TOWSON, Md. — The Towson Tigers football team sits at 3-4 overall and 1-2 in conference play as they pass the midpoint of their season. While a playoff berth remains within reach, head coach Pete Shinnick knows his team must improve their execution in close games to make it happen.
"Really keep digging, keep plugging away," Shinnick said. "I don't think we're that far away, but we just haven't had the results and so that's probably the most frustrating part of being, you know, involved with it day to day."
The coach emphasized the importance of players trusting their teammates and focusing on their individual responsibilities rather than trying to make exceptional plays.
Hear from coach Shinnick and QB Andrew Endorf as they explain their mindsets with only a few games remaining
"Do your job, trust the guy next to you, he's gonna get it done," Shinnick said. "I think sometimes guys are a little worried about their teammates and then they're gonna try to make an exceptional play. And typically when that happens, you don't do your job well and you don't do the other guy's job well."
Coming off their bye week, Shinnick liked his team's approach to improvement. With only five games remaining, a potential playoff push likely means the Tigers need to win out.
"I think in this conference, I mean, if you have more than two losses in conference, you're probably not going to," Shinnick said. "You don't get what you want. That's always an end goal down there, you know what I mean? But for us it's like, hey, we just gotta show up and play, you know what I mean, let's take this one thing, you know, one day at a time."
The team's success moving forward depends heavily on true freshman quarterback Andrew Endorf, who has thrown for 1,458 yards and nine touchdowns through the first seven games.
"I was just working really hard. I mean, I was working before I even got here," Endorf said. "So just to get that opportunity because even though sometimes you work as hard as you want you still won't get that opportunity to start and I was thankful that I got that opportunity to come in and get to play as a true freshman."
When asked if he thought he had a chance to be the starting quarterback when he first arrived on campus, Endorf said he came with the right mindset.
"I mean, yeah, I really came up with the mindset because I realized like if I didn't have that mindset, you know, I was gonna get eaten alive so I came with that mindset, not really trying to like," Endorf said. "Be cocky or anything, but just trying to stay low and just do my job."
Shinnick praised his young quarterback's maturity and performance.
"Probably the best compliment that we have gotten, you know, from other coaches is, you know, if we'd have turned on the film, we wouldn't know that guy's a true freshman by how he looks and how he responds, and we would say the same thing," Shinnick said.
The Tigers' next challenge comes on the road against Stony Brook in a conference matchup. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. on October 25th.
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