On Saturday, Oct. 6, Augustana’s football team dropped their homecoming game against North Central College by a score of 48-10. After losing their past three games, their record for the season is now 2-3, being 1-2 in the CCIW.
Senior captain Zachary Fuller finished the game with 256 yards with 27 completions on 41 attempts. The leading rusher for Augustana was Alek Jacobs with 54 yards on 9 rushing attempts. Jacobs also scored the lone touchdown.
When it came to facing the number five ranked team in the nation North Central, Fuller was direct with what would have to happen.
“We realize we have to play pretty flawlessly against North Central. They’re a top five team, and if we make mistakes, we won’t have much of a chance,” Fuller said.
Fuller and senior linebacker Cassin Wolfe both talked about the pressure of the homecoming game and had slightly different things to say.
“There’s not much more pressure, we see this like our other home games. We’ve already experienced a similar atmosphere with Family Weekend,” Wolfe said.
“To me this game is more exciting. Alumni are coming back, our families will be here and we want to impress everybody,” Fuller said.
After dropping their last couple games, Fuller talked about what the team’s preparations were.
“We’re not changing anything in practice. We’ve had some bad second quarters and we’re just going to try to play fast and make some adjustments at halftimes,” Fuller said.
Wolfe, who had five total tackles on Saturday, also talked about Augustana’s preparations.
“We are trying to get back to our fundamentals and simplify the game. We’ve had some unfortunate plays, so we want to play a cleaner game and make any necessary changes at halftime,” Wolfe said.
Even though the last couple weekends haven’t gone the way the team has wanted, they are still staying positive. The team is close, despite how large the team is, and this is a reason their attitude is as good as it is.
When talking about the team, Fuller and Wolfe emphasized how their positivity is important to the team.
“Everyone is great friends all around. It doesn’t matter if you’re a senior or a freshman, everyone is close and everyone is there for one another,” Wolfe said.
With the positive attitudes and clear preparations for the rest of the season, the football team looks to finish the latter part of the year on a high note. After traveling to play North Park University on Saturday, Oct. 13, the football team will return home to take on the Wheaton College Thunder on Saturday, Oct. 20 at 1 p.m.
Photo Above: Left to Right: Chaz Williams, JR, #74. Zachary Fuller, SR, #12 tries to outrun North Central on the Oct. 6 homecoming game.