Over the past weekend, the Kenyon football team traveled to face conference opponent Hiram College. In a terrific show of resilience, the Owls came away with a road victory to improve their overall record to 3-4 (2-3 NCAC).
The Owls scored a touchdown with less than a minute remaining in the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead,their sole score for the first half. In the second quarter, Hiram added two touchdowns and a field goal as time expired in the half to take a 17-7 lead. The Owls flew out of the gate to start the third quarter. Jack Provenza ’23 completed a 2-yard touchdown less than three minutes into the second half. Four minutes later, Zachary Kim ’25 caught his first of three touchdowns from Ryan O’Leary ’23 to give Kenyon a 21-17 lead. With just over two minutes left in the third quarter, O’Leary connected with Kim again to cap off a 20-point quarter. However, Hiram kept battling and reclaimed the lead after scoring two touchdowns with 8:50 left in the game. Kenyon responded quickly to losing the lead, scoring less than three minutes later. Finn Murray ’23 found the endzone to give the Owls a 34-31 lead. The defense stymied the Terriers’ offense for the remaining six minutes of the game.
“We had a couple of mishaps that we have to clean up, but it was a great team win,” Kim wrote in an email to the Collegian, “From the defense making timely stops to the offense marching down the field, it was amazing to see us claw our way back into it.” Kim, with two consecutive games with three touchdowns each, was named NCAC Offensive Football Athlete of the Week.
Along with Kim’s phenomenal showing, it was O’Leary who conducted the offense. Throwing for four touchdown passes in each of the last two games, the senior quarterback has been incredible thus far. Defending their passer, the offensive linemen had a superb performance, as well. “For the first half, we were down a few touchdowns,” offensive lineman Samuel Eluemunoh ’26 stated. “But instead of remaining frustrated, we connected as an offense and began to score to win.”
In the final home game of the season, the Owls will host the DePauw Tigers this Saturday as they celebrate Senior Day at 1 p.m. Along with that, Kenyon will host a reunion for the 50th anniversary of the 1972 team, the only undefeated football team in Kenyon’s history.