TigerHawks blow by Cyclones, 38-3
TigerHawks blow by Cyclones, 38-3
By Jerry Wadian
Sports Editor
jwadian@thefayettecountyunion.com
If you look at the stats from Friday’s football game at Denver, it seemed close; if you look at the final score, it was a blowout for North Fayette Valley, 38-3.
Denver actually ran more plays, 59-52, and probably was ahead in time of possession.
However, the TigerHawks had the big stats: 410 yards rushing (9.1 yards per rush) and 38 points.
The Little Cyclones kicked up an early breeze, taking the opening kickoff and driving down the field.
The NFV defense stiffened, forcing a 35-yard field goal, giving the home team a 3-0 lead. It was the first time this season the TigerHawks have trailed in a game.
The rest of the way it was all North Fayette Valley. The TigerHawks scored the next two times they had the ball, ending the first quarter leading, 16-3.
Josh Mackey scored the first TD on a two-yard run, and Trevor Hurd connected with Phil Kleve on a 26-yard score late in the quarter.
Derrick Kuehner brought the NFV crowd to its feet on a scintillating 57-yard run. The junior tailback broke one tackle, juked a would-be tackler and stiff-armed a third Cyclone defender, before racing to the house for the score.
KWWL anchorman Ron Steele was filming the game and raved about the play for several minutes both after the play, and after his broadcast later that night. It is also one of KWWL‘s three “Plays of the Week.” TigerHawk fans can insure the play is number one by logging onto KWWL.com and go to sports to vote the run as “The play of the week!”
Mackey scored his third TD of the game, bulling in from the 1. The junior tallied 205 yards on 26 carries; on many of the runs he carried two or three tacklers with him.
Between them, Mackey and Kuehner gained 312 yards on 33 carries for an average of 9.5 yards a carry.
“Denver just didn’t have an answer for our running game,” admitted NFV head coach Bob Lape. “We did a good job passing, but it was nice to learn we can lean on the running game when we have to.”
Hurd was 3-7 passing for 87 yards and a TD, but had two aerials dropped by receivers.
The TigerHawk D limited Denver to 101 yards rushing with an average of a mere 2.6 yards a rush. Denver gained 148 yards passing, but almost a third of it was on one play. The Little Cyclones were only 11-20 passing, with a pick by Kleve.
Tyler Johansen led the defense with 10 tackles. Jared Bouska and Kuehner were in on eight tackles apiece. Bouska led the D with three solo tackles; six other TigerHawks made two solo tackles apiece. In all, 22 different players made tackles for the TigerHawks.
Offensively, both teams had potential scores negated by fumbles. Denver used a big play to get inside the NFV 10, but on a gang tackle, Mackey forced a fumble, and Kleve fell on the loose ball. Later, Ben Martin was at the one-foot line when a ferocious hit right on the ball caused the pigskin to pop out and a Cyclone fell on it.
The Denver O managed to move the ball (15 first downs) but had trouble mounting a sustained drive. Meanwhile, the TigerHawks seemed to march at will.
If anything, NFV stopped itself with penalties; in all, the TigerHawks drew 10 flags for 85 yards.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had that many penalties,” noted Lape. “They are correctable mistakes; however, many of the penalties came from our kids playing so hard. I can’t fault how hard the team is playing.”
After the game, the successful head coach stated, “We did a lot of things right. We found we can run the ball when we have to, and we can overcome adversity.
“We were down early and were able to come back, and we were able to overcome some of our own mistakes. After two or three straight penalties, we came back and drove almost 50 yards to get the 10 yards needed for the first down.
“We learned a lot more about the strengths and weaknesses of individual players and, most importantly, we got better as a team,” Lape added.
As for this week’s contest against 3-0 St. Ansgar, Lape commented, “It’s important. It will be a very physical game that will probably come down to which team makes the fewest mistakes.
“We have a group that plays very hard and is fun to coach. I think they will be very focused and rise to the occasion,” Lape concluded.
NFV D
17 First Downs 15
45-410 Rushing Yards 39-101
87 Passing Yards 148
497 Total Yards 249
3-7-0 Passing 11-20-1
0 Punts-Avg. 1-25
2-1 Fumbles-Lost 2-1
10-85 Penalties-Yds. 3-25
1 Turnovers 2
Scoring by Quarters
NFV 16 16 0 6 38
D 3 0 0 0 3
Scoring Summary
1st- D: Neuendorf, 35-yd. FG.
1st- NFV: Mackey, 2-yd. run (Mackey run).
1st- NFV: Kleve, 26-yd. pass from Hurd (Mackey run).
2nd- NFV: Kuehner, 57-yd. run (Mackey run).
2nd- NFV: Mackey, 1-yd. run (Mackey run).
4th- NFV: Mackey, 12-yd. run (run failed).
Individual Hawk Stats
Rushing-; Mackey, 26-205; Kuehner, 8-124; Martin, 6-40;Hurd, 3-23; DeMuth, 1-12; Kleve, 1-6; Lansing, 1-1.
Passing- Hurd, 3-7-0-87.
Receiving- Kleve, 2-68; Mackey, 1-19.
Kickoffs- Streeter, 4-182; N. Baumler, 2-87.
Kickoff Returns- Kuehner, 2-49.
Int.- Kleve, 1-0.
Fum. Rec.- Kleve.
Tackles (assists-solo-total)- Mackey, 4-2-6; T. Johansen, 8-2-10; Kleve, 2-1-3; Kuehner, 6-2-8; Streeter, 2-1-3; Ney, 2-1-3; Martin, 3-0-3; Lansing, 1-2-2; L. Johansen, 2-2-4; Bouska, 5-3-8; Wander, 2-1-3; D. Moore, 2-0-2; N. Baumler, 3-2-5; Roys, 1-0-1; E. Lape, 2-1-3; Crawford, 2-1-3; Hurd, 1-0-1; Ney, 2-1-3; D. Baumler, 1-1-2; S. Ihde, 2-0-2; Caldwell, 1-0-1.