Columbus suffers first loss of the season against Maryland’s Our Lady of Good Counsel

Through two games, the Columbus Explorers know they can rely on their defense. The Explorers gave up just 14 points in their week one win over Southridge and 10 points in Friday’s game against Maryland’s Our Lady of Good Counsel.

Columbus allowed just one offensive touchdown on Friday night – coming in the first minute when the Falcons’ Joseph Williams scampered for an 80-yard touchdown on the first play of scrimmage.

But despite the great defensive effort, the lack of offense cost the Explorers in the end, suffering a 14-10 loss against Good Counsel.

“We tackled really well and played with the hunger and desire that we needed to win the game,” Columbus coach Dave Dunn said. “Unfortunately we weren’t good enough on offense in the red zone.”

Columbus quarterbacks Jason Barket Jr. and Vincente Gonzalez struggled, passing for a combined unofficial 90 yards while throwing two interceptions. The Explorers have struck gold at the quarterback positions the past few years with Fernando and Alberto Mendoza, who are now at Cal and Indiana respectively. But both Barket and Gonzalez appear to need more game repetitions before they settle in.

After giving up an 80-yard touchdown early on, the Explorers (1-1) did a better job of bottling Williams up later on– allowing 101 yards on 25 carries.

“We didn’t fit that one run very well, we missed a tackle and a guy took a bad angle. They kind of got us on that one and it happens,” Dunn said. “I thought the rest of the game we improved immensely. I think our kids played their tails off on that side of the ball.”

After a 38-yard field goal and a punt return for touchdown by defensive lineman Johnathan Nua, the Explorers went up 10-7 in the first quarter. But a punt return for touchdown by Pittsburgh commit DaMarion Fowlkes put the Falcons (2-0) in the driver’s seat again, going up 14-10.

Dunn called the touchdown a “coverage mishap” by the Columbus special teams.

But another aspect that cost the Explorers a chance to win the game was penalties. The Explorers had five holding penalties during the game, which at times cost the team points.

“We throw a touchdown pass at the end of the third quarter to make it 17-14 and it gets called back because of a holding penalty,” Dunn said. “Then the quarter flips and we’re gonna have a short field goal down at the six-yard line and we get another holding penalty. We just kind of shot ourselves in the foot too much on special teams and on offense.”

After most of a stagnant fourth quarter where both teams were unable to score, it looked like the Explorers had a chance to take the lead with under two minutes, as they were driving in the Falcons’ territory. However, Gonzalez floated a pass and threw an interception to clinch the game for Good Counsel.

While the season is still young for Columbus, it seems they will need to count on the defense to keep them in games early on– and their schedule won’t get any easier, as they’ll have to go on the road to face St. Thomas Aquinas (1-1).

“Jason Barket and Vincente Gonzalez are new to playing quarterback,” Dunn said. “We’ve had a Mendoza be a quarterback for the past four years. We’re going through some growing pains right now, but I think our kids are gonna work their tails off to improve.”