Miller Spence
EYES ON THE PRIZE: A determined John Painter ’27 hustles upfield, leaving a Kirby defender in the dust.
Above the door of the MUS varsity football locker room, a banner hangs. Inscribed on it are two words: “I Believe.”
From early morning workouts in June to a 3-1 start in September, the football team has worked hard, cultivating team chemistry and developing a new culture during a transition period for MUS as the football owls enter game five of the season.
Following a 5-7 season last year, Head Coach Mark Chubb turned towards developing a reinvigorated culture amongst the Owls; belief was a key takeaway from camp.
Introduced first by former athlete and current coach Stephond Allmond’s ’10 state-championship winning team – who would chant the famous “I Believe” chant every Friday night – the Owls have taken new steps toward devising the standard of a winner’s mentality and embracing a tradition even 15 years later.
This winner’s mentality appeared in week one with a nail-biting, game-winning touchdown throw from Price Renovich ’28 to Cannon Sherman ’27 to defeat the Bartlett Panthers 23-17 in the final plays of the game. Throughout the two weeks following the Bartlett win, the Owls toppled Northpoint with a 38-0 win, and then the following week they delivered a 49-16 beating against Kirby in the home opener.
On Friday, Sept. 12, the 3-0 Owls were flying into a matchup with the 0-3 Lipscomb Mustangs, an opponent determined as their hardest adversary yet.
The Owls started off strong with an 81-yard touchdown run from Gavin Gatere ’26 on the first offensive snap of the game to respond to Lipscomb’s initial stampede. With Gatere’s touchdown, momentum significantly shifted to the Owls as the sideline erupted and the sea of fans in the student section roared.
After a 38-yard field goal from Joshua Wittber ’26, the Owls had the Mustangs in their talons. However, with nothing to lose after their unproductive start to the season, the fiery Lipscomb team did not back down. Lipscomb scored 21 unanswered points to close the first half.
During halftime, the coaching staff reminded the team that there is going to be adversity, but what matters is how they respond.
Coming out of the locker room, the Owls returned with new energy on their first offensive drive of the second half. However, with a defensive stop from the Mustangs, the Owls chose to punt. Shortly after, Lipscomb scored another touchdown, making the score 35-10. Gaining the ball back, Renovich wasted no time in moving the ball down the field and completing the drive with a 13-yard touchdown run.
Nevertheless, Lipscomb counteracted the Owls’ momentum with a touchdown. Answering the Mustangs, Renovich threw a 21-yard pass for a touchdown to John Painter. The final score of the game was Lipscomb with 49 and MUS with 24.
“I feel like we discovered that we still have a lot of things to work on as a team and in order to bounce back we just got to come together as a team…work on those things together as a unit and never start pointing blame at any particular person,” said Senior Captain Devin Wells following the loss.
Captain Boyd Rhodes ’26 echoes, looking towards the future. “We need to come out next week and practice harder.”
Despite a disheartening loss, the Owls continue their prep for the remainder of the season, drilling daily, studying film and occasionally glancing above the doorway of their locker room before turning towards Hull-Dobbs Field.