William Paterson will face off against the Moravian Greyhounds this upcoming Saturday in a battle of two teams looking to obtain their first win of the season. Fresh off losing convincingly, 24-12, in their home opener against Salve Regina, the Pioneers strive to correct their early-season miscues.
William Paterson showed glimpses of having an explosive offense against the Seahawks. With true sophomore quarterback Nigel Jennings delivering a rainbow 60-yard pass down the sideline to Kyle Manley, bringing them into the red zone.
Also, later in the contest, Jennings avoided pressure and scrambled for a 60-yard touchdown.
Yet, self-inflicted penalties, an inability to secure touchdowns in the red zone, and three interceptions repressed their efforts.
Moravian enters this game with a 0-3 record after getting destroyed by Ursinus College in a 35-7 loss. During this match, the Greyhounds struggled on both sides of the ball.
Their offense only gained 200 yards against the Bears, with quarterbacks Declan McCarthy and RJ Hart both throwing an interception. So far this season, Moravian’s offense has averaged only 8.7 points per game. Their defensive unit has struggled, giving up a staggering 43.0 points per game.
Their rushing attack has been porous, averaging 63.7 yards per game at a mere 2.1 yards per carry. Moravian is also bad at keeping their drives alive and ending their opponents.
This is evident as their offense has only achieved 33 first downs compared to their opponents’ 63 first downs to start the year. For the Pioneers to secure a victory against the Greyhounds, there are multiple key issues they need to fix.
First issues having more consistency in the air, while they’ve shown flashes of an explosive passing attack. Those flashes have to materialize into a more reliable pass game.
The next issue is cutting down on self-inflicted mistakes; there were multiple times against Salve Regina when William Patterson would get a first down or a chunk play. Just for it to be called back due to a penalty, ultimately putting them behind the sticks, and as a result, their drives would stall out.
Lastly, their defense has to limit explosive plays from Moravian’s offense. Against the Seahawks, they gave up five plays that went for 20+ yards, with those plays covering 25, 50, 30, 45, and 25 yards, respectively. Those plays alone accounted for over half of Salve Regina’s total 359 yards.
In their first two games, Moravian showed their defense is a unit that can be exposed. This season, they’re defense is allowing 224.3 rushing yards per game, along with 194.3 passing yards per game, for a total of 418.7 yards given up to their opponents.
If the Pioneers can exploit the Greyhound’s shaky defense, get their passing attack at a more consistent level, and
keep down self-inflating penalties, they will be in a good position. A victory will be right there for William Paterson to take, and could be the start of inspiring belief ba
ck into the team.
After their loss last week, the student body did not hold back their feelings about the team. On the social media platform Fizz, after the game, a user posted, “Our football team was never gonna take a dub.”
Another account, a day later, commented, “We were hyped for the women’s volleyball team cuz they were good even without all the investment the football team has, fb just gotta lock in.”
In a game set up on a silver platter for the Pioneers to win, it’s paramount that they capitalize on this opportunity not only to give the players belief but also to prove the doubters wrong.
