Hornets win 44-0 over Breck county in opening night thriller
The long wait for high school football was well worth it for Hancock County fans as they watched their Hornets dismantle Breck County 44-0 in the season opener at Schafer–Glover Field Friday.
“We were just excited to get out there and get going. It was great to see the crowds and to get back to the normal feel of a football game,” HCHS coach Bobby Eubanks said. “Defensively, this was one of the better performances we’ve had in a long, long time. There’s some things we can clean up but overall this was a really good team effort on both sides of the ball. ”
It took a few possessions for the Hornet offense to get untracked, but when it did, it was impressive to see.
The first scoring drive came with just over a minute remaining in the first quarter. Hard running by Logan Willis gave the Hornets a first–and–10 at the Tigers 20 yard line. Aiden Weatherholt took a pitch running left and after a couple of nice blocks the sophomore was in the end zone. The first touchdown of the season followed by a conversion run by Willis put the home team ahead 8-0.
The Hancock defense established its dominance early on as the Hornet “D” won the battle on the field. They got the ball back for the offense when freshman Aiden Embry recovered a Tiger fumble at the Breck County 32 yard line.
Hornet quarterback Cole Dixon ran for a first down and the offense later faced a second–and–8 from the 16 yard line early in the second period. Willis took a pitch running right then made a nice cutback. The junior bounced it back outside and raced in for the touchdown. Excellent edge blocking by Landyn Emmick and Christian Richards helped spring the run and the Hornets led 14-0 at the 11:50 mark of the second quarter.
Breck’s Michael Johnson was running hard for the Tigers on the ensuing possession, but Hancock’s Colin Johnson dropped the running back for a loss and forced the visitors to punt.
Dixon was intercepted on a desperation pass attempt when he was scrambling in the backfield, but moments later the Hornet defense returned the favor. Austin Volocko leaped high into the air and picked off a pass attempt by Breck quarterback James Spitzer.
Big gains by Willis and Noah Mize gave HCHS a first down at midfield. On the next play Dixon faked to his right then threw to his left and connected with Jack Duncan who was streaking down the field. The 24 yard pass completion set up another scoring drive when Willis rambled 21 yards to paydirt. Kaleb Keown scored the conversion when he went up high to catch the pass from Dixon. The Hornets now led 22-0.
Hard hits by Hancock defenders stopped the Tiger offense and forced Breck to punt. The Hornets regained possession at their own 40 yard line with 1:13 on the clock.
Willis picked up a first down on a screen pass, then two plays later Dixon went play action and threw a strike to Volocko for a 45-yard TD. Willis scored the 2-pointer to give Hancock County a 30-0 lead at intermission.
Halftime
The Hornets received to begin the second half and Mize had a nice run into Tiger territory. The ball was at the Breck 33 yard line when Dixon connected with Keown on a 21 yard pass play. On the next play Weatherholt ran right and darted into the end zone for a 12-yard TD. Two touches for Weatherholt resulted in two scores, and another lob pass to Keown gave the home team a 38-0 lead early in the third.
The backs were running hard and the Hornets O-line was doing the job up front to create running lanes all night long.
The Hornets now had a running clock by rule and the defense forced another 3–and–out.
Hancock County began a drive at their own 30 yard line and Willis carried defenders on a big gain to near midfield. The Hornets lost yardage on a low snap, but penalties by Breck gave Hancock a first down at the 32 yard line as the third quarter came to a close.
The Hornets fumbled to begin the fourth period, but it didn’t seem to matter as the defense got the ball right back on a fumble recovery by Braydon Wathen.
Keown came in to play quarterback and the big junior took the snap and ran through defenders on his way to the end zone. The TD run covered 11 yards and made the score 44-0.
The Hornet “D” then secured the shutout and the team celebrated their opening night victory!
“We were pretty balanced offensively. We spread the ball around, we threw it 10 times, and that TD right before the half was kind of the nail in the coffin,” Eubanks said.
“Our offensive lineman were getting out on sweeps and picking up blocks all night. They also did a really good job protecting Cole and giving him time to throw the ball,” the coach said.
The stats
Willis had 14 carries for 123 yards, and Mize had five carries for 52 yards. Weatherholt gained 37 yards on three carries, Keown had one carry for 11 yards. Dixon had five carries for six yards, Alex Basham carried twice for zero yards, Carson Clark had one carry for -4 yards and Dylan Morris had one carry for -3 yards.
Dixon completed 6 of 10 pass attempts for 128 yards with one TD and one INT. Volocko had three catches for 66 yards, Duncan had one catch for 24 yards, Keown had one for 23 yards and Willis had one catch for 15 yards.
The Hornet defense held Breck to 62 yards rushing and zero yards passing. When you add in the penalties, the Tigers had just 19 total yards of offense.
Duncan led the team with 10 tackles. Weatherholt had six stops, Christian Richards and Basham had four each, Landyn Emmick and Jaxson Morris had three each, and Johnson, Volocko, Hayden Shearn, Mize and Embry all had two each. Embry and Wathan had fumble recoveries and Volocko had the interception.
By Steve Wimmer
