Schuckman: Progress defensively gives Hawks chance to compete while waiting for offense to find its consistency

QUINCY — It goes in the ledger as a loss, but in terms of progress being made — from Week 1 to Week 4 this season and over the course of the last 364 days — Saturday’s outcome needs to be viewed as a small step in the right direction for the Quincy University football program.

“They stood toe-to-toe with the No. 12 team in the country and proved they could play with the best that there is,” QU coach Gary Bass said. “That has not been done here since I’ve been here.”

It might seem odd to talk about progress following a 34-14 loss to 12th-ranked Ashland in the Hawks’ Homecoming game at QU Stadium, but it’s not as far-fetched at it seems when you dial back to the previous meeting between these teams.

A year ago, in a Week 4 road trip to Ashland, Ohio, when the Eagles were sitting 0-2 and nowhere near the national rankings, the Hawks’ defense parted like the Red Sea.

Ashland rolled up 718 yards of total offense — more than 300 yards both rushing and passing — in a 63-23 victory. The Eagles averaged 9 yards per play, converted 9 of 11 third downs and held the ball for 13 minutes more than the Hawks.

Fast forward to Saturday.

The Eagles led 17-0 at halftime, having scored their first touchdown on a 4-yard run by Gei’vonnie Washington after an interception thrown by the Hawks’ Tionne Harris was returned 48 yards to the 4-yard line. 

“We put our defense in a crappy situation there,” Bass said.

Still, Quincy held a three-minute advantage in time of possession over the first two quarters and allowed just 5.3 yards per play.

“Ashland didn’t really sustain anything in the first half,” Bass said. “Our defense played their rear ends off.”

In the end, the Hawks gave up 423 yards and 6 yards per play. It wasn’t good enough to beat a top-25 team, but it’s significant progress three weeks after it appeared the defense would be the Achilles’ heel yet again.

The problem is the offense is wildly inconsistent, putting additional pressure on the defense.

The Hawks are 2-2 heading into Great Lakes Valley Conference play, beginning next Saturday at Missouri S&T, and the record mirrors the play of the offense. In the season opener against Glenville State, the Hawks completed only 8 of 19 passes and turned the ball over four times.

The next week against Trinity International, Harris broke the single-game school record for passing touchdowns with six scoring tosses in the first half and didn’t have to play in the second half of a 53-14 victory.

Despite winning 28-13 last week at Walsh, the Hawks were held to two points in the first half, barely reached a complete percentage of 50 percent and had as many interceptions as touchdown passes.

Then there was Saturday. Harris completed 12 of 23 passes, tossed two interceptions and orchestrated an offense that converted just 2 of 13 third downs. Against three NCAA Division II opponents, he has four touchdown passes, six interceptions and a 49-percent completion percentage, while the offense is 13 of 41 (31.7 percent) on third down in those games.

The lack of offensive consistency is going to be addressed.

“I don’t think we were inept offensively today by any means, but we have to be more efficient,” Bass said. “That’s the biggest thing I take away from it. We need to be way more efficient offensively than we have the last eight quarters. The name of the game is efficiency.”

Once the Hawks can cultivate that, the improvements defensively will become more noticeable and the elusive consistency this program has sought for far too long should come into focus. 

There were glimpses of it Saturday, which is why progress can be discussed even in the wake of a loss.