The dismal weather proved to be appropriate for the Hoyas on Saturday.

On a dreary, drizzly day, Georgetown was unable to give the Homecoming crowd much to cheer about, falling to Howard in heartbreaking fashion. With this loss, the Hoyas dropped to 0-4 on the season and remained 0-2 in Patriot League play. The 14-11 win also gave the Bison their first victory in the Mayor’s Cup, a tradition that began last season.

Freshman quarterback [Isaiah Kempf](https://www.thehoya.com/sports/freshman-quarterback-makes-fast-impression/), who was named the Patriot League rookie of the week for last week’s performance against Yale, made his second career start for the Blue and Gray. On Georgetown’s first offensive possession, Kempf moved his team down the field deep into Bison territory. Kempf found freshman wide receiver Brandon Floyd multiple times on the drive, a combination that could become very productive over the next few years. Unfortunately for the Hoyas, they were unable to reach the end zone, but a field goal by senior kicker Jose-Pablo Buerba gave the Blue and Gray an initial 3-0 edge.

As the rain continued to fall, it was evident that the wet field began to affect play. The slippery turf also created some dangerous situations for players, as the game featured an unusually large amount of injuries. Throughout the course of the game, Hoya sophomore defensive standouts Wayne Heimuli, Rick Rattay and [Andrew Schaetzke](https://www.thehoya.com/sports/schaetzke-next-line-great-georgetown-ends/) all received medical attention.

The offensive side of the ball was also hit hard by injuries, as the Hoyas felt the loss of senior center and co-captain Dan Matheny, the anchor of the Georgetown offensive line, who was sidelined after suffering a high-ankle sprain last week.

“You’re talking about a kid that’s started for four years,” [Head Coach Kevin Kelly](https://www.thehoya.com/sports/hoyas-head-man-brings-wealth-of-experience-to-gu/) said, lamenting Matheny’s injury.

For the rest of the opening period, the teams had trouble getting much going offensively. With a little over two minutes remaining in the first quarter, however, the Bison took charge. Redshirt senior quarterback Floyd Haigler led his team 50 yards in 1:55, a drive capped by a five-yard touchdown run from redshirt senior running back Kenneth Austin-Bruce.

Howard’s game plan proved to be far from predictable. After converting a first down on a fake punt earlier in the quarter, Howard surprised Georgetown with a successful onside kick on the ensuing kickoff. The trick play gave the Bison good field position and, unfortunately for the Hoyas, Haigler and company capitalized.

The seven-play, 60-yard drive was capped by another Howard touchdown, as Haigler found senior wide receiver Brandon Sherman on a 35-yard touchdown pass off of a play-action fake that completely fooled the Hoyas.

Outside of allowing that scoring spurt from the Bison, the Georgetown defense played as well as it has all season. The unit was able to clog up the running lanes and applied pressure up front, which limited Howard offensively. Kelly, however, deemed those two consecutive scoring drives unacceptable.

“I just felt like we gave them two scores,” Kelly said.

On the other side of the ball, the Georgetown offense had trouble reaching paydirt all game. The Hoyas have been plagued all season by an inability to convert their scoring chances, a deficiency that was once again exposed on Saturday. The Hoyas reached the red zone twice, and both times failed to put points on the board.

Trailing 14-3 early on in the fourth quarter, Kelly’s squad drove all the way down to the two yard line, but Georgetown was stuffed by the Howard defense on four consecutive downs. During this sequence, the Hoya offense ran three quarterback sneaks, each of them resulting in no gain.

“We were 2-for-4 on red-zone chances,” Kelly said. “We need to be 4-for-4.”

Despite the turnover on downs, the Hoya defense stood its ground and forced Howard to punt.

Georgetown subsequently took over at its own 46-yard line, and this time they were able to make the most of their good field position. Three plays after a catch by senior slot receiver Robert Lane, Kempf threw his first career touchdown pass, a 17-yard strike to sophomore wide receiver Dishon Hughes in the end zone, finally giving the umbrella-toting crowd something to get excited about. After a successful two point conversion, the Hoyas had cut the deficit to 14-11.

Following the score, Howard went to work on taking time off the clock. A drive dominated by the Howard running game ate up over six minutes, but it resulted in a missed field goal for the Bison, giving the Hoyas just over two minutes to get into field-goal range.

Unfortunately for the homecoming crowd, Georgetown’s momentum was short-lived. On the first play of the drive, Kempf’s pass was tipped at the line and picked off, putting an end to any hopes of a comeback.

Though Kelly was disappointed with the outcome, he was also proud of his team’s resilience.

“I’ve never been disappointed with their effort,” Kelly said. “