Union College football just got smacked with a 35-14 home loss to first-place Ithaca on Saturday, and man, it was a tough pill to swallow, especially since the Garnet Chargers basically beat themselves. This wasn’t some dominant performance by the Bombers, not entirely. It was a self-inflicted wound, plain and simple, before a Homecoming crowd of 1,543 that deserved better.
Mistakes, Mistakes, and More Mistakes!
Seriously, what are we doing out there? The Garnet Chargers committed a season-high 11 penalties for 122 yards. Eleven! That’s just giving away free yards and free chances. And guess what? Ithaca took full advantage, using those penalties to sustain crucial touchdown drives. Union coach Jon Drach didn’t mince words after the game, saying, “I think we made a lot of mistakes and did not do the things we had to do to win a football game.” He’s not wrong.
It wasn’t just the flags either. The team coughed up three turnovers and, despite outgaining Ithaca 400-317 in total yardage, they only managed two touchdowns. Drach summed it up perfectly: “Turn the ball over, don’t finish in the red zone and then just give them extra possessions. Those things come back to bite you.” And bite us they did. Ithaca’s first touchdown drive was kept alive by an offside call on 4th-and-4. Then a roughing-the-punter penalty on the next possession gifted the Bombers another first down at the 38, leading to a touchdown. Before halftime, pass interference, unsportsmanlike conduct, and roughing-the-passer all piled on to help Ithaca get another score. Senior defensive lineman Jordan Black hit the nail on the head: “They scored 21 points off penalties, so got to sharpen that up.” He put it down to an “emotional game,” but we can’t afford that kind of emotion.
Offense Fights, But Cannot Finish
Luke Sheehan was slinging it, going 30-for-46 for 332 yards and a touchdown. He even connected with Evan Anderson for a 20-yard score to tie things up at 8-7 early, and Frankie Strachan’s 2-yard rush evened it again at 14-14 in the second quarter. Mack McManus had a 2-yard conversion rush too. The team had opportunities, like being down 21-14 in the second half. But then Sheehan lost a fumble at the Bombers’ 25, and an earlier drive ended on downs at the Ithaca 16. The dagger came in the fourth quarter, still down 21-14, when we went for it on 4th-and-1 at our own 46. Sheehan had to pick up a low snap off one hop and got caught for a 3-yard loss. You just can’t make those kinds of errors against a first-place team like Ithaca, who have now won seven straight games at Frank Bailey Field, going all the way back to 2009.
This team is now sitting at 3-4 overall, 2-2 in the Liberty League, after two straight losses. Drach pointed out that 17 sophomores and freshmen are starting for Union right now. “That’s the way we’re built right now, so guys are learning a lot of lessons as they continue to get reps and play,” he said. The lessons are coming, that’s for sure. But these mistakes, especially the penalties and turnovers, are costing us games. We gotta clean it up, Garnet Chargers. The talent is there, the yards are there, but the discipline has to follow.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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