By Jack Weaver ’15 | Staff Writer

The varsity football team’s struggles continued to grow on Oct. 3, after a loss to Utica Eisenhower 28-7 marked its fourth consecutive loss.

On the night of Ike’s homecoming game, the Blue Devils would not only have to face an aggressive and talented football team, but also a hostile environment. South’s plan to take away home field momentum would fail with the first drive of the game, as Ike drove down the field with ease, punching in a 1-yard touchdown run.

South, despite allowing an early touchdown, was able to respond. Quarterback Sam Blanzy ‘15 found Andrew Trost ‘16 in the end zone, tying the game at 7-7 before the end of the first quarter.

Ike began to pull away from South early in the second quarter. South’s defense struggled, as Ike dominated in both the rushing and passing game.

“They never quit, they never gave up, they worked hard, 1000 percent effort the whole way, but the negatives were our execution both offensively and defensively,” head coach Tim Brandon said. “We just have to get better at fixing little things, especially in key moments. It’s not effort. It’s execution.”

After allowing two second quarter passing touchdowns and trailing 21-7 at halftime, South’s defense would step up, and Ike’s seemingly unstoppable offense was unable to score in the third quarter and was only able to put seven second half points.

Although the defense stepped up, the offense struggled..

“We played them tough, just a lot of mental mistakes on defense and too many turnovers on offense,” Ryan Liagre ’15 said . “That seems to be the problem on this 4-game losing streak.”

Mitchell Donavan ’15 also acknowledged the excessive turnovers and lack of offensive efficiency.

“Penalties and turnovers really hurt us, but we just weren’t executing either,” said Donavan.

The run game was absent for much of the second half, so the team had to rely heavily on passing. Quarterback Sam Blanzy ’15 and the South receiving core were, for the most part out of sync, and Ike was able to capitalize on it by intercepting two passes in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Ike defense continued to shut down South’s nonexistent offense, and a final touchdown late in the game would solidify Ike’s victory. The final score was 28-7.

The Blue Devils are 2-4 on the year and now have to win out in order to possibly receive a final spot in the playoff bracket.

“We gave a great effort out there,” said Chase Urbach ’15. “Sometimes games don’t go your way and Friday is an example of that. We got to come focused and ready to play come Oct. 10, and I’m confident in this team that we can win out. It will be tough. We have to work hard and come ready to play, but we have a chance.”

Although South is now facing a must win situation, the odds for winning this weekend’s homecoming game are highly in their favor. South has won their past seven homecoming games, and a must win at home is just what they need to get back on track and gain some much need momentum.

“It’s a tough road,” said Brandon. “It means we got to win out, we have to have some things go our way, but the effort has been there every week. We’re going to get right back to work, and we’re going to get ready for Utica on homecoming.”

Coach Brandon has voiced his opinions to the team after the Ike loss on how important it is it for this to win out, and he’ll continue to preach it during every practice leading up to the homecoming game.

“Coach has been telling us how important each game is and how we can’t afford to lose another if we want to even have a chance to make the playoffs,” said Urbach.

Donovan, like Urbach, has never missed the playoffs playing for South, and he too knows the challenges ahead and what’s at stake finishing out his high school career.

“If we win our next two games, the Dakota game will make or break our whole season,” said Donavan. “We would also accomplish several team goals, beating a MAC Red team for the first time in program history, and most likely making the playoffs by winning.”

South’s final regular season game will be against one of the state’s most challenging teams, Dakota. Brandon said. The road to the playoffs will be a challenging one, but one thing is for sure, the Blue Devils appear to be ready for the challenge. Their focused and they’ll face their first of three challenges Friday night on homecoming, .

South’s next game is at home on Friday, Oct. 10, at 7 p.m., against Utica.