KENNESAW, GA. — The Point Skyhawks walked out of Fifth Third Bank Stadium with a sour taste in their mouths after suffering a 59-0 loss to Kennesaw State on Saturday night.

“[I] certainly expected a different outcome as far as how my guys performed,” Point head football coach Julius Dixon said. “Coming into this first game, there’s a lot of stuff that can happen. I just wanted to be able to come out and line up, play good assignment football and we didn’t do that.”

Kennesaw State jumped out of the gates with two quick touchdowns in the opening minutes of the game. After a 44-yard touchdown run from Kennesaw State junior Shaquil Terry and a 38-yard touchdown pass to junior KJ Hancock, his first career touchdown, the Owls had a 28-0 lead at the end of the first quarter over their NAIA opponents. 

At the start of the second quarter, members of Kennesaw State’s band and student section began singing Steam’s “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” as the frustration started to build on the sideline for some of the Skyhawks.

Point senior defensive back Micah Oglesby was soon ejected from the game after committing a personal foul before the Skyhawks’ defense watched a wide-open Terry catch a 34-yard touchdown pass to put the Owls atop 42-0.

“We knew coming into this game that it had to be a perfect game to stand a chance,” Dixon said. “When you give a team like this easy touchdowns, it just makes the situation a lot tougher.”

The Skyhawks won the possession time battle in the second quarter, being on offense for 10:11 as opposed to the Owls’ 4:49, preventing another Kennesaw State score for the remainder of the half.

An upbeat Point team came out of the locker room before the third quarter, determined to turn the fortune of the night around. With some positive rushing yards and penalties called on the Kennesaw State defense, the Skyhawks were even able to cross midfield on a couple of drives.

Point, however, was still unable to capitalize and score in the second half.

“At halftime, we made a few adjustments, but the team we’re capable of being is still in that locker room,” Dixon said after the game. 

Point’s head coach said that defensive adjustments, in particular, was where he saw his team improve the most in the last two quarters.

“We kept them from scoring another 49 points in the second half,” Dixon said. “On defense, we were able to make sure that our assignments were better-taken care of in the second half.”

Freshman running back D.J. Patrick led all Skyhawks rushers with 29 yards on the night, while sophomore Tyrique Robinson, junior Tim Gary, Marque Jackson and freshman Yesiah Clemons also finished with positive rushing yardage in the effort.

Sophomore quarterback Micah Maxey completed 15-of-27 passes for 92 yards and one interception.

“Offensively, we were just trying to ride some momentum, trying to do some things right,” Dixon said. “We were mixing and matching some people and things around, we’ve got to find a mix there. I thought toward the end of the game, Maxey finally settled down. We just have to get him some more confidence and I think we’ll be alright there.”

Dixon thanked the Skyhawks’ faithful who made the trip to Kennesaw to watch the team’s season-opener although it wasn’t the result that he wanted. He also said that he hopes the shutout can turn things around for the remainder of the season.

“I hope it wakes us up,” Dixon said. “I hope it gets us to understand that it’s all about preparation. We’ve got to prepare at practice like we’re playing in a game. Everyone is looking so excited to play that first game to see somebody different. We still have to play fundamentally sound football and we didn’t do that in the first half and it was a hole from there … The good thing that is coming out of this is that a lot of guys got playing time out of this. We’ve got to correct the things that we didn’t do this game well, and get prepared for next week’s opponent.”

Point remains on the road to face No. 13 Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, Kentucky on Sept. 7.