re always a little nervous going into early in the season. We felt good going in, but we knew that they’re gonna present challenges,” Head Coach Joe Loth said.
Men’s football started off the game strong less than two minutes in with a 37-yard pass to defensive back Seth Weston, a graduate, to make an early statement about how they wanted this game to go.
This aggressive start showed exactly how their knowledge of American International College offense was paying off, being able to take control of the game and capitalize on some important openings.
“As far as offence goes, we knew what to expect on what down,” Weston said. “If it was third and short, we knew what they were going to do; if it was first and ten, we knew what was going on. We had answers dialed up at every stop.”
The mental fortitude of each player is something the university has been specifically working on in the lead up to the game, focusing on making sure players know how to handle any situation thrown at them.
They put in time studying up on their opponent, looking at how exactly AIC plays, given Men’s Football had more information available to them and more time to work against what they had seen. Practice makes perfect.
“We felt like we could compete with these guys; we had two weeks to prepare for these guys, so we finally got a good preparation. It was just coming out here and doing it,” running back John Amaning, a graduate, said.
The application part of the plan is where they have struggled the most, leaving a lot of gaps between their scores and not capitalizing on openings.
“We felt like we left a lot of points on the table; that if we were to execute it the way we could have, we could have been the first offensive. If we were to score touchdowns, this would have been a different game, not as close in the middle,” Loth said.
This gap, however, became much more of a nonissue as the game continued, with the Owls able to make another touchdown in the fourth quarter, widening the gap to the point that AIC could not come back.
Even with this win, the Owls still reflected on specific things they know they should be working on and want to improve.
“Penalties jumping offsides holding cannot do that,” Weston said. “Halftime was just like, alright, we have to stay locked in; can’t let up.”
Overall, this game was a display of where the Owls are right now and what they need to improve throughout the season.
A great start for their home games, but one that shows signs of improvement that should be coming soon.
