Land of missed opportunity: QND football team squanders scoring chances, falls to Chicago Hope

QUINCY — A progression of missed opportunities Saturday afternoon left the Quincy Notre Dame football players equally perturbed and perplexed by their mistakes.

The best explanation the Raiders could summon was a failure to execute.

“In all phases of the game, it really just comes down to execution, effort and technique,” said Dalton Miller, the senior tight end/linebacker. “We had them against the ropes. We just couldn’t put that final punch on them.”

A one-touchdown advantage against Chicago Hope Academy could have grown into a three-possession lead had the Raiders not squandered two trips to the red zone in the first half at Advance Physical Therapy Field. Three turnovers in the third quarter made matters worse. 

The Eagles capitalized on the litany of miscues by scoring 27 consecutive points heading back to the Windy City with a 33-14 victory.

“We’re one-third of the way through our season, and I think we really have to take a look at ourselves, look at the guys around us,” Miller said after the Raiders fell to 1-2. “The captains are going to do a good job of figuring something out.”

The schedule ahead adds urgency to that task.

QND plays host to Hayti, a Class 1 school from southeast Missouri that is 0-3 but reached the state semifinals a year ago, next Saturday before a three-game gauntlet featuring two undefeated opponents and a traditional rival.

“We have to practice better,” QND coach Jack Cornell said. “This week, we really tried to take advantage of the extra time that we had. Maybe that was a mistake. I don’t know. Our guys have to approach practice with the same urgency as you approach a game. You can’t wait until the game to flip the switch. We need to practice that way through the week.

“To our guys’ credit, we do that, but when it came time today to make it happen, we fell short.”

It didn’t start that way. An interception by linebacker Jackson Stratton set up Jordan Stickler’s 3-yard touchdown run and a 7-0 lead for QND with 8:09 remaining in the first quarter. The Raiders then had two opportunities to extend the lead when they reached the red zone on back-to-back possessions.

First, Stratton’s 33-yard field goal attempt banged off the right upright. Then, the Raiders failed to score from the 3-yard line and had to settle for a 28-yard field goal attempt that was blocked with 5:49 remaining in the half.

“We have a goal in mind every single game of 100 percent completion inside the red zone,” Miller said. “We want to punch that in every single time. When we don’t complete that goal, it’s definitely a big punch in the stomach. Those are easy points we have to get.”

It proved costly when Hope (3-0) scored with 19 seconds remaining in the first half as Eddie Jenkins Jr. connected with Jamari West on a 15-yard touchdown pass. The conversion failed and QND took a 7-6 lead to halftime.

But it could have been significantly larger.

“We preach all the time about finishing drives in the end zone,” Cornell said. “We can’t rely on our field goal unit to bail us out every time. When we get inside the 20, we have to finish with touchdowns. We have to find a way when we get down there to punch it in.

“When we have a chance to score, we have to score.”

Scoring proved difficult in the second half when the Raiders failed to secure the ball.

After Stratton left the game with cramps in the third quarter, backup quarterback Noah Lunt threw an interception. However, the Eagles were stonewalled at the 16-yard line and turned the ball over on downs with 6:51 to go in the quarter.

On the ensuing possession, Stickler fumbled and Hope recovered at the 34-yard line. Less than two minutes later, Jenkins scrambled on third-and-goal from the 13-yard line and found the end zone for a 14-7 lead.

With 1:21 remaining in the quarter, the Raiders’ Brock Wiley fumbled on a run over the left side at the QND 46-yard line. The Eagles parlayed the turnover into a 1-yard TD plunge by Jenkins and a 21-7 advantage with 15 seconds left in the third quarter.

A Jenkins-to-Judah Mallette 27-yard touchdown pass midway through the fourth quarter put Hope ahead 27-7. A Miller 14-yard touchdown reception from Lunt made it a two-possession game with 3:42 to play, but the Raiders couldn’t get one more stop.

The Raiders finished with 304 yards of total offense, while Jenkins threw for 337 yards for the Eagles, who finished with 461 total yards.

Yet, it wasn’t yards that were the Raiders’ undoing. It was two squandered red zone opportunities and three third-quarter turnovers.

“That’s your story,” Cornell said.