By Alex Kaufman
Staff Writer
Thirteen seniors went out as winners when Denison concluded its season with a 30-17 victory. With the win, Denison’s record is tied for the best mark since 1986.
Cole Freshkorn ’16, an offensive lineman who tore his ACL in the preseason, is proud of what his class accomplished.
“It’s something special, because this group of seniors has seen the complete turnaround of this program,” he said. “After going 4-6 our freshman year, we could have stayed that way, but, as a group, we dug deeper and changed it around. I told Luke Romick when we were freshmen that we were going to start a dynasty here, but I think we are leaving behind something much better behind: the foundation for a program that will be good for years to come.”
And with a senior class that posted three consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1984-86, the bar has definitely been raised.
Looking forward to next year, the Big Red have a lot of talented returning players. On defense, both Anthony Sernus ’17 and Andrew Baird ’17 tallied double-digit tackles with 15 and 13, respectively. Sernus also had 2.5 tackles for loss and half a sack.
Under center, Canaan Gebele ’19 threw for three touchdowns and led the Big Red with 81 rushing yards. His first completion of the game was to Brown for 58 yards and a TD. Denison went up 7-0 and never looked back, scoring 13 points in the first quarter while holding Kenyon scoreless.
As much as the coaching staff wants to look ahead to the returning talent and next year, head coach Jack Hatem is not quite prepared to see his seniors go. “[Saturday] morning was a really hard morning for me because I was not ready to let these guys go,” Hatem said about the seniors. “This is the best senior group we’ve had in my years here and there is no surprise this is the winningest class since 1986.”
These seniors’ football careers may have come to an end, but they have six more months until their most important senior day: graduation.
Photo Courtesy of Jalia Sheppard