Club Football drops home opener to Valley Forge, 34-20

Mason club football battled the Valley Forge Military College Saturday afternoon at the RAC Field in their first home game of the season. This video is also posted on the YouTube channel (Jake McLernon).

The sound of crashing shoulder pads and cheers returned to RAC field Saturday afternoon as the George Mason club football team (0-2) faced the Valley Forge Military College Trojans (1-3) in their first home game of the season.

The club football team, going into its 18th season at Mason, was determined to win, but the Trojans put the first points on the scoreboard with a run to the right by Raul Pola.

The Patriots came back with a field goal made by Patrick Novek. Jasper Willis then recovered a fumble near the 12-yard line and ran into the Trojan end zone for a touchdown.

The Trojans scored two more touchdowns with two passes to Vanzell Bandy before the end of the half.

Coming out for the second half, the Patriots scored another touchdown with a run to the left by William Connor. However, the Patriots couldn’t maintain the momentum throughout the rest of the game. Mental errors and penalties plagued the Mason men throughout the last quarters.

After a long and hard fought battle in the fourth quarter, the Trojans came out on top, 34-20.

The Trojan’s head coach, Scott DiCarlo, was impressed by the Patriots efforts, though.

“In five years, that was the best George Mason team I've ever seen,” DiCarlo said. “They went back and forth and it went all the way to the end. Both teams fought real hard for four quarters.”

The Patriots’ head coach Matt Dyson was disappointed by the loss, but saw the loss as a great opportunity for his team.

“I thought our guys did a good job playing hard,” Dyson said. “It was a really tough game for us to lose. The biggest thing for us is that we have to cut down on mistakes. We gave up a lot of big plays that we shouldn't have just off of mental errors, so ultimately, once we get rid of the mental errors, we'll be a whole lot better.”

The Patriots will go on to face the VCU Rams at home Oct. 1 at 3:00 p.m. This is the inaugural season for the Rams, and the Patriots look forward to facing a new opponent.

“I think that it will definitely become more of a rivalry as we continue to play each other more and more in that club conference,” starting QB Jack Langley said, “[I’m] definitely very excited and I think the guys are too. I'm very excited to get a win.”

To learn more about the Mason club football team, head over to George Mason Football.