With a new year underway, many Roanoke students and local fans were excited for the launch of Roanoke’s new football team. A former club team, Roanoke’s team entered their first season of Division III NCAA football since 1942 with modest expectations and a lot of uncertainty. The team definitely had talent, but the lack of experience was a concern. These concerns were quelled rather quickly however as Roanoke’s football team jumped out to a 3-0 start with commanding victories over Virginia University of Lynchburg, Greensboro College and Gallaudet University. After that, Roanoke unfortunately suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of Randolph-Macon, a school currently ranked at 20 in the Division III coach’s poll.
In recent weeks, Roanoke played two tough opponents in Bridgewater College and Shenandoah University. In these games Roanoke went one and one with a convincing win against Bridgewater before an unfortunate defeat versus Shenandoah. In these two games, Roanoke was able to effectively establish the run game combining for 265 yards and three scores. Running backs Polo Hill and Tyson Miller have made for a formidable tandem and after getting stifled against Randolph Macon’s tough defense they have done a great job bouncing back.
The game against Bridgewater was a lengthy slugfest, yet there was still plenty of entertainment from the Roanoke team. On offense they totaled 300 total yards, meanwhile on defense they were able to shut down Bridgewater’s offense holding them to only 14 points and picking up an interception in the process. The story of this game, however, was the penalties as there were a combined 15 – nine on the Maroons – and both teams struggled to gain momentum as a result. The following week was a challenging duel against Shenandoah University. Shenandoah entered the game at 4-1 riding a two-game win streak. Although Roanoke put up a good fight, they were unable to neutralize a high-powered Shenandoah offense during the second half. Despite the box score, Roanoke’s team stayed competitive and kept fighting hard even when the game seemed out of reach. Both of Roanoke’s quarterbacks were able to help lead Roanoke to a whopping 445 yards of total offense, their second highest total of the season. Overall Roanoke’s football team has had an extremely promising start compiling a 4-2 record and each game has provided a great reason to be optimistic of what the future holds.
Ruben Krishna
Staff Reporter
