Sequoits suffer hard first-game loss

The Sequoits played four-time Wisconsin state champions to start off the season.

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Hannah Barczak

There were no hard feelings to be seen after the game.

The first game of the year for the Sequoits was an out-of-conference match-up with the four-time Wisconsin state championship winners Catholic Memorial Crusaders. As well as being the first game of the year, it was also the first game where students and fans outside of player’s families were allowed back into the stadium. With the stakes high for the Sequoits after coming off an undefeated season, they faced one of the toughest teams they’ve seen in quite some time.  

The Sequoits started this game off on offense. Within the first minutes of the first quarter, one could already tell Catholic Memorial’s defense was going to be a struggle to get through. Throughout the rest of the first half, this proved to be true, with the Seqouits being forced to rely on their defense as the ball was being played mostly within the home side of the field. By the end of the first quarter, the score was 7-0 in favor of the Crusaders. 

As the game progressed, the Crusaders were able to reach the end zone once again making the score 13-0. Additionally, the Crusaders went for the field goal and made it, making the score now 14-0 all within the first minutes of the second quarter. The Sequoits were determined to put up a fight now. The whole stadium seemed to get the memo as one could feel the energy all the way up in the press box.

“It’s always hard to be at a really lopsided sporting event, but I think that there was an effort to stay excited,” Antioch teacher Stefan Pfautz said.  “Certainly later in the second half when we scored and you had some success, people were really pumped and excited for that.” 

During halftime, the spirits in the stadium were starting to look low as the Sequoits still had not found the end zone. This meant it was time for the dancers and cheerleaders to put on a show and get the spirits back up for the second half.

“I mean, it’s definitely a plus if they’re winning, but you are going out to perform, so I’m not really thinking about it,” said Shyanne Hernandez.

As the second half began, the Seqouits found themselves in trouble, scoring a two-point safety in favor of the Crusaders, making the score 23-0, as they had scored again at the end of the second quarter. As the third quarter progressed, the Crusaders found the end zone once again, now making the score 30-0; an almost impossible comeback for the Seqouits at this point in the game. 

As the Seqouits entered the fourth quarter, they were determined to get points on the board. And they did just that, scoring a touchdown and going for the two-point conversion, now making the score 37-8, as the Crusaders had another touchdown in the third quarter. At this point in the game, it was looking more and more unlikely that the Sequoits were going to win–let alone score again. The Crusaders scored once again making the score 44-8. 

As the game drew closer and closer to the end, it was obvious that the Seqouits were not going to be able to make a comeback. Instead, they turned their focus to making sure the Crusaders weren’t able to score another touchdown. The Seqouits kept the fight up until the end where they managed to keep the score 44-8 in favor of the Crusaders to end their first game of the season with a devastating loss.