Imagine yourself as a first year, enjoying the festivities and experiences that come with attending your very first football game as a college student. The cheers of the crowd, the sight of a brand new field and the smells of distant tailgating overwhelm your every sense.
Now imagine that at the start of the second half of that same game, you’re thrust into a 10-3 ballgame as the quarterback of your team, trailing Brown (1-0 overall), the favorites for the Ivy League Championship.
This was the situation that backup quarterback Ben Hostetler (1-4, -3 yards), a first year who hadn’t even traveled with the team for its first two games, found himself a part of last Saturday when the Hoyas (1-2 overall, 1-1 PL) fell to the visiting Bears 34-3.
He had just recently been named the number two quarterback after junior backup Keith Allen quit the team in the middle of the week. Once junior starting quarterback Nick Cangelosi (6-11, 60 yards passing, 85 yards rushing) was deemed unable to play after suffering what was thought to be a bruised sternum, Hostetler was called to action.
“We were very happy going to Hos and never thought twice about it,” Head Coach Bob Benson said. “People make decisions in life, and I don’t look back, so (making Hostetler the backup) wasn’t something that was unexpected to me or the team. He’s an excellent recruit and he’s going to do a great job.”
Unfortunately, the inexperienced freshman couldn’t help Georgetown get rolling against the Bear’s oversized defense, and the Hoyas dropped their second straight game.
It was Georgetown who seemed to be hibernating during the second half. They finished with no second-half scores and only 57 total yards while giving up 24 points to Brown’s offense.
Brown’s first two drives were successful. The first ended in a 27-yard field goal by sophomore Steve Morgan. The second ended in a touchdown by star senior running back Nick Hartigan (91 yards, 2 TDs). But, after that, it was Georgetown’s defense that kept them in the game, holding the Bears scoreless the rest of the half.
Yet, just as against Holy Cross, turnovers and lack of offensive production kept the Hoyas defense on the field for too long, causing them to slip up in the second half.
“It’s a game of momentum,” said Benson. “You can’t turn the ball over, and you can’t give up big plays.”
This is exactly what the Hoyas did in the opening minutes of the second half, and they let the game to slip away.
The big play came first. Just minutes into the second half, the Bears’ junior quarterback Joe DiGiacomo (14-22, 211 yards, 1 TD) connected with senior receiver Jarrett Schreck for a wide-open 39-yard touchdown pass.
Then came the turnover. On the ensuing kickoff Brown’s sophomore Matt Mullenax laid a big hit on the Hoyas’ sophomore return man John Lancaster. The ball was jarred loose and fumbled at the Hoyas’ 30-yard line where Justin Amoah of Brown recovered.
Any momentum the Hoyas had coming out of halftime seemed to vanish. But senior captain Michael Ononibaku (10 tackles) knew that the team would not give up in their home-opener so easily.
“We still fought throughout the entire game, regardless of anything that happened,” said the defensive end.
Though they only scored three points, the Hoyas’ offense did have scoring opportunities in the first half.
Their best chance to put it in the end zone came in the second quarter when Cangelosi made a long option run that was stopped at Brown’s one-yard line. After a series of confusion and questionable play calls, the Hoyas failed to come away with any kind of score and turned the ball over on downs.
“When we get down inside the red zone we have to come away with points,” said Benson. “There was a little confusion down there. We have some young guys playing on offense ,and the execution is something we need to get better at.”
The Hoyas’ senior place-kicker Brad Scoffern connected on a 39-yard field goal attempt in the final seconds of the first half to tally the team’s only points.
Georgetown will need a healthy Cangelosi and all the offense it can get for this weekend’s contest at Stony Brook: the Hoyas have only scored nine points in the last two contests.
The team will try to get back to .500 this Saturday at 2 p.m. for the Sea Wolves’ homecoming game in Long Island.
