Story By Sean McNamara
Gallery by Craig Allison
FAIRMONT – The No. 9 Herbert Hoover Huskies made the trip up I-79 to Fairmont on Saturday and rode quarterback Dane Hatfield to a 28-14 victory over the eighth-seeded East Fairmont Bees.
Hatfield was the workhorse all afternoon for the Huskies, carrying the ball 37 times for 210 yards and two touchdowns while passing for 90 yards and a score, as well.
“Give them all the credit in the world, when they had to make plays, he’s the guy,” East Fairmont coach Shane Eakle said of Hatfield. “He finished drives for them. I would have given it to him 37 times if I had him, as well.”
With Hatfield leading the way, Herbert Hoover rushed for 289 yards as a team while outgaining East Fairmont, 379-223, in total yardage.
“It started up front with our guys,” Herbert Hoover coach Joey Fields said. “The same guys who are playing offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage. “
With the victory, Herbert Hoover sets up a quarterfinal rematch with top-seeded North Marion, a team it lost to, 21-14, on October 20.
Offense was tough to come by to open Saturday’s contest, as neither team was able to find a rhythm as the two squads played to a 0-0 tie after the first 12 minutes.
Early in the second quarter, after a Rockett Nichols sack of Hatfield on fourth down gave East Fairmont possession, the Bees struck first as quarterback Ian Crookshanks connected with Avery Brown on a 61-yard touchdown pass to put EFHS up, 7-0, after a Karson Church PAT.
Herbert Hoover answered back soon after, using a 15-yard pass to Sam Kee, a 15-yard Hatfield run and a 15-yard Blake Fisher run set up a 1-yard Fisher TD. After Voss Duernberger knocked through the PAT, the score was tied at seven at halftime.
East Fairmont looked poised to grab some momentum early in the second half as Hatfield was picked off by Chase Hudson, setting the Bees up with the ball in Herbert Hoover territory.
The Bees drove all the way down to the 1-yard line, but a Crookshanks QB sneak was snuffed out, and the Huskies came out unscathed.
Now with possession, the Huskies found a big play in the form of a 59-yard TD pass from Hatfield to Bryce Grimm, giving Herbert Hoover a 14-7 lead.
On the ensuing possession, a 15-yard penalty and two 11-yard runs by Dominic Fantasia set up a 10-yard TD run by Adrain Fleming, tying the game back up at 14 with 2:25 left in the third.
That same score would hold until the fourth quarter when Hatfield and the Herbert Hoover defense took over.
In that final period, the Huskies held the Bees to a single first down and added two more touchdowns on 1 and 14-yard touchdown runs by Hatfield.
“We found our physicality is what we did in the second half,” Fields said. “We got whooped in the first half. They were much more physical than we were and they played a lot harder. When you’ve got that guy back there at quarterback and he can make plays, that’s the difference.”
Hatfield rushed for 108 yards in the fourth quarter alone, helping his team pull out the victory and advance to the next round.
“He just made plays,” Eakle said. “I thought we did a pretty good job in the first half with him and controlling some stuff. We had some dumb penalties that extended drives in the first half. We had two or three guys go down, and they kind of regained momentum when we had that.”
For East Fairmont, Crookshanks completed 11-of-19 passes for 129 yards with a touchdown and a lost fumble.
Fantasia, who was lost to injury in the third quarter, led the team with 57 yards rushing.
East Fairmont ends the season in the opening round of the playoffs for the second consecutive year, finishing with an 8-3 record.
“I’m proud of our kids, what they’ve done and the program,” Eakle said. “Our kids battled. We took them into the fourth quarter and probably had opportunities that we didn’t quite finish. Our kids didn’t back down, and, let’s be honest, we were probably one of the few home teams that was a big underdog state-wide. We know that. But our kids showed up and played hard.”
In addition to Hatfield’s big afternoon, Fisher ran for 89 yards in the victory.
The quarterfinal matchup’s day and time will be formally announced Sunday. Fields said his team was completely focused on East Fairmont this week, attention will now shift to the rematch in Rachel.
“That’s a very good team,” Fields said of North Marion. “We haven’t talked about them, but I’m sure our kids and our fans have kind of looked ahead and are excited about that rematch with a good football team. We’re going to play the No. 1 seed. We did it last year on the road, but they’re a different group and a different task.”
Hebert Hoober 28 East Fairmont 14
HH;EF
First Downs;24;13
Rushing Yards;289;94
Passing Yards;90;129
Total Yards;379;223
Passing;9-13-1;11-19-0
Fumbles;0;1
Fumbles Lost;0;1
Penalties;7-54;12-100
Individual Stats
Rushing: HH: Dane Hatfield 37-210 2 TD, Blake Fisher 16-89 1 TD, Talon Harrison 1-2, TEAM 2-(-12). Totals 56-289. EF: Dominic Fantasia 11-57, Ian Crookshanks 8-16, Rowan Cramer 2-13, Adrian Fleming 2-12 1 TD. Totals 23-94.
Passing: HH: Dane Hatfield 9-13-1 90 yards 1 TD. EF: Ian Crookshanks 11-19-0 129 yards 1 TD.
Receiving: HH: Bryce Grimm 2-64 1 TD, Blake Fisher 3-2, Jaylen Symns 2-5, Brayden Bailey 1-4, Sam Kee 1-15. EF: Hoyt Michael 3-28, Dominic Fantasia 3-17, Avery Brown 1-61 1 TD, Adrain Fleming 1-(-2), Gavin Murphey 3-25.
HH;;0;7;7;14;;28
EF;;0;7;7;0;;14
Scoring Plays
Second Quarter
EF – Avery Brown 61-yard pass from Ian Crookshanks (Karson Church kick)
HH – Blake Fisher 1-yard run (Voss Duernberger kick)
Third Quarter
HH – Bryce Grimm 59-yard pass from Dane Hatfield (Duernberger kick)
EF – Adrian Fleming 10-yard run (Church kick)
Fourth Quarter
HH – Hatfield 1-yard run (Duernberger kick)
HH – Hatfield 14-yard run (Duernberger kick)
