For more photos of this event by Kevin Nagle, go here
PEARCY — The Lake Hamilton Wolves eighth grade team ran 26 offensive plays on Thursday night against the Bryant Blue Hornets. On 13 of them, the Wolves lost yardage.
Linebackers Hank Penfield and Chelton Murdock were in the Lake Hamilton backfield almost as much as the Wolves’ running backs. Unofficially, Penfield had 12 tackles as he and Murdock shot the gaps and, at least once, hit Wolves’ quarterback Hunter Baber before he could even hand the ball off. It wasn’t until late in the game that the Wolves’ offensive linemen started to get a glove on the blitzing duo but, as it was, the Wolves finished with a total offense of 18 yards.
Jaden Ashford ran for two touchdowns and caught another, one of three TD tosses by quarterback Gideon Motes in a 40-0 romp that improved the Hornets to 2-0 on the season going into a battle with North Little Rock on Thursday, Sept. 26.
Bryant Blue scored 44 points in their season-opening win against Pinnacle View.
It didn’t take long for the Hornets to get on the board. After Aidan Hughes recovered Lake Hamilton’s onside kick to start the game, an offsides penalty gave Blue a first down at the Wolves’ 44. Motes went right to Cason Trickey deep and the result was the Hornets’ first touchdown. Ashford ran in the conversion and it was 8-0 just 24 seconds into the game.
Lake Hamilton managed just two first downs in the game and one of those came on their second offensive snap, a 13-yard run by fullback Evan Payton.
Two of the next four snaps lost yardage and when Murdock stopped Payton for a 2-yard game on fourth-and-13 at midfield, the Hornets had the ball back.
Lake Hamilton never threw a pass in the game and Blue dared them to, crowding the line of scrimmage and outnumbering the Wolves at the point of contact.
Motes was sacked during the Hornets’ ensuing possession and they wound up punting it back to the Wolves. But Rafe Wallace and Penfield dropped Baber for a loss on first down, then, trying to run a reverse, Murdock and Penfield forced a 5-yard loss on running back Bryce King.
Though at their own 27, the Wolves refused to punt and, on fourth down, Sebastian Oltmans stopped Payton well short of a first down and the Hornets took over just 31 yards away from more points.
After Motes connected with Jonathan Mendez on a pass play, Ashford got the call and skirted right end for a 19-yard touchdown run. Motes added a run for the conversion, and it was 16-0.
The resulting kickoff went out of bounds at the 40 so Lake Hamilton had good field position. But three of their four snaps from there lost yardage. Wallace and Penfield sacked Baber on fourth down and the Hornets took over at the Wolves’ 25.
Motes scrambled for an apparent touchdown but most of the run was negated by an illegal block penalty. On fourth-and-17 at the 32, however, Motes hit Ashford over the middle and the running back fought his way into the end zone for another score as time ran out in the first half.
Motes threw to Mendez for the conversion and it was 24-0 at the half.
Lake Hamilton went four-and-out on the first series of the second half. Given possession at the Wolves’ 48, Bryant added onto the lead. Trickey made a splendid catch on a 28-yard completion from Motes. A play later, Ashford took a pitch and rambled 20 yards for the touchdown.
Motes threw to Tucker Everett for the two-point conversion to make it 32-0 with 3:27 left in the third quarter.
Oltmans dropped running back Dayton Brown for a loss on first down after the kickoff. Two plays later, the Wolves had a fourth-and-2 at their own 32. This time, Wallace knifed through to pull down Brown for a 6-yard loss.
Given another short field, the Hornets scored on a 26-yard pass from Motes to Everett. Ashford’s run for the conversion set the final score with 5:40 left to play. It also started a running clock in conjunction with the mercy rule.
Lake Hamilton’s second first down came on the first snap after the kickoff. Payton broke a 20-yard run. But Penfield, Wallace and Murdock made tackles on the next three plays, the first two for losses as time ran out.
