The No. 3 UW-Whitewater football team limps into their bye-week after a 35-17 loss to the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders. The Warhawk offense struggled without running back Tamir Thomas due to injury in addition to an early exit from quarterback Jason Ceniti in the first quarter. The Crusaders forced eight Whitewater turnovers, their ability to capitalize on these opportunities accounted for 28 of their 35 total points.
“Sloppy,” Warhawk head coach Jace Rindahl said about his team’s performance. “We were not prepared, we were not ready, we did not respect our opponent.”
The Crusader’s defensive torment started early on the Warhawks opening drive. Mary Hardin-Baylor senior linebacker Durand Hill intercepted a Ceniti pass attempt and returned it for a touchdown.
Whitewater’s offense got back onto the field in search of better results, but did not find them. Crusaders sophomore safety Da’marion Morris caught Mary Hardin-Baylor’s second interception of the day within the first five minutes of the game.
After a Crusader three and out forced by the Warhawk defense, the offense got back onto the field and things really started to get ugly for Whitewater. Morris came up with his second interception off of Ceniti and returned it for a touchdown with a dive at the pylon.
After three interceptions in as many possessions, Ceniti was sidelined for senior quarterback Jackson Chryst to finish the game. According to Rindahl, Ceniti was battling with some sort of sickness and made the decision to pull himself.
“Unfortunately Jason was not feeling too good,” Chryst said. “I got thrown in there, but it doesn’t matter, next man up.”
After a three and out possession on Chryst’s first drive of the game, the defense came up big with a forced fumble on third and 11 to end the Crusaders’ drive. Rindahl said that the defense showed a lot of good, but ended up getting burned by allowing explosive plays.
“It doesn’t matter the score, it doesn’t matter the down or distance or who we’re playing,” senior defensive linemen Matt Burba said. “We’re still going to play our brand of football, next play mentality, control what we can control.”
Back on offense, the turnover woes continued for the Warhawks. Chryst fumbled to end another Whitewater offensive drive and give the Crusaders’ another scoring opportunity on offense.
(Katie McIlheran)
Mary Hardin-Baylor quarterback Isaac Phe took advantage of the turnover with a 30-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Williams. This would extend the Crusader lead to 21-0 to start the second quarter.
In the second the Warhawks finally got onto the scoreboard on a blocked punt return with 5:39 left to go in the quarter. Linebacker Eli Hoelke recovered the ball in the end zone.
With 2:03 to go in the first half, the Warhawk defense forced a fumble on Crusader running back Asa Osbourn, which would give the offense an opportunity to make it a one-score game on their way into the locker room. Yet, once again the turnover monster struck the Whitewater offense as wide receiver Brian Wilterdink fumbled into the hands of the Crusaders.
Mary Hardin-Baylor converted the turnover into seven on the other end with a Phe touchdown pass to Osbourn, this would make the score 28-7 at halftime.
The Warhawks struck first in the second half with a field goal which would bring the score to 28-10, but a 96-yard touchdown run from the Crusader’s junior running back Kamerin Ferguson put the game on ice.
Before the clock ran out in the fourth, Whitewater managed to score once more on yet another blocked punt return. This time it was senior linebacker Trey Castella with the recovery. Rindahl said that their special teams unit was one thing they did well.
“That [special teams play] is something we have to build off of,” he said. “That was a strength of ours today. We take special teams very seriously, we care a lot about it. They kept us in the game.”
Whitewater is headed into a bye-week before beginning conference play against UW-Oshkosh on Oct. 5. According to Rindahl, this week will be a chance to “self-evaluate,” and reevaluate the identity of the team.
“We’re not ready to go so we have to look ourselves in the mirror and respond to this and get this thing going back in the right direction,” he said. “We’ve got everything we want in front of us.”
Rindahl left no doubt that when the Warhawks get back on the field against Oshkosh, it will be Jason Ceniti under center.
