5 takeaways from Lock Haven’s tough loss to East Stroudsburg
Lock Haven football suffered another crushing close loss on Saturday. The Bald Eagles led by as much as 11 points and held the lead going into the fourth quarter, but East Stroudsburg scored 14 unanswered points to grab the win.
Here are five takeaways from Saturday’s game.
RECORD CAN BE DECEIVING
Lock Haven’s 3-5 record at this point in the year does not at all reflect the year that they have had. The Bald Eagle’s five losses have come to schools with a combined 32-8 record. They lost close games to (5-3) Indiana (Pa.) by three, (7-1) PSAC West champion California (Pa.) by seven, (5-3) Shepherd by seven and (7-1) East Stroudsburg by three.
The only exception was their 24 point loss to the reigning PSAC champion Kutztown, a Golden Bears squad who has dominated just about every team they have played this year.
THE CONTROVERSIAL CALL DID NOT DECIDE THE GAME
So, we need to talk about the Warriors late third quarter score. Warrior’s quarterback Sean McTaggert appeared to have found receiver John Siggins in the back of the endzone for a touchdown. However it had appeared that Siggins failed to get a foot inbounds, with his knee landing out of the back of the endzone.
Initially the catch was called incomplete, but East Stroudsburg is one of the few PSAC teams who allows for challenges, and ESU coach Jimmy Terwilliger threw the red flag to have the play looked at.
It was somewhat unclear if there was enough evidence to overturn the call, as it had appeared Siggins failed to get a foot down before having full control of the football. However, after a five-minute long review the officials decided they saw enough to rule it a touchdown.
As soon as the announcement was made the Lock Haven sideline all but exploded, seemingly in utter disbelief they changed the call. That seven points ended up being a massive swing in what ended up being a three point game.
That being said, that was not the reason Lock Haven lost. That touchdown happened late in the third quarter and the Bald Eagles still held the lead after the fact. When calls like this happen it is very easy for people to blame that one play, say they got cheated, and move on.
But that is not how football works. There was still more than 20 minutes left of game time, simply put ESU went out and won the game, it was not gifted to them.
ALMOST PULLED OFF AN UPSET…AGAIN
The story of the year for Lock Haven has been rising to the challenge time and time again. As stated before, Lock Haven has gone to battle against most of the best teams in the PSAC. The Bald Eagles were dealt a gauntlet of a schedule, being forced to play two of the best PSAC west teams back to back, and all three of their hardest PSAC East opponents on the road.
Lock Haven has been in every one of those games, even the shutout vs. Kutztown was a closely contested game for a good chunk of that game. That says a lot about this current staff and team as a whole. Just three years ago Lock Haven lost games like this one by 50, now they only lost by three, and you could make an argument that they have outplayed some of the top teams they lost to.
The Bald Eagles are so close to that breakthrough upset they have been searching for, and they were five or six plays away from getting it Saturday. It’s important to remember it is still a young team and coaching staff, who find themselves at a severe disadvantage scholarship wise against every PSAC team they play. Even being this close to winning these games is an astounding accomplishment.
A NEW LOOK OFFENSE
Lock Haven offensive coordinator Joe Battaglia made some major midseason adjustments on Saturday, and his offense looked great versus a stout ESU defense. For most of the season the offensive formula for Lock Haven has been the same, run up the middle, and a healthy serving of deep shots.
And while they still did that on Saturday, they also added some new flavoring to the mix.
Run pass option (RPO) is something that has burst onto the scene in recent years, and Lock Haven used a lot of it against the Warriors to move the ball downfield. RPO is exactly what it sounds like, the quarterback can either hand it to the running back, or pull the ball and throw a quick short pass, forcing the defense to make quick decisions. Quarterback Jackson Ostowsky looked amazing running this kind of offense, throwing for four TDs and zero picks.
It also helped open up the run game, as Lock Haven ran for 143 yards, and saw some of the best running lanes they have all season. The Bald Eagle’s offensive staff deserves a lot of credit for Saturday’s game plan and execution. It will be interesting to see if they stick with this new look the rest of the year.
PERFECTION IS NEEDED TO REACH THE SIX-WIN GOAL
Lock Haven has lost all margin for error the rest of the season if they want to meet their preseason goal of finishing over .500. Sitting at 3-5 with three games left, the Bald Eagles need to go undefeated the rest of the way to keep that hope alive, which will be no small feat.
Lock Haven football has not won three straight games in a single season since 1981, exactly 43-years ago. And funnily enough the last time Lock Haven won six games in a season was also 1981. The script could not be written any better.
This current Bald Eagle team certainly has the talent to pull it off, but only time will tell if they can actually get it done.
When talking about looking ahead to the rest of the season, coach Mulrooney made it clear that the goal of six wins has not changed, but at the very least he wants to match last year’s win total of five.
“We have three games left, so it’s exciting. The last three games (if) we can get some of these wins, it’s going to be fun. They will hopefully crack .500, (or) at least be the same record as we could last year. (We can) show some consistency, especially with the schedule change.”
Lock Haven will look to start with a win next week on the road versus West Chester. Farrell Stadium will play host to that one, with noon being the scheduled kickoff time.