Lions demonstrate improvement offensively
There were signs The College of New Jersey is coming out of the offensive doldrums that have plagued the Lions for the first half of the season.
It couldn’t happen at a better time, either.
It could be that the worst is over for the Lions (06, 0-5 NJAC) as they now settle in to a more “traditional” New Jersey Athletic Conference schedule in three of the final four games.
Despite falling to Frostburg State on Saturday 347, the Lions moved the ball better than they had all season, churning out 254 yards of offense.
But, what spelled doom this week were four costly turnovers.
“We thought we had a chance to fit better against Frostburg,’’ said TCNJ coach Rocky Hager. “We got better in a lot of areas and now we have to coach them up and keep grinding it out.”
The Lions, who have been on the road in four of the first six games, head back out this weekend going to longtime NJAC foe Montclair State. The rivalry is one of the oldest in New Jersey.
“We played four ranked opponents in our first five games, and Frostburg is a great team,’’ said Jeff Mattonelli, the former Steinert star that caught the Lions lone touchdown. “The schedule does open up for us and we have to stay optimistic. Especially the seniors, we are going to keep fighting and we are going to come out every day and work hard.’’
It has been the Lions’ ability to stay focus on what’s ahead instead what’s behind that has kept them motivated.
“We have great character on this team,’’ said Hager. “When we huddled up after the game they were saying that Monday is the day we refocus and get ourselves moving to get this fixed. They have bought into that we can get there we just have to keep going at it.’’
Unfortunately, the Lions have been without Troy Domenick with an injury and he might not return. When he got injured the linebacker was the second-leading tackler in the conference.
Injuries are too often a regular part of Division III football, and with teams struggling with depth, each loss is felt.
But, the games still have to be played.
“I’ve never felt we haven’t given all we have on every snap,’’ said Hager. “We have to get the learning curve a little advanced.’’
Progress has been slow, but it’s still progress, and for the winless Lions, that’s a good thing.
AROUND THE NJAC: Things are heating up for that coveted Automatic Qualifier the NJAC has with five teams tied for the top spot. There should be some closure this week as Rowan (5-1, 4-1) and Wesley (4-2, 4-1) clash in Glassboro.
Also, Christopher Newport (5-1, 4-1), which defeated Montclair State (3-3, 2-3) in overtime, travels to Frostburg State (5-1, 4-1).