The tale of two halves: Corsair football falls to LA Harbor
Both teams went blow for blow all game long with five lead changes and two ties in the first half alone, with the Seahawks taking a 26-24 lead going into halftime.
But the second half was a defensive tour-de-force, as the Corsairs would only give up a touchdown, and the Seahawks only a field goal.
When the final buzzer sounded, a lone second half touchdown by the Seahawks is all it would take as LA Harbor captured their first win of the season.
”I was proud of my team, the way that we fought. In this program we never quit, and we always keep coming until we run out of time. We just made too many mistakes,” said SMC head coach Gifford Lindheim. “We just didn’t play very well today. Some nights you’re off, and you can overcome it, and some nights you can’t. Tonight we we’re off.”
One of the obstacles the Corsairs tried to overcome was their struggle to keep the ball. Despite throwing for 184 yards, and two touchdowns, starting quarterback Jake Dashnaw threw four interceptions. The last of which came as the Corsairs were driving in the waning seconds, killing any shot at a comeback.
SMC quarterback Christian Smith did get a shot in the second half, and actually had more passing attempts than Dashnaw. But Smith’s inability to score gave Dashnaw the edge in the coaches’ eyes, as they decided to go with Dashnaw down the stretch.
Despite an uncharacteristic abundance of turnovers by the Corsairs, the real story was the LA Harbor rushing game, and more specifically Darren Walker.
Walker Rushed for 238 yards on 31 attempts with two touchdowns. One of his two scores was a 66-yarder on the first play of the second half, and would prove to be all the Seahawks needed to secure the victory.
“Tonight I didn’t think we played our best, and it was disappointing," Lindheim said. But I’m hopeful that we’ll respond to this defeat tonight. Our goals are still intact to win a conference championship, and I still believe this team can be great. But this was a humbling experience, and hopefully it will help propel us forward.”