The Georgetown football team will wrap up its season tomorrow as it travels to North Carolina to take on the undefeated Davidson Wildcats. Last year, the two teams battled to the end in a thrilling 28-27 Davidson victory. The loss was especially scathing to the Hoyas, as it was their homecoming.
Head Coach Bob Benson feels that last year’s defeat will play a motivational role in this year’s contest.
“It’s a factor,” he said. “We were the better football team last year and we let it slip away in the fourth quarter.”
Additionally, this year’s match up will take on added significance, as it is the Hoyas’ opportunity to end the season with a winning record – a goal that Benson has emphasized as important all season long.
“All programs take great pride in continuing to be successful,” Benson said. “It’s hard to win 10 or 11 games every year, but every great program continues to have winning seasons. It’s important to continue that winning tradition.”
Georgetown has had to battle to reach the .500 mark this season, winning its last two games against Iona and St. Peter’s to improve to 5-5. The Hoyas’ path to a winning season will not get any easier when they face the Wildcats, a team riding a 15-game winning streak, the longest such streak in college football, to a 9-0 mark this season.
Davidson has achieved that mark through a consistent offensive attack led by quarterback Paul Nichols. Nichols sports a 53.5 completion percentage and has passed for nearly 2,000 yards so far this season, throwing for 14 touchdowns. The Wildcats also have strength in their running game, anchored by Bryan Fish who leads the team with 952 yards, averaging 4.3 yards per carry.
To stop this diversified offense, Georgetown will need a strong performance from its defense, a defense which looked somewhat lackluster in the early goings of last week’s comeback win over St. Peter’s.
The game will be the last for Georgetown’s seniors, who will finish with the worst team record of their Georgetown careers. Benson says that when he presented this possibility to the team last year, the seniors were unfazed.
“These 22 seniors have played the toughest schedule that this team has played in 40 years,” Benson said. “There have been difficult times, but these seniors have allowed us to move up and advance our program.”
Benson also added his personal commendation of the senior class.
“It’s a great group of seniors,” he said. “The university is proud of them and it would be nice to go out on a winning note.”
Among this group of seniors is wide receiver Gharun Hester, who will graduate with four school records for career receiving yards and career scoring.
Over the course of the year, Hester has been scouted by NFL teams. Benson said that Hester has a legitimate shot of taking his game to the professional level.
“He will be given the opportunity to play in the NFL,” Benson said. “If he gets drafted it will be in the later rounds, but more likely he will be signed by a team and brought into camp.”
In the meantime, Hester and the other seniors will focus on the Davidson Wildcats. Kickoff is at 1:30 p.m. at Davidson.