Lindenwood’s Brett Hiatt breaks upfield with the ball during the second quarter of Saturday’s football game at Hunter Stadium against Eastern Illinois. (Photo: Terrance Williams)
| NCAA Football – Nov. 4, 2023 | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Illinois (6-3, 2-2) | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Lindenwood (3-6, 1-4) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 10 |
Cedric Williams
Senior Editor
ST. CHARLES, MO — With a number of its projected starters and key players walking the sidelines on crutches or wearing large knee and foot braces, the Lindenwood University football team took the field against Eastern Illinois on Saturday, looking to end a two-game losing streak.
The Lions played hard and at times played well, particularly in the second half, when they held the visiting Panthers scoreless.
Unfortunately, with so many players on the injured list, playing well at times wasn’t enough, as Lindenwood lost the game, 16-10.
“We’re in a tough spot, with so many guys out,” Lindenwood head coach Jed Stugart said. “We’re gonna have at least 19 guys that need surgery when the season’s over. I’ve never seen anything like it. Just so many guys and it’s all little bitty things, but then you look up and ‘he’s gotta have surgery’.
“But I was really proud of how these guys that are out here just keep battling and keep giving us everything they’ve got to keep us going and keep us in a game like this. A lot of young guys and a lot of inexperienced guys, but they keep working and I was proud to see that.”
Among the young guys were the two quarterbacks that played, true freshman Tyler Kubat, who started the game, and redshirt sophomore Cooper Justice, who finished. Kubat, who threw for 184 yards and a touchdown last week against Tennessee State, made his first collegiate start and completed 16-of-26 passes for 186 yards, but did throw two interceptions.
That prompted Stugart to turn to Justice in the fourth quarter. And he led the Lions on their only touchdown drive of the game, which ended with a Justice 10-yard scoring pass to tight end Chase Lanckriet.
“Tyler was doing alright for most of the day,” Stugart said. “But he was a little banged up there at the end of the third and that’s when we decided to give Cooper a shot.
“And I was proud of how they both played. A lot of times when you’re the third or fourth quarterback, you don’t get a lot of reps and you might start thinking you’re not ever gonna play. But those guys kept working and were ready to go. And Cooper really made a couple of terrific throws to get us that score. I’m excited to have those guys and I’m looking forward to seeing what they’ve got as we go into this last game.”
The Justice-to-Lanckriet touchdown made the score 16-10 with just over a minute left in the game and Lindenwood had a chance to possibility win, when it got the ball back with 26 seconds left. The Lions had no timeouts and needed to drive 90 yards to score, but they did have the chance — until Justice’s final pass was intercepted by Eastern Illinois’ Russell Dandy.
“He (Justice) was in a tough spot,” Stugart said. “We needed to make up a lot of yards, with not a lot of time to do it. He was just trying to force one in there and make a play. Tip your cap to the defender for being there in picking it off.”
The second half was a strong contrast to the first. Lindenwood controlled most of the final 30 minutes, but it was Eastern Illinois that dominated the first 30.
The Panthers scored points on three of their first four possessions to go ahead 16-0, as they got a field goal on their opening drive, then a 38-yard touchdown pass from Pierce Holley to ELi Mirza and a four-yard touchdown run by M.J. Flowers.
At that point, Lindenwood had only 25 yards of offense, only one first down, and was already down three scores. It looked like the game might turn into a blowout.
But to the Lions’ credit, they didn’t allow Eastern Illinois to score another point the rest of the game.
The Lindenwood defense was led by linebackers Ethan Stuhlsatz and Brenden Dye. Stuhlsatz had a game-high 10 tackles and Dye had eight tackles and 1 1/2 quarterback sacks.
Tight end Darrin Fugitt had a game-high seven catches for 56 yards and wide receiver Spencer Redd had a game-high 88 receiving yards to lead the Lion offense. But it just wasn’t enough on a day when the short-handed Lions just couldn’t muster enough points to pull out a win.
“I have to say first how proud of our team I am for their continuous fight”, Stugart said. “Unfortunately, games like these come down to the littlest of things which we’re going to see watching the film of this game. Every team is battling adversity this point in the season so we can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We got to clean up those little things, cause the fight is there and put it all together.”
Lindenwood will close out its season next Saturday, when it hosts Bryant University at Hunter Stadium at 1 p.m.
“We’ll get in the film room and look at things we need to do better,” Stugart said. “I know these guys will play hard and I like that we have two quarterbacks that will be ready to go when called upon. We’ll be ready to go next Saturday.”
| 2023 Lindenwood Lions Football Schedule |
| Sat., November 11 — vs. Bryant* — 1 pm |
| * – denotes Big South-Ohio Valley Conference game |
| All Lindenwood home games will be played at Harlen C. Hunter Stadium |