Home-opener to hoco; Dal looks to build off hard-fought win
Coming off an undefeated season, Dal keeps the momentum going
As Dalhousie University students counted the days until homecoming weekend, the football team looked to the week ahead.
Following the Dalhousie football club’s home-opener win on Sept. 20, Tigers head coach Freddie Diab was asked how the team would carry that momentum into its homecoming match on Sept. 27, but Diab doesn’t skip steps. He’s focused on how the Tigers would use that game for their next practice.
“We won this game on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,” Diab said after the home-opener. “We won this game last week. We won it in practice.”
The win didn’t seem inevitable during the first quarter — as fans arrived at Wickwire Field, with the yellow-pink sun peaking through the treetops and illuminating the field, the score remained tied at zero. The first half ended with a 0-0 score under an inky sky, as a wave of black and gold shirts watched from cement bleachers.
Despite the scoreless half, the Tigers had several key offensive moments. Defender Drew Kinley intercepted Holland College quarterback Ben Chomolok’s long bomb from his 40-yard line to Dal’s 20-yard line. Dashing between maroon helmets and black turf-pellet-streaked white jerseys, Kinley cut a steady diagonal line for 15 yards. Kinley got another 10 yards with the Holland offense dragging him down. 2024 Atlantic Football League MVP wide receiver Ethan Lord showed some similar — but slightly smoother — displays of jukes when returning or receiving the ball.
But Dal couldn’t punch one in, despite much of the action happening in Holland’s zone.
“Gain of one or two yards,” the commentator said over the speakers a few times, not far from where the mic connected to the sideline table.
Dal gave their other quarterback, Jonas Anderson, a go in the second half. The Anderson-Lord duo looked strong to start, connecting early with a touchdown pass, although it was called back due to a penalty on the other side. Still, almost halfway through the fourth quarter, Dal had only managed two field goals and a safety to put them within one point of Holland.
“5:30 remaining in the quarter,” said the announcer, after a Dal field goal brought the score to 9-8 for Holland.
Anderson’s checkdown pass to a stationary Lord set up a big yardage gain for the Tigers. Lord — caught flat-footed — side-stepped two defenders to the left before breaking another couple tackles and jetting right, for a gain of 20 yards.
“It’s the same play, every time,” a Holland fan said from the sidelines.
Anderson said it was a team effort.
“The O-line really played well,” he said.
Just after that play, two tackle-breaking sprints from Tigers running back Caden Quong put Dal within striking distance, and Dal’s offensive line pushed the ball into the endzone. A short run for another six yards from Quong at the 58-second mark sealed Dal’s win.
The final score was 21-9 for the Tigers.
“Obviously not our best game,” Anderson said. “We’ve got to move on to next week now.”
