By Zach Jacovini
Staff Writer
Despite a hard-nosed start-to-finish defensive effort that saw the Lions force three Mules turnovers, the College fell to the No. 25 ranked Muhlenberg Mules by a final score of 38-10 on Sept. 16. From the beginning of the game, it was evident that the Lions were simply outmatched when it came to the offensive side of the ball, as the Mules were far more efficient offensively. The Mules finished the contest with over 500 yards of offense, 25 first downs, and they scored on six of seven trips in the red zone.
The Lions began the contest by running a pass-heavy offense, and as a result, the Mules dominated the time of possession category 39:56 minutes to 20:04 minutes. The Lions offense, led by senior quarterback Trevor Bopp, was unable to get their passing game going for a majority of the contest and as a result, the Lions finished the game with just 220 total yards compared to Mulehnberg’s 542.
It appeared as though that the Lions’ gameplan was to enter into a shootout with the No. 25 ranked Mules, but the offense simply was not able to get going throughout the contest, resulting in additional possessions for the Mules, which they ended up taking advantage of.
While the Lions had far from their best performance on offense Saturday, their defense, especially in the trenches, shined as they forced three Mules turnovers and held the Mules to only 3.6 yards per carry on the day.
The Lions started the game hot, with an interception of Mules quarterback Joe Repetti on their first drive of the game. However, the Lions offense was unable to take advantage of the turnover, as on their next ensuing drive they were forced into a punt by the Mules defense.
Problems began to arise for the Lions when their defense was forced to remain on the field for large portions of the game, resulting in the defense eventually getting fatigued and susceptible to big plays. While the Lions should certainly be proud of their defensive effort as a whole considering the circumstances, the Mules repeatedly found success off of roll-out play action passes to tight ends, resulting in multiple touchdown passes to Muhlenberg tight ends.
Muhlenberg did an excellent job of moving Lion defenders off their spots, and as a result, opposing players were running wide open off of play-action for a large portion of the contest.
Eventually, turnovers and lack of offensive production cost the Lions, and by the fourth quarter Mulhenberg had pulled their starting quarterback.
However, late in the second half, the Lions offense began to see signs of life, and their running game took off, resulting in further offensive success due to the team no longer being so one-dimensional.
Lions junior running back Jayson Schmidt had himself a stand-out day on offense, running 13 times for 50 yards and running for a six yard touchdown run to cap off a six play, 72 yard drive by the Lions to close the game.
While this loss certainly is not the result the Lions were hoping for out of their Saturday matchup, facing No. 25 ranked Muhlenberg was a great opportunity for the Lions to get some experience versus a talented team. The Lions must move forward with a short-term memory, as this week at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 21 they are slated to face Franklin and Marshall College in a replay of a matchup postponed from Sept. 8.
