(PAINESVILLE, Ohio) — The Lake Erie College football team took on the visiting Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers on Sunday at Jack Britt Memorial Stadium in Painesville, losing by a score of 23-14. This puts the Storm's final record on the 2020-21 season at 0-3, while the Panthers finish at 1-4.

In this game, the story all came down to a tale of four quarters. After neither side was able to grab any points in the first quarter, Kentucky Wesleyan dominated the second quarter, picking up two touchdowns to head into the halftime break up 14-0. The TDs came first with 14:52 to go in the second quarter, when quarterback Chauncey Greer ran for a 10-yard touchdown. Then at the end of the quarter, with 1:57 left, running back Jatorian Dillard picked up an 11-yard touchdown rush of his own, to give the Panthers a two-touchdown cushion heading into halftime.

But the Storm took advantage of the break and came back out in the third quarter firing on all cylinders and dominating the quarter in a similar fashion to which Kentucky Wesleyan had dominated in the second quarter. Lake Erie got on the board with a 10-yard touchdown rush by sophomore wide receiver Peyton Brown at the 10:24 mark in the quarter. Then with 5:52 to go in the quarter, redshirt-sophomore quarterback Lawrence Chambers III connected on a three-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Eric Daniels to tie things up at 14.

However, the momentum went back to the Panthers in the fourth quarter, and thus, so did the game. With 7:55 to go in the contest, Greer completed a 68-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jayden Freeman. The extra point attempt was blocked though, making the score 20-14 KWU. But Storm miscues proved costly down the stretch, and the Panthers were able to get the ball back and tack on three additional points on a 30-yard field goal by kicker Chris Mangold. And that would end up being the final score in this one.

Turnovers were deadly for the Storm, as they lost the ball twice to interceptions, once to a fumble, and once on a misplayed kickoff return attempt that resulted in Kentucky Wesleyan recovering the ball. Kicker Justin Smith also missed his lone field goal opportunity of the day.

In addition to throwing the two picks, Chambers III went 12-19 with 74 yards passing. He also got 28 yards on the ground on 18 attempts, which was only one yard less than the total of running back Altwjuan Beck-Lindsey, who got 29 yards on 10 carries. And in terms of receiving, Daniels led the team with 46 yards on six catches.

On the defensive side of the ball, redshirt-junior defensive end Justin Growel led the Storm with 12 total tackles. But junior defensive back Jayme Vicente-Colon led the group in tackles-for-loss, with 3.5 for seven yards.

Now, with this strange and highly unusual 2020-21 spring football season behind them, Lake Erie looks to take the coming months to recover and prepare for a quick turnaround, when a new season begins in the fall.