KSU’s club football team’s lack of depth caught up with it again as the Atlanta Sports Academy Spartans outlasted the Owls for a 26-7 victory at the KSU Sports and Recreation Park on Sunday.
“The team is a building process. Today we learned some things,” head coach Joseph Courson said. “I wasn’t too happy with the execution of our offense.”
“We held our own for the first quarter and a half and kind of let it slip away. But, for the most part, I felt like our team matured a little,” Courson said.
The Owls (0-5) made plays early against a much larger and deeper Spartans team. Zero points were scored in the first quarter of play thanks to the Owls defense, which recorded a sack and forced two turnovers in the opening period.
Quarterback Vince Fraumeni comitted a mistake on the first play of the second quarter, starting from KSU’s own one-yard line, when he fumbled the ball over to the Spartans for an ASA touchdown.
Fraumeni made up for the turnover on the Owls next drive, completing a deep pass to receiver Alec McGehee to the Spartans’ 20-yard line. The Owls would kick a field goal to seemingly pull within four points, but a roughing-the-kicker penalty helped KSU to a new set of downs inside the five-yard line.
Fraumeni scored on the very next play on a backside bootleg to tie the game at 7-7.
KSU would not get any closer, despite holding its own for much of the first-half. The Spartans opened the game with seven seconds left in the first-half by scoring on a quarterback sneak. That lead stretched to the final score of 26-7 with three minutes left in the third quarter when the Owls had another fumble returned for a touchdown.
“I think the defense played really well, especially in the first quarter and into the second quarter,” KSU receiver/ cornerback Rudy Ingraham said. “We were really trying to fly around and play fast football. And at halftime coach was like, ‘play faster’. We got some forced turnovers but just couldn’t put any points on the board.”
The defense allowed just two touchdowns, despite feauturing two-way players because of the team’s lack of depth. ASA’s size was significantly more than the Owls, much in part to offensive lineman Javarious Wright (6’10, 390 lbs.) and Andrew Davis (6’6, 300 lbs.).
“The lack of depth came into play in the second half,” tightend/defensive end Dominic Oates said. “That was a really good football team. Those guys are just so deep. They’re good athletes.”
Oates became a changup in Courson’s offense when he entered the game at quarterback with just five minutes to play in the contest, trying to take advantage of his size to create some physical play to finish the contest.
Oates livened up the offense and helped the Owls march into Spartans territory before time ran out.
“It felt good to be in control with the ball in your hands and everybody kind of waiting for you to make a play,” Oates said. “Being able to get downhill on those guys and lay them out felt pretty good. It was a good experience.”
Courson was upset with the team’s lack of execution and frustrated with the team’s inability to block the pass rush.
“We run a west coast offense,” Courson said. “We don’t have time to run outside the tackles all day long.”
With the loss, the Owls are still winless in their first year of existence. But, the team is beginning to feel more confident as it has steadily improved despite dressing less than 30 players and having to play guys both ways.
“I’m really looking forward to next weekend,” team president and co-founder Danny Payne said.
“I’ve got faith in these guys. It’s a new year and a first year program. I just took over two and a half weeks ago. Playing a team like this, at least scoring on them and holding them under 30 I felt pretty good about,” Courson said.
KSU will have one final shot for its first win in program history when it hosts OC Tech at KSU Sports and Recreation Park this Saturday at 1 p.m.
Coaches and players are hoping a big fan turnnout for the team’s last game of the season, and hope more interest will come to the club’s roster and fanbase for the future.
“Any potential fans, stop going to these flag football games and cheering for your frat and your boyfriend,” Ingraham said. “Come see some real football with eleven-on-eleven contact and I gaurantee you’ll love it. We are going to put some wins on the board for Kennesaw State too.”
For more information on KSU club football, visit ncfafootball.org or find KSU Club Football on Facebook.