Coach Josh Shattuck blames Seymour’s 29-16 loss at Silver Creek to poor play calling by him.
“This games is on me,” he said. “I know sometimes it’s coach speak, and you take the blame for a loss, but I was absolutely horrendous with my play calling tonight.
“We kind of froze up when we got inside the 30, and that’s when a lot of those turnovers came in. We just kind of lost our rhythm. I’ve got to do a better job. I’m very disappointed in myself. I’m not going to sulk on it, but I’ve got to be better, and I will be, and put our kids in better positions to be successful, and that’s where it starts. That’s ultimately 100 percent where it starts. You turn the ball over four times you’re going to lose.”
Seymour lost one fumble and had three passes intercepted, two from Alan Perry and one from Nathan O’Mara.
Seymour did not force Silver Creek into any turnovers.
Shattuck said O’Mara’s interception was on a trick play.
The game was scoreless until the Dragons outscored the Owls 16-8 in the final 2:50 of the second quarter.
Seymour’s score came on an 18-yard run by O’Mara with 1:21 left in the first half.
After the Owls scored, the Dragons returned the kickoff 53 yards then used two big plays to score with 7.5 seconds left in the first half.
Silver Creek had possession of the ball to start the second half and scored at 9:39 of the third.
Shattuck said those two scores definitely put his team in a big hole.
“Now all of a sudden you’re playing catch up,” he said. “I’m not just saying it because it’s noble, but when we were down two scores I freaked out a lot in play calling and tried to get it all back. That’s where we had some of our turnovers.
“The players played hard. We have great chemistry. I love our coaching staff, I love our players. We will be a lot better (this) week. I can guarantee you that. We’ll just be a lot sharper in that aspect.”
After the Dragons went up 22-8 the Owls drove 69 yards for the second TD. The key plays in the drive were a 24-yard pass from Perry to Scotty Nieves, a 15-yard run by Jackson Morris and a 24 yard pass from Perry to Tyler Bullard for the score.
The Owls had interceptions on their next two possessions.
Silver Creek’s Jeff Belviy had all three interceptions on the night.
“The turnovers just halted our offense. We had tons of big plays,” Shattuck said. “Tiller Cummings, Michael Knecht, Scott Nieves, Tyler Bullard and Nathan O’Mara did some really good things. A lot of those guys didn’t play last year. Those guys did some really good things. We got a game under our belt.”
O’Mara finished with seven receptions for 102 yards.
The Owls will host Jeffersonville on Friday night for their home opener.