By: Noah Nunez
General Reporter
The Owls faced devastating defeat at the hands of Franklin Pierce University, going 14-48 on Saturday, Oct. 31, extending their losing streak to three.
The Owls knew going into this game that it was going to be an uphill battle, with Head Coach Joe Loth finding that the team’s defense faltered throughout the game and led to the eventual loss.
“We couldn’t get off the field defensively. Offensively, we started okay but didn’t run the ball as consistent enough as we needed to, we had to encircle,” Loth said.
The game began with the Owls scoring the first touchdown, quarterback Mike Kinik, a senior, helped to secure what the team thought was going to be a dominant lead throughout.
This, however, was counteracted by Franklin Pierce scoring two touchdowns in the first quarter.
“I think they got a little jump on us too early in the game, and we came down a little bit. I feel like at halftime we got more juice coming out, but they just kept on the throttle, and we just couldn’t stop them,” Kinik said.
The rest of the game ended up being rather one-sided, with Franklin Pierce becoming dominant, exploiting the weaknesses in the Owls’ defense and staving off their own offense.
While the other point scored this game was by tight end Isaac Lynch, a freshman, his attitude towards the game at halftime stands as emblematic of the Owls’ philosophy and why they kept their heart in the game.
“We’ve all been doing this for a long time; we want to win. We’re out here going hard, but you know it just wasn’t enough. Go harder. I mean, what else is there to do?” Lynch said.
Any loss is tough on a team and finding ways to keep it up becomes another aspect the university needs to work on.
For the Owls, getting players matched to the same mindset of how they are handling defense going forward seems to be a priority in an attempt to break this losing streak.
“This is tough, like we’ve lost three in a row now. When you lose three games in a row, you need to get the team back on the same kind of mode,” Loth said. “It’s a challenge just one of the challenges in the football team. When you lose a couple of games in a row, how do you get it right?”
The plan now seems to be getting everyone together and figuring out how to hammer out these issues they have been dealing with for a while now.
“Tomorrow’s a new day; every game’s a new game. We’re just waiting to go 1-0 next week, 1-0 every single day Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and then win the game,” Kinik said.
