Evangelical pastor Rick Warren said once that when in the process of a transformation, life will travel through ups and downs. Hamline’s 2016 football season went through plenty of ups and downs over the course of its 10 games.

Counting wins against conference foes Gustavus Adolphus, St. Olaf and Augsburg, the Pipers won three conference games and five games overall for the first time since 1997.

“The guys hung in there and did everything we asked them to do,” said Head Coach Chip Taylor. “It was a good first year for our guys but we have to keep working.”

Hamline’s five wins show progress, but Hamline’s season had the potential to be even better. Their 31-34 loss against Carleton on Oct. 1 snapped their opening three game winning streak and is a game the Pipers would sorely like to have back. Last Saturday’s 14-17 defeat against Bethel was another such missed opportunity.

“We have to play sixty minutes of consistent football,” Taylor said. “We’ll get there.”

Four Hamline turnovers were the driving force in their tough-luck loss to Bethel. The first turnover came on the first play of the game, a high snap that sailed over sophomore quarterback Justice Spriggs’ head and was recovered by Bethel at Hamline’s 13 yard line.

“We talked about how life’s not fair,” Taylor said. “It’s not an excuse for not getting off the field.”

The other three turnovers fall on Spriggs, as he threw two backbreaking interceptions and was strip-sacked by Bethel.

“One of the great things about this level is that we don’t have instant replay,” Taylor said. “We have to do a better job of protecting the football and we don’t make excuses for not doing our job. We have to respect what the referee says.”

This game saw an up and down performance from the MIAC’s top quarterback. Spriggs was able to move the ball up and down the field with authority at times but took some poorly timed sacks. Spriggs was clearly missing the rhythm he had previously displayed this season when he led the conference in yards (2711), touchdowns (25) and completion percentage (64 percent).

Hamline managed to pull within a field goal with just 42 seconds left in the game, but the Pipers were unable to recover the ensuing onside kick. With Saturday’s loss the Pipers look to next year to stop their 21-game losing streak against Bethel.

Hamline will be graduating players who contributed 258 tackles (13.5 for loss), 16 pass breakups, six interceptions, one and a half sacks and two blocked kicks on defense. The Pipers’ offense will see players totaling 132 rushes for 513 yards and four touchdowns on the ground and 186 receptions for 2155 yards and 22 touchdowns graduate.

The Bethel game was the final farewell for some of Hamline’s top players, including seniors Zach Schwalbach, Jonny Nguyen, Deon Bishop, Nick Kampa and Josiah Harris, all of whom made major contributions to the stat totals for the Pipers.

“It has been awesome to see how the football program has come along from when we were freshman,” Kampa said. “To see the development of the seniors from when they may have only been getting a few snaps a game to now, when they are key components in every game, is incredible. They have built so much maturity both on and off the field through this football program.”

A season of success also leads to a season full of records being set. Spriggs set the Hamline single-season passing yards, pass completions, total offensive yards and touchdown passes records. Spriggs also set single-game records for passing yards, passing touchdowns and attempts.

Spriggs isn’t the only dominant and record-breaking sophomore returning for the 2017 campaign. Defensive lineman Mitchell Maday was the top pass rusher in the MIAC in 2016 as he led the conference with 10.5 sacks and 14.5 tackles for loss. Maday set the Hamline single-game sack record when he picked up four and a half sacks against Macalester.

With 16 seniors graduating after this year, the 2017 edition of the Piper football team will look very different.

“We’re gonna miss our seniors,” Taylor said. “The Pipers will be a force to be reckoned with and I look forward to our guys attacking the offseason and knowing what it takes to be a winning football team.”

The Piper football team will look to improve on their five-win season when they return to action in 2017.