By Tom Bragg, For Lootpress.com
Gallery by Craig Allison
SISSONVILLE, W.Va. – Herbert Hoover can score a lot of points, sure, but on Friday it was the Huskies defense that carried the day.
Hoover held Sissonville to fewer than 100 yards of offense and put its offense on short fields all evening as the visiting Huskies steamrolled through the Indians 49-7.
It started early as Herbert Hoover (3-2) pushed Sissonville (0-5) backwards in a quick three-and-out to open the game. Dane Hatfield and Blake Fisher then went to work, with Hatfield capping a nine-play, 65-yard drive with a 19-yard touchdown run to open the scoring.
Sissonville quarterback Ethan Taylor tossed an interception on the first play of the following drive, with Fisher batting the ball up into the air before coming down with it. Four plays later the sophomore found room to run from four-yards out for another Hoover touchdown.
“We’re kind of going with him,” Fields said of Fisher. “He’s making as many plays for us as anybody anywhere. He’s our punter and in all three phases he’s our best player. He’s getting better each week and he’s getting better in this offense. I think our whole team is. There is no shine about it, we’ve got new guys coming in each year so it takes us a little bit to get where we want to be.”
The Hoover defense got in on the scoring late in the first quarter. Sissonville made a switch at quarterback, with freshman Maddox Balog taking over as the Indians signal caller, and after a few quick completions it appeared the freshman was getting comfortable and fast.
“We’re just trying to find ways to give ourselves an opportunity to be successful,” Sissonville coach Jeremy Hairston said. “We thought by putting some packages in and having two quarterbacks it might spark us or give us an advantage to be more competitive.”
It didn’t last. Balog lofted a pass to his left that had a little too much air under it, and Hoover’s Brayden Bailey stepped in front of it and ran 70 yards for a touchdown to put the Huskies ahead 21-0.
“We got a lot better at defensive line,” Hoover head coach Joey Fields said. “We simplified some things and really made that a big emphasis at practice this week, and I thought they did a good job of stopping the run the right way.”
Hatfield, a junior, and Fisher each scored rushing touchdowns in the second quarter as the defense continued to put the clamps on Sissonville to set the halftime score at 35-0.
“This was a game we probably should have won coming in, so we wanted to see how our guys responded in that environment,” Fields said. “The first four games, we were fighting for our lives and this is a game we think, coming in, that we should win this game. At times I liked it, and at times I thought we went through the motions.”
The second half moved fast, with shortened quarters and a rolling clock throughout, but that didn’t stop the Huskies from extending their lead over the final two quarters.
Hoover head coach Joey Fields went to his bench early as seldom-used Talon Harrison busted loose for a 22-yard touchdown run on the Huskies’ first drive of the third quarter, but this time Sissonville had an answer.
Balog and the Indians had good starting field position at the 50-yard line and moved through the air with passes of 10, 15 and 21 yards to set up an Ethan Taylor four-yard touchdown run to get Sissonville on the scoreboard.
It was too little, much too late, however, as the Indians only ran one more offensive play the entire game after scoring with 2:52 left in the third quarter.
Hoover’s Kdan Hughes added a 40-yard touchdown with 1:17 to go in the third quarter, then on Sissonville’s first play of the following drive Balog fumbled and the Huskies recovered.
Hoover’s drive began at the Sissonville 34-yard line with about a minute to play in the third quarter. Aided by the shortened fourth quarter and rolling clock, the Huskies ran 10 plays – all runs – got as close as the 8 yard line on their final play and simply ran the clock out for the entire fourth quarter for their third consecutive win after opening the season with back to back losses.
“You know the challenges you’re going to get with that type of team, you just go out and compete the best you can,” Hairston said.
For Hoover, Hatfield carried the ball nine times for 106 yards and two touchdowns, while Fisher had 11 carries for 88 yards and two scores. Seven different players ran the ball at least one time for the Huskies on Friday, with four of them scoring.
Balog was perhaps a lone bright spot for Sissonville, as the Indians young quarterback completed 7 of 12 pass attempts for 102 yards with the one interception.
Looking ahead, Herbert Hoover hosts Chapmanville next week while Sissonville will look for its first win of the season on the road at Poca.
H: 21 14 14 0 – 49
