On the evening of Sept. 1, the Quincy University Hawks football team began their season with an inaugural, first in school history, Thursday night game.

After the Hawks went 3 and out in their opening drive, the Pioneers first offensive play of the game was a 59 yard screen pass that opened the scoring. Glenville State would add a field goal to make it 10-0 just five minutes into the game.

Drew Lenzen got the Hawks on the board with a 29 yard field goal to make it 13-3. The deep throws for the Pioneers couldn’t be contained by the Hawks as it became 20-3 Glenville State on a 65 yard touchdown pass from Jeff Miller. The lead would amount to 34-3 at the halftime break in favor of the Pioneers.

The Hawks added a touchdown in the middle of the third quarter as Tionne Harris found Jalen Lawrence for a 17 yard pitch and catch.

Glenville made it 44-9 in the fourth quarter on a 5 yard run. Quincy lessened the lead with a touchdown at the 3:45 mark of the 4th quarter on an 11 yard pass from Harris to Joseph Mitchell.

Despite the result of the game, it didn’t stop family and friends getting back into the swing of things culturally surrounding football. 

The sights and sounds of football were evident as all sorts of food was being prepared, meat sizzling on the grill tops, drinks being consumed and backyard games being played.

John Jennings, QU student, and his family were fortunate enough to get a great spot in the tailgating parking lot located on the north side of the baseball and football stadiums. 

“Compared to last year when the lot wasn’t paved and it was all dusty everytime wind started to pick up. Them paving the entire lot and making it easier to designate parking spots was very nice. Only thing we (his family) didn’t like about the new tailgating setup was the higher prices to get into the lot now, it is what it is though,” Jennings said. 

Even with the score being as lopsided as it was, the students, family and friends of the university were there to support the Hawks. From start to finish the crowd was exhilarating and electric in their cheering and chirping towards the other teams players. 

“When it would come to a crucial down where we needed a stop to get our defense off the field, the entire home sideline would stomp their feet on the bleachers to try to distract the players. When I say it was loud as well as my butt being numb by half, I’m not kidding,” Ryan Riggs said. 

“Despite the score it was still fun to go to the game and if around that amount of people continue to show up, there’s a lot of great potential for the coaches and players to thrive in an environment like that for the remainder of the season,” Nick Woodworth said. 

The Hawks look to rebound after this tough loss Sept. 8, at 6:00 p.m. against Trinity International University of Illinois.