By Gabby Pacitti
Correspondent
The Lions suffered their second loss of the season on Sept. 16 when they faced Bloomsburg University in their second game of the season. The team left Green Lane Field with just one try for the second week in a row, in a final score of 38-7.
Though it was not as crushing of a loss as the weekend prior, the Lions were still struggling to perform offensively. Bloomsburg kicked off to begin the match and quickly gained possession of the ball. The Lions were tackling well but could not prevent BU from moving the ball down the field. Just three minutes into the game, Bloomsburg had a 5-0 lead over the College.
A missed conversion kept the early lead to a minimum, but the Lions could not hold onto the ball long enough to make up the difference. A kick by team captain Michael Crockett helped move the Lions downfield, while a strong run from senior Chris Glaze got them seriously close to scoring.
However, a lineout resulted in Bloomsburg regaining possession of the ball, which they ran in easily to score their second try of the day. A successful conversion put them 12 points ahead of the College early in the first half.
Despite their trouble maintaining possession of the ball, the Lions were still able to produce defensively with some big tackles. Glaze, along with juniors Quincy James and Jack Lazarus, made considerable contributions to the team’s defensive efforts.
After a third try and missed conversion by Bloomsburg, the Lions were down 17-0 at the half. Two additional tries and conversions put BU even further ahead as the second half of the match got underway. The Lions trailed 31-0 before they scored their first and only try of the match.
For the second week in a row, rookie Braden Negro was the only player to score a try for the Lions. Combined with a successful conversion kick by Crockett, the College was on the board in the second half with a score of 31-7.
Unfortunately, that was the extent of their scoring for the day, and Bloomsburg scored once more to end the game with a final score of 38-7.
Quincy James, a junior nursing student who plays flanker for the Lions, reflected on his individual performance as well as the team’s post-game.
“Honestly, I feel like I did good,” James said. “I was hustling around a lot the first half, I was making all the tackles I could. I’m satisfied with my performance but there’s always more I can do.”
Although James was satisfied with his own performance, he also recognized some of the team’s weaknesses when he emphasized the importance of each teammate being in position in order to perform more effectively.
“It’s kind of hard to hustle around and be able to do my job when I have to hustle to get in other people’s positions when I shouldn't necessarily have to,” said James. “If I gotta run from the right side to the left, even just two plays, that’s over 70 yards running give or take. I can only do that so much in a game.”
Even through the team’s struggles, James seemed to be acutely aware of ways to improve going forward. On his list? More communication and better conditioning.
“If there’s multiple people making multiple callouts based on their perspective on the field, then that gives everybody a more holistic look at what’s going on and that’s beneficial,” James said. “Hopefully we’ll learn from today and integrate more conditioning into our practice so we can be a more holistic team going forward.”
The Lions look to get their first win of the season as they take on Scranton next Saturday, Sept. 30 in another home game.
