By Tyler Fennell
Staff Writer
The College’s football team has been fairly dominant throughout the season. However, the past two weeks have been rough for the Lions. Last week, they lost to Montclair State, 30-27. Now, they dropped their Senior Night in a loss to Cristopher Newport in their season finale, 27-7.
The first game was evenly matched throughout, and after Montclair had a scoreless third quarter, it seemed as though the Lions could walk away with a win. After opening up the scoring in the fourth quarter, the score was 27-19. With six minutes left in the game, Montclair scored a touchdown and had a successful two-point conversion to tie the game. After an unsuccessful drive by the Lions, Montclair gained possession and went on to score a field goal. With 53 seconds left on the clock for the Lions, it would take a miracle for them to win the game. No miracle came for the Lions as the clock ran down.
This game had a different style. This game marked the most passing yards the Lions have shown all season, with 130. It also marked a significant season low in rushing yards. Senior Quarterback Dean Licari had a season high 79 passing yards, along with a season high longest pass for 69 yards. The College attempted to run the ball 43 times compared to just nine passing attempts. The rush was simply not as effective as it normally was, with a team average of 1.9 yards per carry. Montclair dominated in terms of total yards of offense with 338 yards compared to the Lions’ 212.
Now 3-3 in conference play, the College took on a tough Christopher Newport team in their Senior Night matchup, going in, Christopher Newport was undefeated on the season in both regular season games and conference games. The College came in as the clear underdog.
Senior night was not kind to the Lions. After the game was over, Christopher Newport ended their regular season with a perfect record. With the Lions at home, there was a possibility of an upset to end the season on a high note. However, home field advantage and fan presence wasn’t enough to swing the game in the Lions’ favor. The College lost by a score of 27-7.
With the soul-crushing loss, there are some positive takeaways from the game. The Lions' defense held Christopher Newport to their lowest score all season. Before the game, Christopher Newport had not had a game with fewer than 38 points. The Lions brought their season low to 27.
Senior running back Joe Visaggio put up his third 100-yard game of the season, along with the sole only touchdown of the game. Last year, Visaggio only had 12 rush attempts for 39 yards and was primarily on special teams. This year, Visaggio ended the season with 685 rushing yards with 4.7 yards per carry and 12 touchdowns, leading the team in rushing yards and touchdowns.
Senior wide receiver Ryan Gill ended his season with a team-leading 260 receiving yards, averaging 21.67 yards per reception. Senior receiver Erik Garv also posted a more than 200 receiving yard season with 219 receiving yards.
Senior quarterback Licari ends his season with a 164.03 passer rating and 473 passing yards. Fellow senior quarterback Kyle Vellis ended his season with a 133.64 passer rating and 268 passing yards. Despite this Lions team prioritizing a heavy rushing offense, the quarterbacks maintained consistent play throughout the season with both player’s season passer rating being greater than the opponents average of 115.86 passer rating.
On the defensive end of the ball, senior linebacker Jameson Sessa led the team in sacks with four. Senior linebacker Bill Westerby came in second with two sacks, as well as a D3football.com Team of the Week honor for his performance in the final game of the season with 12 tackles and two forced fumbles. Senior linebacker Dave Giulian led the Lions in total tackles for the second season in a row with 92.
Senior defensive back Justin Kurc ended his season with a team-leading six interceptions. Nobody else on the team had more than one.
This team, despite the record being the same as last year, had a very different identity. Last year the pass was the priority, this year was the exact opposite. However this playstyle highlighted a physical identity with a very strong rush and a very strong defense. The culture set this year by the new coaching staff, led by head coach Tyler Moody, as well as the senior athletes moving on, will be continued by the rest of the team in future seasons.
