Our 2021 football team nearly beat Bishop England in football for the first time this past weekend. It was a well-fought game but let’s break down some of the team’s shortcomings as well as a few unfortunate events that led to our loss.

Recap: 

In the first quarter, Magnet received the kickoff, quickly punted, but soon after made a quick fumble recovery. Magnet was forced to punt again but the Magnet defense quickly stopped Bishop England’s drive and forced them to punt as well.

Starting the second, Magnet had another short possession but not without William Hyatt destroying Luke Leonard’s ankles on a qb rush first. On fourth down on Magnet’s 6 yard line, a miscommunication between Hyatt and Coach Kamp caused a mistaken fourth down play that resulted in a turnover on downs. This setup Bishop England’s first touchdown with a two-yard run. Both teams then exchange a turnover on fourth down and Magnet begin their biggest drive of the night. After a rough halt at the fifty yard line, a 25 yard pass interference penalty on Bishop England sets up the best play of the night. On fourth down, Hyatt scrambles and breaks free from two Bishop England pass rushers, with barely any balance he passes 13 yards to Keveon Ford who runs it in for the touchdown. Magnet tragically misses the extra point, making the score 7-6, Bishop England. Magnet then must rekick the kickoff three times as our kicker received a penalty for kicking it out of bounds. Bishop England then turns the ball over and the first half comes to a close.

In the third quarter, Magnet starts off with botching two more kickoffs. Bishop England drives all the way down to the Magnet 14 but they fumble. This starts a giant drive for Magnet all the way down to the BE 14. Hyatt then makes a beautiful play, escaping defenders and throwing a touchdown pass to Charlie Kuyper in the end zone but it was called back for a holding call. Two plays later, Magnet fumbles on the 18 and Bishop England recovers. Bishop England soon after scores on a 68 yard run. This makes the score 14-6. Magnet drives down the field with a 44 yard throw and punches it in with a two yard run to start the fourth. Magnet barely misses the 2-point conversion, making the score 14-12. Bishop England makes another drive down the field and their quarterback rushes for a 13 yard touchdown. At this point we must stop the extra point attempt to keep the game within reach. Charlie Kuyper crashes off the left side of the line and blocks the extra point, keeping the game within one score, 20-12. Later in the game, quarterback William Hyatt dislocates his shoulder and cannot throw and McClain Stoklosa takes over. After a few turnover on downs the game concludes with a final score of 20-12.

What went wrong?

A few things can be credited to our tough defeat. To begin, the miscommunication and the failed punt attempt at the beginning of the second quarter on Magnet’s own 6 yard line, set up Bishop England’s first touchdown. Without this potential momentum shift as well as 7 points scored, we could have easily been within a field goal at the end of the game, or perhaps we could have had the lead if the momentum had been changed. A missed extra point attempt after our first touchdown also hurt us for the rest of the game, making us be at a deficit for the rest of the game. Additionally, five failed kickoff attempts, set up Bishop England in much better field position for their drives as the penalty pushed the kickoff five yards back every time. Also, on Bishop England’s final touchdown drive, they were given an extra down that caused them to convert a first down on a third down attempt and then score when they may have punted if it was fourth. If the score had stayed 14-12, we would have still been within a field goal score or at least had a much more concrete feeling of hope in our abilities to pull through. Lastly, quarterback William Hyatt dislocated his shoulder late in the game, Stoklosa did a great job stepping up but it may have changed the flow of the offense which may have further exhausted any comeback attempts to Magnet’s offense. All these things accumulated to our loss as well as some unnecessary fumbles by Magnet.

Although we lost, this football team is definitely the best I have seen in my four years at Magnet or even heard about. Some things didn’t go our way but we fought hard and should’ve won! I’m excited to still hear about the teams in future years and hopefully in the near future we will beat Bishop England.