Eagles Season Comes to an End in Opening Round

By Erinn Marroquin - Photo by G-Rox

WALESKA, GA - The 6th ranked Reinhardt University Football team season has come to an end with a loss to the 12th ranked Seahawks of Keiser University (FL.) 13-16 which concludes their 2021-2022 season. 

This game started as a defensive battle with both teams ending the first quarter with no points on the board. The Eagles would get rolling early in the second quarter when Billy Hall would complete a 31-yard pass to Dylan Kelly to put them in a great scoring position. Three plays later Isaiah Blake would punch in a touchdown from 1 yard out to put the Eagles up 6-0. 

The Seahawks were eager to get points on the board before the end of the first half, and a 16-play 56-yard drive would eat up a lot of the clock. The Eagle defense would stand strong which resulted in only three points for the Seahawks, bringing the score to 6-3 in favor of the Eagles going into halftime. 

Keiser deferred to the second half, so the Eagles opened up the third quarter kicking off the ball, where Caleb Walls would return it 91 yards for a Seahawk touchdown. With an extra point, that would bring the score to 10-6 in favor of the Seahawks, but Reinhardt would not go down without a fight. 

A botched snap by the punter James Hardy would put the Seahawks in a good position to put the game out of reach, but the Eagles' defense would not fold. Keiser only needed 5-plays to get down to the Reinhardt 1 yard line bringing up a huge 4th and 1 that could put the game away. Lo and behold the Eagles would stand tall, with a great play in the backfield by Keyovione Whitlock and Jalen Everett. 

The next several drives would consist of a lot of three-and-outs for both teams, making every second that ticked off more crucial. Entering the fourth quarter with the same score, the Eagles would finally get their hands on some good field position at their 49-yard line and capitalize on it. Picking up the tempo, Blake would finish off the drive punching in another score from inside the red zone. This time from the 3-yard line, making the score 13-10 with an extra point from Hardy. The Eagles seemed to have taken control and looked to close out the game with a big stop the following possession. 

The Seahawks had different plans as they got the ball the next possession and drove the ball 75-yards on 9 plays with 8 of those 9 being run plays. Marques Burgess would be the recipient of the score with a 12-yard run leaving 2:14 on the clock. 

This made the final score 16-10 in Keiser's favor, putting the nail in the coffin for Reinhardt's season. The Reinhardt Football team finished the 2021-2022 season with an overall record of 9-3 and 6-0 in the MSC. 

Season Highlights 

· Head Coach James Miller was named the MSC Appalachian Division Coach of the Year for the 5th consecutive year. 

· 15 players earned All Mid-South Conference Appalachian Division 

        Seven 1st-team and eight 2nd-team selections 

· Reinhardt had the second-most honorees in the MSC for the Academic All-Conference honors with 27. 

· The Eagles won their SIXTH Consecutive MSC Championship 

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