SMITHFIELD, Pa. — University coach John Kelley had mixed emotions following his team’s 13-12 loss at Albert Gallatin on Friday night.
On one hand, the Hawks (2-4) continued to show effort, especially in the second half. They didn’t quit despite falling behind by two scores in the final two quarters, shutting out the Colonials and scoring two touchdowns of their own to pull within a point.
On the other hand, UHS left two touchdowns on the field when it failed to convert inside the red zone twice in the first half.
“If we can get those two, we win by two touchdowns,” Kelley said. “I’ll give [Albert Gallatin] a lot of credit — they played well and played hard in front of a great homecoming crowd, but it’s just bitterly disappointing, because I thought we should have won the football game when we scored that last touchdown.”
The Colonials (4-1) were driving midway through the fourth quarter to seal the deal, but UHS’s Daniel Henderson forced a fumble and the Hawks recovered at their own 12-yard line. Chase Edwards, who replaced Joseph McBee in the third quarter at quarterback, helped guide UHS down the field, with the help of several Albert Gallatin penalties, to get the Hawks at the Colonials’ 21-yard line.
From there, Edwards delivered a perfect strike to Andrew Myers in the right corner of the end zone, and Myers came down with the crucial score with 1:47 remaining in the game. UHS decided to go for the 2-point conversion, but as Edwards rolled left, he was forced to throw across his body and missed an open Jacob Spearen in the end zone.
UHS failed to get the onside kick — though it wasn’t without controversy — and Albert Gallatin ran out the clock to escape with a 1-point win.
“We can make great plays, but we’re expected to do that,” Edwards said. “But when you make one bad (play), it’s hard on us. I had two guys in the flats and I could either pass it or run it and I had Spearen wide open, I just didn’t hit him.”
Despite Edwards’ outlook, he played well in his limited snaps. He finished 4 of 6 for 58 yards and the touchdown to Myers. Kelley mentioned last week how well Edwards played against Class AA No. 1 Fairmont Senior, but he doesn’t want anyone to think there’s a quarterback controversy — he’s just trying to see what works best in the moment.
“Joey played very well in the first half — I just thought we needed a spark and I thought Chase would throw the ball a little bit better and he did,” Kelley said. “He made some mistakes and didn’t do everything perfect either, so I still got a lot of faith in both of them.”
Sitting at 2-4, Edwards, a freshman, thinks the team is starting to believe in itself more and the results are starting to come along. With a young group, there was always going to growing pains. It was about learning from mistakes and improving as the year’s gone on.
So far, that’s what he’s seen.
“After the last two games, I think we’re starting to pick ourselves up,” Edwards said. “We just have to come into our homecoming game next week and keep ourselves going there.”
UHS will host Mountain Ridge (Md.) on Oct. 11.
