FOOTBALL Reeling Georgetown Looks To Right Ship in San Diego By ike Hume Hoya Staff Writer
Hoya File Photo Unlike their game against Duquesne (shown above), the Hoys couldn’t hold on to Marist. Georgetown will look to rebound in San Diego this weekend.
Coming off a disappointing loss to Marist, the Georgetown football team will head to California this weekend to face the University of San Diego Toreros. The game will be the first ever West Coast game for the Hoyas and will also be the first night game for this current squad, with kickoff at 7 p.m. PST.
The Hoyas are reeling entering this weekend’s matchup. An unexpected loss to Marist left their record at 2-5, and Georgetown will have to win all of its remaining games – including two against Patriot Leage teams – to reach the .500 mark for the year.
“The loss to Marist was dissapointing, unexpected,” Head Coach Bob Benson said. “I had hoped to go into California with a chance to get to .500.”
One needs only to look as far as the rushing game to locate the source of Georgetown’s recent hardships. In the past two games the Hoyas have been held to a combined 43 yards on the ground, while their opponents have gained 641 yards against them. They will get no reprieve defensively against San Diego. The Toreros have averaged 120.4 yards rushing and 200.6 yards passing in compiling a 5-2 record.
The Toreros have two featured running backs, Phillip Thrash and Kenny Villalobos, who are capable of exploding offensively.
Georgetown’s passing game showed promise against Marist last weekend as senior quarterback Sean Peterson passed for 251 yards in 39 attempts. However, the offensive rushing game has completely stalled of late, with no running back gaining more than 46 yards in the past two games.
San Diego and Georgetown share no common opponents on this season’s schedule, but faced two opponents from the Hoyas’ 2000 schedule. The Toreros defeated Fairfield 38-35 and fell to Butler 19-16. Georgetown lost to Fairfield 38-14, but defeated Butler (57-56) in a Homecoming Game overtime shootout.
Benson says that the team is looking forward to the trip, and that the game’s importance extends off the field as well. Benson expects many alumni living on the West Coast to come down for the game and the event will help with both recruiting and fundraising.
“We’ve been talking about this game since it has been put on the schedule,” Benson said. “This is all part of what we’re trying to do here. We should have a good representation of Georgetown alumni and friends down there.”
Despite the recent hardships, Benson remains optimistic about the future of his program.
“I didn’t think we’d be 2-5, but it’s a challenge,” he said. “It’s not called a challenge because it’s easy.”
2001 Football Team Page Schedule Roster
