Breaking records is just a by-product of winning says head football coach Kent Kessinger.
With wins over Bethel College 45-20 and McPherson College 44-41 the Braves have been both breaking records and tallying wins.
Beating the 21-ranked Bulldogs in double overtime the Ottawa University offense set 11 school records.
“We’re off to a good start,” Kessinger said. “And that’s against good opponents in McPherson and Bethel.”
Against the Threshers, sophomore receiver Clarence Anderson broke the record for reception yards in a single game at 240. He sees the upcoming challenge in setting records though.
“Setting records lets me know that the rest of the season will get tougher,” Anderson said. “Teams are going to start changing the way they defend us.”
A week after Anderson achieved the record, senior Corey Schultz surpassed him with 273 yards of his own.
“It’s nice for anyone to get their name in the record books but it’s even better to get a win,” Schultz said. “Our team goals are still the same, so I believe the mind set of the team is to believe we’re in a one game playoff each week.”
Kessinger believes the record-breaking shows a good execution of the offense but it is not his No. 1 priority.
“Our goal is to improve and do what it takes to win,” Kessinger said. “We ultimately want to put ourselves in a position to win the conference.”
Agreeing with his coach, Anderson has the team in mind.
“Our team goals are most important,” Anderson said. “I just hope we can still play well together and keep winning.”
Kessinger still feels that despite the progress, there will always be work for the team.
“We’re ahead of where we were last year in a lot of areas,” Kessinger said. “We still haven’t run the ball as much, but our defense has kept others’ running games under wraps.”
In taking games one at a time, Kessinger thinks that the team will be most successful.
“We’ll do our best in order to win,” Kessinger said. “We’re going to take it one week at a time and hopefully go on a ten one game winning streak.”
With a record of 3-0 the Braves go into their third game against Sterling College on Saturday in Sterling.