Weather denies Hawks chance to rally in second half as season opener is ruled no contest

DES MOINES, Iowa — The process was always going to outweigh the outcome.

Still, the Quincy University football players and coaches would have liked another 30 minutes to see what the outcome could have been.

Trailing Drake 10-0 at halftime in Thursday night’s season opener at Drake Stadium, the Hawks were forced to endure a two-hour weather delay before officials from both schools agreed to call it a no contest and send everyone home without the game being finished.

“It was the right decision under the circumstances,” first-year coach Jason Killday said. 

A line of thunderstorms passing through northwest Iowa forced the National Weather Service to issue a severe weather warning at approximately 8:15 p.m. Fans were evacuated from the stadium during halftime and the teams were kept in their locker rooms.

By 10:30 p.m., radar showed storms were expected to persist until at least midnight. With no chance of finishing the game Thursday night, availability of officials became a concern if the schools chose to suspend the game and finish Friday. The only recourse was to call it a no contest.

It means the Hawks will head into the home opener against Lincoln at 1 p.m. Sept. 7 at QU Stadium with a clean slate and some positive vibes from a solid first-half effort.

“There are reasons to be encouraged when you look at what we did,” Killday said.

In fact, Killday and his staff can mark several things off a checklist.

Were the Hawks organized and coachable? Yes, the appropriate sideline presence was something Killday needed to see.

Did they allow too many self-inflicted wounds? No, the Hawks did not commit a penalty and weren’t forced to burn any timeouts for being undisciplined. There were two lost fumbles, and ball security will be addressed.

Did they buckle down and play stout defensively? Without a doubt, the Hawks’ defense showed signs of being stingy. Quincy forced Drake to punt on five of its first six possessions and limited the Bulldogs to a 24-yard field goal on the other by stalling a nine-play, 60-yard drive inside the 10-yard line.

Overall, Quincy’s defense allowed just 42 yards rushing and senior linebacker Brock Inman had six solo tackles and one tackle for loss.

“The defense played really well,” Killday said. “That was a great effort.”

The one bugaboo was a miscue one play after a turnover.

After pinning Drake at its own 5-yard line with 3:40 remaining in the first half, Quincy allowed one first down before defensive tackle Tim Gomez and linebacker Brock Wiley made back-to-back stops to force a punt. It appeared the Hawks would get the ball on the Bulldogs’ half of the 50-yard line with less than two minutes to play trailing just 3-0.

However, Anthony Gilpin Jr. fumbled on the punt return and Drake recovered at its own 42-yard line. On the first play of the ensuing drive, Bulldogs quarterback Luke Bailey connected with Jaxon Laminack over the middle for a sizable gain.

However, Laminick bounced off the tackle attempt of QU defensive back Michael Moton Jr. at the 32-yard line and raced to the 2-yard line. The Hawks stopped the Bulldogs on a pair of inside runs, but Bailey threw a 2-yard scoring pass on third down with 12 seconds left in the half for a 10-0 advantage.

“We have to handle adversity better than that,” Killday said.

The Hawks also need to get some rhythm offensively. Quincy averaged 3.1 yards per carry and managed just three first downs total with Teon Dollard rushing for 32 yards on eight carries. Senior quarterback Drake Davis completed 8 of 10 passes for just 17 yards, but he was sacked only once by the top returning defense in the Pioneer Football League.