TigerHawks win at the wire over New Hampton
With defensive tackle Israel Hernandez (bottom) initiating the tackle, fellow TigerHawk defenders Tyler Menne (66) and Jacob Germann (21) rush in to secure the stop. (Zakary Kriener photo)
TigerHawks win at the wire over New Hampton
By Zakary Kriener
The TigerHawks are moving on! It came down to the wire Friday night, but North Fayette Valley was able to put away New Hampton by a score of 29-28 to advance in the playoffs.
“We don’t quit!” said coach Justin Heins after the big win. “Much like being down to Union, we just keep playing. We had to face some adversity with having to kick off at the start of both halves and with trailing late after not getting the two-point conversion, but we overcame it.”
The Chickasaws were the first team to score in the Class 2A bout as the team’s leading receiver caught his first touchdown of the night to go up 6-0.
NFV responded with a touchdown of its own as Tayler Luzum ran for a 13-yard touchdown.
In the second quarter, NH scored another passing touchdown to go up 12-7, but again, NFV responded as Blake Reichter plunged across the goal line from two yards out.
New Hampton added a 66-yard touchdown pass to go up 20-13, but the TigerHawks would even it up with a 52-yard run by QB Kaleb White.
Om the third quarter, New Hampton’s top playmaker for the game would haul in his fourth touchdown of the contest – but it would be his last.
Kaleb White scored a two-yard touchdown run with under 30 seconds left in the third quarter, but NFV would fail to convert the 2-pt. conversion, giving New Hampton a 28-26 advantage with a quarter to play.
In the final minutes of the game, the TigerHawks would put together one of their most important drives of the game as they would move deep inside Chickasaw territory.
“We were able to move the ball on offense and even when we got behind the sticks a bit during that last drive, we were able to hit some big passes,” continued Coach Heins.
On a big third down play, NFV would take a sack and lose some valuable field position, but the TigerHawks were ready to attempt something they hadn’t done yet this season – a field goal.
“The decision to kick it was much easier after two straight negative yardage plays leading up to fourth down, but I was extremely confident in Tayler (Luzum) to make it,” said Heins. “We practice our PAT and field goal kicking three times a week, we just don’t kick them that often. This kick was surely the biggest field goal in school history!”
Luzum casually nailed the 32-yard field goal to give the TigerHawks the narrow lead – but the game was far from over.
With 2:48 remaining on the clock, it would come down to the defense to protect the lead.
While the TigerHawks struggled to slow down the passing game throughout much of the game, it would buckle down with the game on the line. After driving inside NFV territory, sophomore defensive back Bryce Elsbernd would come up huge for the TigerHawks as he recorded his first interception of the season at the most opportune time.
NFV was able to run out the clock and punch its ticket to the second round of the playoffs with the 29-28 victory!
“Overall, our defense did a really good job of stopping their run game, which was good because we struggled to stop the pass,” continued Heins when asked what the difference was in the outcome.
NFV not only won the game by one point, but also outgained New Hamp0ton by just a single overall yard (329-328).
Tayler Luzum lead the team with 101 yards and a touchdown, while Kaleb White added 70 yards and a pair of scores. On defense, White lead all tacklers with 12.5 on the night.
Looking ahead, No. 6-ranked NFV will be on the road Friday to take on No. 9-ranked 7-2 Monticello.
“They have a really good quarterback who does it all – both running and throwing,” said Coach Heins. “They have two receivers with over 50 receptions each, so we will have our work cut out for us.”
Coach went on to say that defensively, Monticello runs a 3-4 scheme and their quarterback is also the team’s leading tackler.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
1 2 3 4 Final
NFV 7 13 6 3 29
NH 6 14 8 0 28
SCORING SEQUENCE:
1st Quarter
NH: Drake Wemark 4-yd. pass from Mason Lane (2-pt. run failed)
NFV: Tayler Luzum 13-yd. run (Israel Hernandez PAT)
2nd Quarter
NH: Drake Wemark 20-yd. pass from Mason Lane (2-pt. pass failed)
NFV: Blake Reichter 2-yd. run (PAT failed)
NH: Drake Wemark 66-yd. pass from Braden McShane (2-pt. pass good)
NFV: Kaleb White 52-yd. run (Tayler Luzum PAT)
3rd Quarter
NH; Drake Wemark 10-yd. pass from Mason Lane (2-pt. pass good)
NFV: Kaleb White 2-yd. run) PAT no good)
4th Quarter
NFV: Tayler Luzum 32-yd. field goal
GAME STATS: NFV NH
Rushing Yards 217 105
Rushing Attempts 45 32
Passing Yards 112 235
Passing 3-3 11-21
Total Yards 329 328
Turnovers 0 1
INDIVIDUAL TIGERHAWK STATISTICS:
PASSING: Kaleb White (2-2-59 yards); Tayler Luzum (1-1-53 yards)
RUSHING: Tayler Luzum (13-101 yards), 1 TD; Kaleb White (11-70 yards), 2 TDs; Blake Reichter (14-42 yards), 1 TD; Martin Rawson (2-3 yards); Jacob Germann (3-1 yard)
RECEIVING: Wil Miller (1-53 yards); Jacob Germann (1-39 yards); Bryce Elsbernd (1-20 yards)
PUNTING: N/A
KICKOFF RETURNS: Kaleb White (2-17 yard avg.); Jesse Grimes (1-10 yards); Blake Reichter (1-9 yards)
PUNT RETURNS: Kaleb White (1-17 yards)
INTERCEPTIONS: Bryce Elsbernd (1)
FUMBLE RECOVERIES: N/A
TACKLES: Kaleb White (12.5), Jacob Germann (8), Israel Hernandez (7.5), Wil Miller (4.5), Braxton Kuker (4), Blake Reichter (3), Martin Rawson (2.5), Jesse Grimes (2), Nick Koch (1.5), Braden Ellis (1.5), Clay Moser (1.5), Marshall Birch (1.5), Bryce Elsbernd (1), Cael Burrow (1), Derek Berger (1), Tayler Luzum (0.5)
SACKS: N/A