The Hilbert Hawks football team lost the first game in school history to Dennison University, dropping the contest by a score of 63 – 0.

While the Hawks first game did not go as planned, the team learned some lessons and will use the experience to help them improve throughout this first seas, head coach Jim Kubiak said.

“I told them that that was a good football team and they put it on us,” he said. “What can we do, what can we learn from that? What can we adjust? How can we grow? We got Willamette coming in here next week and really the most important thing now is to look at what we did and how to improve going into the next football game.”

While the Hawks had a tough day, there were some silver linings. Linebacker Taivaughn Roach recorded 13 tackles. Quarterback Jerimiah Caviness went 5 for 9 for 78 yards with 6 rushing yards. And running back Jalen Henlon rushed for 55 yards on 19 attempts.

Caviness said he sees the first game as a learning opportunity and that the team need to focus on next week.

““Definitely our discipline, our team discipline,” he said. “We got to come together as a team. We got to be more disciplined.”

The Hawks face Willamette University this Saturday at St. Francis’ Polian Field. Tickets to the 12 p.m. game are free to students, staff and faculty with Hilbert ID and $5 for general admission. Hilbert College Athletics Hall of fame inductees will be honored at half time.