With only two games remaining in the 2009-2010 season, the Seton Hill University (SHU) football team finds itself in a much different place than expected a few months ago.
The team had high expectations going into this year after a record of 10-3 last season, but find themselves at 1-8 nearing the end of this season. Head coach Joel Dolinski explained that this year has included a lot of hard work and rebuilding.
By Beth Anne Swartzwelder
Contributor
With only two games remaining in the 2009-2010 season, the Seton Hill University (SHU) football team finds itself in a much different place than expected a few months ago.
The team had high expectations going into this year after a record of 10-3 last season, but find themselves at 1-8 nearing the end of this season. Head coach Joel Dolinski explained that this year has included a lot of hard work and rebuilding.
“The season has been extremely disappointing thus far,” he said. “We have high expectations, we want to bring championships to Seton Hill and we have not performed to that level. We are working very hard to try and right the ship and get things back on the winning course.”
A general sense of frustration can be seen on the players’ faces as they continue to bring home loss after loss despite their hard work. Dolinski explained that injuries and eligibility issues have been part of the list of setbacks that has hindered the team throughout the year.
“This season has been very tough thus far,” he continued. “We have been faced with a little too much adversity when it comes to key players being injured and a few eligibility issues.”
The Griffins encountered yet another one of those injuries when sophomore quarterback DJ Lenehan went down in the first quarter with a serious knee injury. The team is also dealing with the loss of a large group of seniors from last year who held the still young program together.
Despite odds stacked against the SHU football team, Dolinski maintains a bright outlook bright for the future.
“We lost a very solid group of seniors from last year’s team that provided strong leadership for our team as well as a strong desire to win,” Dolinski said, “It has been difficult replacing them, but we have several team members step up into leadership roles, we are just a young football team right now making some young mistakes that were not made last season.”
Dolinski mentioned some standout youngsters who have stepped up with the loss of so many seniors including freshman defensive back Jonathan Feagin and freshman defensive end Calvin Mason. “Eddie Nuckols has also been a nice addition,” Dolinski said. “Daniel Butler has played well when called upon and works hard as well.”
With the young players willing to become leaders and work to improve, Dolinski sees a lot of that improvement in the team’s future.
“We have tried to learn from our mistakes so that we do not make the same ones again, otherwise we are always moving forward,” he said, “We have a talented team but we have unfortunately not played to our potential just yet and our losing record is a strong illustration of that. We will keep working to get better.”
“I expect to continue to improve and look to compete for a conference championship in 2010,” he said.