Panthers Can’t Hold Lead, Fall in Homecoming Football Game

Written and Media By Brian Ehresman[divide]

Greenville enters the field before their Homecoming game.  Photo from Greenville College Football.
Greenville enters the field before their Homecoming game. Photo from Greenville College Football.

The Greenville College Football team was seemingly in cruise control for the first half of its homecoming game against MacMurray this past Saturday.  The second half provided a few more bumps in the road as the Panthers relinquished a 17-0 halftime lead and a late two-touchdown advantage to drop a 27-24 contest to the Highlanders in Greenville.

Jacob Battaglia tries to evade a couple defenders. Photo from Greenville College Football
Jacob Battaglia tries to evade a couple defenders. Photo from Greenville College Football

“That’s a good football team (MacMurray), you know we had them.  We didn’t execute in the second half,” GC Head Coach Robbie Schomaker said.

Greenville got on the board early as Quarterback Jacob Battaglia ran into the end zone for a touchdown only three minutes into the game.  A Sam Northey touchdown and Bradley Stubbs field goal in the second quarter gave the Panthers their 17-0 advantage at the break.

MacMurray came out of the half with a new disposition and marched 67 yards in less than two minutes to score a touchdown and get their first points of the game to cut the deficit to 17-6.  Later in the 3rd, the Highlanders scored again to pull within one touchdown and put some game pressure on the Panthers.  Cory Moore, who provided a huge spark to Greenville in the second half, scored a touchdown on a 12-yard run to give the Panthers some breathing room and push the lead to 24-12 going into the fourth and final quarter.

Sam Northey takes the hand off for Greenville.  Photo by Greenville College Football.
Sam Northey takes the handoff for Greenville. Photo by Greenville College Football.

The score remained the same for a majority of the quarter until MacMaurray ran one into the end zone with 2:25 left in the game and make the score 24-19.  The Highlanders lined up for an onside kick and recovered it at their own 47 to set up for their final drive.  They drove all the way down to the Greenville 8 yard line but were forced to a fourth down with 19 seconds to go in the contest.  With the game on the line, MacMurray Quarterback Coy Dorothy found Dem Curry for a touchdown pass to give the Highlanders their first lead of the game, which held for a final of 27-24.

While it was a disappointing loss, there were still some positives for Greenville to take out of the game.  “I am so proud of the way we focused on a lot of things this week.  We got better.  That’s all we can do right now.  We didn’t do it consistently enough, but there were some great things out there.  We decreased our penalties and we won the turnover battle,” Schomaker remarked.

Battaglia completed 11 out of 20 passes for 140 yards, while Hamid Camara led a balanced rushing attack with 92 yards as Greenville earned 244 yards on the ground. Chase Stamatis had two receptions for 74 yards. Ralph Regalado was a huge contributor on defense with 14 total tackles as well.

Lincoln Johnson (7) and Robert Deering (56) look to get the tackle.  Photo by Greenville College Football.
Lincoln Johnson (7) and Robert Deering (56) look to get the tackle. Photo by Greenville College Football.

The loss drops Greenville’s record to 2-5 and 2-4 in UMAC play.  The Panthers return to action next Saturday at Martin Luther in Minnesota.

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