SAN DIEGO, Cal. – Just a few missed opportunities were all that stood between the Hatters and victory on Saturday afternoon at San Diego. They were easy for Stetson coaches and players to point to after another disappointing loss, this one 31-23 on the Toreros homecoming.
The few plays that turned the Hatters' fortunes against a team that beat them 59-0 last year stand out like a sore thumb.
“There were two or three plays in this game that could have pus us up by two or three scores,” sophomore quarterback Ryan Tentler said.
There were actually a few more than three plays that turned the tide of the game against the Hatters, but changing any two or three of them would certainly have changed the outcome of the game. Still, that doesn't dimish the effort the team displayed.
“Like I told the team after the game, they left everything on the field, and that is why this hurts so bad,” head coach Roger Hughes said. “I was proud of our effort. Clearly things were a little different from the 59-0 last year.”
The biggest headache for the Hatters was the running of USD sophomore Jonah Hodges, who needed just 17 carries to pile up 273 yards rushing, including touchdown runs of 53 yards – on the Toreros's first offensive play – and 56 yards – in the fourth quarter to put the game away.
“The thing is that we cleaned up the explosive plays from last week, but we still came up short,” defensive end Davion Belk said. “They were able to cut back against us and we weren't tight on our blitzes and it is an open lane once you get past the one blitzer.”
Even with the success USD had on the ground, the Hatters still could have won the game had a couple of the other key plays gone their way.
The first big play came in the first quarter with the Hatters holding a 10-7 lead. US snapped the ball over the head of punter Ryan Belden, who recovered the loose ball on the USD two-yard line, giving Stetson the ball with a first and goal. On the first play following the bad snap, the Hatters ran a play they had worked on all week, but disaster struck.
“We had practiced that goal line play all week and we knew that Craig (Carrington) was going to be wide open,” Tentler said. “I don't know what happened on the back side, but someone got left free.”
That someone, Joathan Petersen, hit Tentler from behind as he was throwing to a wide-open Carrington in the end zone. The ball bounced free and USD recovered. If there was an instant replay system in use in the PFL, the play would likely have been overturned and ruled an incomplete pass instead of a fumble.
There were other plays in the game where the officials might have benefitted from having a second look.
“I would have loved to have had instant replay on a few plays today,” Hughes said.
Late in the first half the Hatters had another chance to put points on the board. Like he did against Butler, receiver Kegan Moore was able to get open several times in the game. One such play resulted in the Hatters' first score, a 31-yard TD pass from Tentler. The play at the end of the half didn't get the same result.
“We had a curl and go to Kegan that would have been a touchdown if I had kept the ball inbounds,” Tentler said. “That was my fault.”
The third quarter was an offensive wasteland for the Hatters. USD took the opening possession of the second half and drove inside the Stetson 10 before the Hatters forced the Toreros to settle for a 28-yard field goal to take a 17-16 lead.
The Hatters managed just 20 yards of offense in the quarter while San Diego mounted two long drives. The Hatters stopped the second drive after 11 plays when Mason Johnson stripped Hodges of the ball and Donald Payne recovered at the Stetson 14.
“The third quarter killed us again,” Hughes said. “We have to find a way to come out after halftime with an answer, and that is on me.”
The fourth quarter was when the four biggest plays of the game happened.
With the Hatters leading 23-17 following Tentler's two-yard touchdown pass to Jonathan Strahl to open the quarter, Stetson had two chances to get the ball right back. On the first play after the kickoff, Ryan Powers intercepted a Trey Wheeler pass, but a penalty was called against Chris Atkins, away from the play, for holding to negate the turnover.
On the very next play, Wheeler threw Atkins' direction, and the ball hit the Hatters' sophomore in the hands with a clear path to the end zone, but he was unable to hold on for the pick six.
Later in the same drive, with the Toreros facing a fourth down at the Stetson six yard line, Wheeler threw toward Reggie Bell at the goal line, with both Glenn Adesoji and Jeb Boudreaux blanketing the talented senior receiver. Somehow, the ball went through Adesoji's hands and Boudreaux hard hit from behind was unable to dislodge the ball from Bell. The TD pass put the Toreros on top 24-23.
Even after Hodges' second long touchdown run pushed the USD lead to eight points, the Hatters still had some fight left. Stetson drove into the red zone before running back Dre Long was stripped of the ball while fighting for an extra yard on a seven-yard run.
The Stetson defense, which was on the field for a large part of the game, gave the Hatters one more chance, but Tentler's deep throw to Chris Crawford with 35 seconds left was wrestled away at the goal line by Toreros' defensive back Toney Sawyer, sealing the win for USD.
“We did everything we could to win the game except score enough points,” Hughes said. “If you are a competitor, this is going to hurt for a while. I promise you that Jacksonville is not going to feel sorry for us next week, and that is going to be another huge challenge for us. We'll have to see where we are with the injury situation and go from there.”
Injuries were a factor in the game. The Hatters lost punter/kicker James LaGamma on his first punt of the game when he suffered an injury while making the tackle. Others who were injured, or reinjured, included defensive back Zach Dyer, center Fletcher Eldemire and fullback Craig Carrington.
Statistically, the Hatters had a 100-yard rusher for the third consecutive game, only this time it was Tentler. The Hatters' quarterback had eight carries for 118 yards, including a long run of 60 yards. Cole Mazza got the bulk of the carries, but found the going difficult. He ran the ball 20 times, but for just 30 yards.
“For us to be effective, on both sides of the ball, we have to run the ball more efficiently,” Hughes said. “We had spurts of it today. There were times when the holes were there, but the backs weren't hitting it correctly. I thought there were times when we had some penetration and there was no where to run. We have to continue to work to get better and go on.”
In addition to his running, Tentler completed 16-of-28 passes for 121 yards with two touchdowns and the one late interception.
“We just played two of the best teams in our conference and we have one more that is at the top of the conference right now coming up,” Tentler said. “It is clear that we can stay with them. If we can just do the little things right, stay confident and don't get our heads down, we can finish the season strong. If we put our heads down, we could plummet. We are going to finish strong and we are going to score a lot more points.”
Defensively, it was Payne that led the way for Stetson with 10 tackles, including one for loss and the one fumble recovery. Bobby Jakubek, who was forced into more playing time due to Dyer going down, finished with eight tackles, including a sack and two for loss.
Belk said that even though the consecutive eight-point losses hurt, the Hatters know they can play with anyone in the Pioneer Football League.
“We know how close we are,” Belk said. “We know we are a play away from being one of the top teams in the Pioneer Football League, so this is tough to swallow. It is hard, but we are fighters. There are a lot of people on this team that come from winning programs and are used to winning. It is something we are going to get back to.”
