Hawks’ tenacity and toughness not enough to overcome key miscues in loss to Bulldogs

QUINCY — Jason Killday’s coaching past ran into his future Saturday, and to no surprise, the two looked remarkably the same.

That should leave those around the Quincy University football program encouraged despite the 28-21 loss to Truman State University in Great Lakes Valley Conference play at QU Stadium.

The Hawks played the way Killday, the first-year head coach, needed to see in the wake of a humbling 37-point loss at Indianapolis — physical, determined and tough. It’s how those who watched him spend eight seasons as the offensive coordinator at Truman State would describe his attack.

Had it not been a couple of ill-timed special teams miscues and a fourth-quarter turnover, the outcome would have matched the effort.

“In the second half against UIndy, I didn’t think we had competitive strain and competitive endurance,” Killday said. “More importantly, I didn’t think we played very physically in that game. So the challenge was to display grit, toughness and be more physical. It’s exactly what we did.

“We showed plenty of grit. We showed plenty of relentlessness and toughness. It’s not the result we wanted, so we have to fix that.”

That comes down to eliminating miscues and momentum swings.

“I felt like we were there every single time,” QU senior linebacker Brock Inman said. “And then the next play, they’d get us. It might have been a missed execution or something that cost us. But we kept coming back, kept putting them in tough spots and the same thing kept happening over and over again. We just needed to make one more play.”

Or one less mistake.

The Hawks (3-3, 3-3 GLVC) trailed 7-0 in the second quarter when forced to punt from the Bulldogs’ 45-yard line when the snap clipped the shoulder pads of one of the QU players shielding punter Alex Schattin, who tried to recover the ball but had it slip away.

Truman State’s Kel Battle returned it 33 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead with 5:56 remaining in the first half.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had that happen throughout the spring and fall,” Killday said of the snap hitting one of the shields. “A fluke thing.”

The Hawks responded with quarterback Drake Davis connecting with senior wide receiver Luke Johnson on a 40-yard touchdown strike with 1:18 remaining in the half. However, the Bulldogs (4-3, 3-1 GLVC) needed just three plays to answer with Dylan Hair connecting with Joseph Spaulding on a 33-yard touchdown pass only 36 seconds later.

Truman State took a 21-7 lead to halftime.

“There were a few crucial plays that mattered, just like it has been all season,” Johnson said. “It felt like those plays went their way today.”

The Hawks closed within 21-14 when Kamrin Cox scored on an 8-yard pass from Davis with 1:54 remaining in the third quarter. On the next possession, Quincy pushed into Truman State territory, but got stacked up facing fourth and 4 from the 31-yard line.

The Bulldogs’ Jake Closser intercepted Davis’ pass, and Truman State turned into a lead-doubling score with 7:15 to play. A late touchdown reception by Demari Wilson wasn’t enough to get Quincy back in it.

“I thought we played a really physical, full game, all the way from the first play to the last play,” Inman said. “Some things just didn’t go our way.”

Despite playing without injured running back Teon Dollard, the team’s leading rusher with three 100-yard games to his credit, the Hawks got 56 yards from Kareem Carswell and watched Davis complete 34 of 51 passes for 316 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.

Truman State rushed for just 60 yards and was limited to 278 yards of total offense, but it made the critical plays that exploited mistakes.

That did nothing to diminish the Hawks’ fight.

“I think it’s going to help us this week in practice really get on each other,” Johnson said. “There was more of that on the sideline. There was a healthy, ‘Let’s get this stuff going. We’ve got to go harder. We have to be relentless.’ Hopefully that will continue.

“Just fight. Band together as a team. Stick to the plan. Stick with your brothers. That’s really all you can do.”