For a program so young its history can still be written in pencil, Kennesaw State’s football team learned an important lesson last week.
Even though it won its first two games, even though it scored 50-plus points in both, it isn’t good enough to overlook anyone. The Owls almost found out the hard way Saturday in a 18-10 victory over Shorter, a Division II program.
It took a field goal with less than two minutes remaining to provide the go-ahead points and a fumble on what could have been the winning field goal for Shorter that the Owls returned for a touchdown to provide the final margin.
Coach Brian Bohannon’s teaching point from the experience was obvious.
“We’ve played three football games in the history of this program,” he said. “We have to get ready to play every week. It will always be that way here.”
The lesson came at the perfect time because Kennesaw State will play its first game against an established FCS program when it travels to Dayton on Saturday.
The Flyers, who play in the non-scholarship Pioneer League, won the Division III championship twice before moving up in classification. Their last losing record came in 2006 and they are off to a 2-0 start this season.
“By far the best football team we have played in all three areas,” Bohannon said. “It will be a great challenge to go on the road, continue to build and grow and learn from the previous game.”
In addition to a dose of humility, the Owls learned several lessons, especially in the final two minutes of the win against Shorter.
Bohannon said it’s much different being the coach and going through the nerve-wracking experience than it is to be an assistant, which is what he has been throughout his career.
First, it must have been lonely.
After the Owls kicked what became the game-winning field goal with 1:39 left, Bohannon said he didn’t think there was any way Shorter would score. They had been held without a first down in the second half. They had scored just 10 points and seven came on an interception returned for a touchdown.
But then things started happening — a pass-interference call, a perfect pass that Bohannon said probably couldn’t have been done again in 10 tries — and suddenly the usual chatter in Bohannon’s headset grew silent.
“I began to wonder if this was just their day,’ ” he said.
But the players on defense weren’t giving up, no matter if everything they tried was failing for different reasons.
Dez Billingslea said the veterans on the defense kept telling their teammates to believe in what they were doing, and to recognize that they didn’t work that hard during the week for it to be thrown away in the game’s final seconds. Mason Harris, who transferred to Kennesaw State from South Carolina, reminded his teammates of that one more time before they blocked a field-goal attempt to preserve the win. Billingslea picked up the ball and ran 65 yards for a touchdown.
It was time for one more lesson.
As Bohannon’s headset roared back to life with assistant coaches screaming for Billingslea to take a knee, Bohannon silenced them by saying, “Let him score. We haven’t scored a touchdown.”
So now the Owls know that not every game will be easy as the first two.
“We had a wake-up call, which was good for us,” offensive lineman C.J. Collins said. “All we can do now is get better and focus on the next game.”
