The 7-14 loss against the University of Chicago on Saturday, Oct. 11, marked the fifth loss of the season for the Tigers and brought their overall record to 1-5.
Chicago opened the score with two touchdowns in the first quarter with one coming at the 5:45 mark and the second at the 5:16 mark. After the end of the first quarter and through most of the fourth quarter, Chicago led with a score of 14-0.
With 2:28 left on the clock in the fourth quarter, senior running back Desmond King ran a 38-yard touchdown for the Tigers only points of the game. King’s touchdown was the last score of the game, and Chicago won 14-7.
“It has been pretty typical of our season so far. We’ve been in the ball games and then have just had too many mistakes and cost ourselves points in the game that ended in losses for us,” said senior quarterback Mason Blaschke.
“The game against Chicago was frustrating in the sense that we played well but just didn’t make enough plays to get the job done,” said senior linebacker Connor Yorloff.
The Tigers played their seventh game of the season and their first Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference game against Southwestern on Saturday, Oct. 18. The Tigers narrowly won the game 22-19.
The scoring opened up in the first quarter when Southwestern scored a touchdown at 14:04 from the three-yard line after a miscued snap by Trinity. About two minutes later, Miguel Mendiola kicked a 33-yard field goal at 11:55 to bring the score to 7-3. Next, sophomore Adam Saunders made an interception and ran 45 yards for the Tigers’ first touchdown of the game to bring the score to 10-7 after a successful kick at 5:39 in the first quarter. Southwestern then scored another touchdown, but the extra point was blocked.Saunders came away with the ball and ran 98 yards for an extra point return, bringing the score to 13-12.
Shortly after the second quarter began, Southwestern scored another touchdown at the 14:54 mark but failed to convert the extra point, which brought the score to 19-12. Then at 10:15, Sam Harford caught a 28-yard touchdown pass from Blaschke to tie the score at 19-19 after the extra point.
The Tigers then clenched the win after they scored a 26-yard field goal on the six minute mark in the fourth quarter and Southwestern failed to answer.
“The game against Southwestern was a true testament to the heart of our team,” Yorloff said. “We ran into some early problems with turnovers at the beginning but were able to make some great plays on defense that kept us in the game and allowed us a chance to win,”
Head coach Jerheme Urban echoes Yorloff, saying, “We are growing and learning, and the biggest difference is we found a way to win the football game. It wasn’t pretty. We found ourselves repeating several of the same silly mistakes we have made throughout the year, but at the end of the day, our guys refused to lose. They found a way to finish it, and we came out with a win and that was a great show of growth.”
After this win, the Tigers have three games left in the regular season, all of which are SCAC games. The team goal is still the same as the beginning of the year: win conference.
“Our expectation is to come out these next three weeks and win our games. One of our goals is to win conference. All of our goals are still very attainable this year,” Urban said.
To accomplish their goals, the Tigers know they will have to work on aspects of their game heading into the end of the season.
“A lot of it is growing up and guys getting more experience and learning one play doesn’t win a football game, and one play doesn’t lose a football game. If a great play happens we obviously have to move on to the next play and not take a step backwards, and if a play hits that has some adversity we have to realize that play isn’t going to lose us the game and we have to rebound and move on to the next one and just play more consistent football,” Urban said.
Blaschke added, “We turn the ball over way too much and have had several offensive occasions where we have lined up wrong, and we are pretty young so it’s pretty usual; we just need to make sure we learn from the teaching points of practice and execute after.”
The Tigers have a by-week this weekend. Their next game is at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1, against Texas Lutheran University. in Seguin.
