There are some games in a young quarterback's life that can be attributed to his youth.
However, freshman Justin Murray's four interceptions were not the sole reasons for the 26-22 loss to Ohio Wesleyan University at Blackstock Stadium. Saturday afternoon featured multiple breakdowns in the Tigers' defensive secondary that allowed the Battling Bishops (5-0, 3-0 NCAC) to score, and interim head coach Scott Srnka's offense couldn't score a touchdown.
On defense, DePauw (1-4, 0-2 NCAC) surrendered two passing plays longer than 45-yards: a first quarter 66-yard pass for a touchdown, and a second quarter 46-yard touchdown with 18 seconds remaining.
On the offensive end, the Tigers punted the ball 11 times and trotted off the field five times after three plays.
"We had a rough day offensively," Srnka said after the game. "Justin was off today, and he will get better. He's a scrapper. We believe in him, and he's going to get better. We're going to have [quarterbacks] Drew [Seaman] back next week, and Jake Hemrick is coming along as well."
However, it was the two deep passes that made the difference for Ohio Wesleyan in the first half.
Before those passes, the Battling Bishops started their second offensive drive on DePauw's 49-yard line. After five plays and 49 yards, the visitors took the lead 7-0 on a 2-yard rushing touchdown.
On the ensuing kickoff, junior Nikko Sansone received the ball at the two-yard line, then tore up the middle then veered to the right sideline. He was finally dragged down at Ohio Wesleyan's 32-yard line for a 66-yard return.
The Tigers settled for a field goal from junior Eric Malm after six plays and 16 yards.
The Battling Bishops responded on the fourth play of their third offensive drive. Quarterback junior Mason Espinosa found a wide-open senior Nick Ziegenbusch in the middle of the field from a post route coming from the left sideline. He ran down the field untouched for 66 yards into the end zone.
In the second quarter, freshman Paul Simon's 33-yard punt backed up Ohio Wesleyan to their 13-yard line. A false start pushed the Battling Bishops back, then a sack by junior Michael McManis pinned them at the 3 yard-line. After another false start penalty and another sack, Ohio Wesleyan sophomore punter Miles Mackenzie was forced to kick standing at the end of the goal line.
The snap went right into Mackenzie's hands for a Tigers safety.
The Battling Bishops' kickoff went to senior Taylor Wagner, who started on the left sideline and burst through the first wave of tacklers. He cut back to the middle of the field and beat Mackenzie when Wagner sprinted out to the right. Eighty-six yards later, Wagner was in the end zone and momentum swung back to DePauw with the Old Gold still trailing 14-12.
On Wagner's return, defensive lineman Zach Price was injured on the play. He lay on the field in pain, grasping his left leg. After some time, he was carted off the field. Srnka said Monday the senior broke his left leg and will be out for the rest of the season.
Ohio Wesleyan added a field goal with less than two minutes remaining in the first half, and then forced Murray's first interception of the game with 27 seconds left in the game.
On the next Battling Bishops' play starting at DePauw's 46-yard line, Espinosa rolled out left looking downfield. As the play progressed, Dave Mogilnicki ran down the middle of the field, caught the ball wide open and trotted into the end zone with just 18 seconds remaining for a 23-12 lead.
The first half ended with Ohio Wesleyan initiating 46 offensive plays for 326 yards, and DePauw with 41 plays for 118 yards.
The second half was a statistical anomaly where both teams, after putting up more than 400 yards combined in the first half in 47 plays, had just 125 yards on 78 plays.
DePauw pulled itself within four on the first play of the second half when senior Jack Quinn forced a fumble on a pass reception, and senior Myron Burr picked up the ball at the 20-yard line and ran it in for a touchdown.
But the positives stopped there.
Murray threw three interceptions in the second half and Espinosa threw one as well. A back-and-forth battle ensued with the Tigers clawing back to within four in the opening minutes of the second half, 23-19. Malm then hit his second field goal of the game with four minutes, 33 seconds left in the game, pulling DePauw within one.
The Battling Bishops hit a field goal to extend the lead 26-22, and Murray couldn't orchestrate another score, throwing four straight incomplete passes on the final Tigers possession.
Srnka said his team was just one play away on offense and defense all day, and that was the difference in the loss.
"If we don't spot them 14 in the beginning of the game we're okay," he said. "The safeties got beat. On the first one, our safety went to the wrong guy. And the second one, he got beat on a double move. It's a shame because we gave ourselves the opportunity."
Murray ended the game 21-46 for 164 yards. He found junior Jackson Kirtley six times for 39 yards. On the ground, four rushers carried the ball 32 times for a net gain of 34 yards.
With the running game going nowhere against the No. 17-ranked running defense in Div. III, the offense turned to Murray to work through the air, but found negative results.
"He's a freshmen quarterback, and it's something that you'll have days like this as a senior, but as a freshman, you don't quite know how to handle it yet," said Brett Dietz, DePauw's quarterback and wide receiver coach. "He got flustered early for whatever reason, and he couldn't pick himself up.
"A lot of his plays, he was releasing it too early. He was getting antsy back there because he got hit a couple of times. It's a part of football, and this is just his third [starting] game playing football."
The defensive line tallied six sacks - three from junior Patrick Keller - and was the lone bright spot on the stat sheet.
"We blitzed pretty well," Srnka said. "We changed the pressures and we moved a lot up front. We just really mixed what we did in the second half really well."
DePauw travels to Allegheny College (3-2, 2-0 NCAC) next Saturday.