Cardinals Face Tough Loss in Home Opener
Courtesy of Catholic University Athletics
By Jonathan Norman
The Catholic University Football Team competed against Randolph-Macon College in their first home game of the season on Saturday. Coming off a big win against McDaniel College last week, the Cardinals looked to continue their strong start. Unfortunately, the Cardinals lost to Randolph-Macon with a final score of 41-7.
The game began as a closely contested matchup. Randolph-Macon started off with a touchdown and a missed extra point to take a 6-0 lead in the first quarter. Then in the second quarter, the Cardinals responded with a touchdown and a made extra point to take a lead at 7-6. After that, Randolph-Macon was able to score two more touchdowns before the end of the half and the Cardinals were unable to respond as Randolph-Macon led 20-6 at the half.
Randolph-Macon went on to outscore the Cardinals 21-0 in the final 30 minutes of the contest and the Cardinals lost.
As the Cardinals prepare for their next matchup against Kean University, senior offensive lineman John Diaz believes the team can learn a lot from their loss against Randolph-Macon.
“Obviously the game didn’t turn out how we wanted it to. Randolph Macon is a very good football team, and we didn’t play up to our standard and the scoreboard reflected that,” said Diaz. “The silver lining about a loss, however, is that it gives us an opportunity to learn from our mistakes and get better.”
Kean has struggled so far this season with a record of 0-2 losing to both Morrisville State College and Utica University. The Cardinals will look to improve their record to 2-1.
“It’s all about improving and stacking positive after positive, and that’s our mindset coming into this next game against Kean and for the rest of the season,” said Diaz. “We have to capitalize on every opportunity we have to get better and play the way we know we can play, and if we do that, the scores will take care of themselves.”
Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Cardinal Stadium for the game against Kean. With last week’s loss behind them, the Cardinals will look to come out strong.
“We have big expectations for the rest of the season, and our expectations aren’t wavering just because of last week’s game,” said Diaz.
