‘It’s not a good feeling’: Peacocks rally in second half to hand Hawks first loss of season

QUINCY — The Quincy University football players met a harsh reality as the clock ran out on Saturday’s game.

“We learned we can be beat,” senior safety David Lewis said. “We’re not invincible.”

Not that the Hawks believed they were immune to adversity following a 2-0 start to the season, but they never envisioned letting a victory slip away the way it did against Upper Iowa.

The Peacocks trailed by two touchdowns at the start of the fourth quarter, but a Quincy fumble that led to an Upper Iowa touchdown one play later and sparked a 22-point outburst that carried the Peacocks to a 29-27 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory at QU Stadium and spoiled the Hawks’ homecoming.

“It’s not a good feeling,” Lewis said. “This is my fourth homecoming game and this is the most alumni I’ve seen back home, and we put up that performance. That’s not a good feeling.”

It’s one they won’t soon forget.

“Yeah, it stings,” QU offensive lineman Austin Dearing said. “It’s a little more motivation to come out and play better next week.”

Next Saturday’s trip to McKendree for the Land of Lincoln rivalry game becomes a gut-check moment.

“Adversity would come at some point,” Quincy coach Jason Killday said. “Now you’re going to find out what you have starting tomorrow, what kind of leadership we have and how many guys are in it to be in it truthfully and how many guys are faking it. We will see.”

Killday expects the right response based on everything he and his staff have seen up until the second half Saturday. That’s when things unraveled.

Quincy (2-1, 2-1 GLVC) had only two possessions in the third quarter and both resulted in three-and-outs. Meanwhile, Upper Iowa held the ball for 10:31 of the 15-minute quarter, aided by a fourth-down penalty on the Hawks that extended a 15-play, seven-minute drive.

Facing fourth and 20 from their own 17-yard line midway through the third quarter, the Peacocks chose to punt, but the Hawks ran into punter RJ Wells which drew a 15-yard personal foul for roughing the kicker. Upper Iowa also converted on fourth and 5 when lineman Rhett Smith rumbled 28 yards on a fake punt.

The drive didn’t result in Quincy allowing any points, but it shifted the momentum and gassed the Hawks’ defense.

“We never really regained ourselves from that,” Killday said. “It’s football. It’s life. You just have to keep playing. We never really had a spark after that.”

After gaining 9 yards on a pass to tight end Garrett Drew to start the Hawks’ ensuing possession, running back Teon Dollard fumbled on the next play — the first play of the fourth quarter — and the Peacocks returned it to the 11-yard line.

Upper Iowa’s Koda Gates-Bridges scored on the next play, cutting the deficit to 20-14 and setting the wheels in motion for the rally.

“Winning’s hard,” Killday said. “You can’t start winning until you stop losing. Anything can spark it. It’s being the catalyst to turn the tide there. We didn’t have enough of that.”

Upper Iowa took the lead on Jayden Mitchell’s 5-yard touchdown run that capped an eight-play, 71-yard drive and extended the advantage to 29-20 as Mitchell scored on a 39-yard run two plays after QU quarterback Drake Davis threw an interception.

“We just have to come out next week and practice better,” Dearing said. “There is always stuff to clean up and there’s always something to fix. Get one percent better everyday. Every position group has something to fix.”

Quincy built its lead with a strong first half that featured Lewis returning an interception 69 yards for a touchdown, Anthony Gilpin Jr. catching a 6-yard touchdown pass from Davis and Dollard scoring on a 5-yard run with 21 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

Dollard also had a 4-yard scoring run with 51 seconds remaining in regulation that made it a two-point game, giving him 121 yards on 18 carries. It just turned out to be too little, too late for the Hawks.

“All of that little stuff that goes on in practice, we have to fix that up and be more tight as a team,” Lewis said.

Fixing that begins Sunday.

“We come back tomorrow and scratch it,” Lewis said. “We come back ready to work.”