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November 17, 2009

Total team effort

Hornets recapture momentum with clutch punt, move on in playoffs

By Tom Waddill

It all started with a punt. The Hornets turned a nerve-racking nail-biter into a full-bore blowout following Chris Crawford’s clutch 47-yard boot last Saturday at Georgetown’s Eagle Birkelback Stadium.

Buda Hays had scored two touchdowns in the third quarter and closed the gap on Huntsville to three points. The Rebels had just forced the Hornets to punt after a short and unproductive three-play possession.

Problem was, Huntsville’s first-team punter Justin Gilbert was on the sideline with leg cramps. He could not kick.

The Hornets called on Crawford to dig them out of a deep hole.

With the wind gusting behind him, Crawford boomed a high and deep punt that hung in the air long enough for the Hornets to race down the field and force a fair catch.

“I had to tune all the fans out,” a happy Crawford said after the game. “We practice on that every week. All the variables were working for me and I just did my job.”

A play later, Huntsville snatched all the momentum back from the Rebels and kicked off a 28-point fourth period. Another senior, free safety Gabe Franklin, stepped in front of a Sam Breyfogle pass, picked it off and raced 25 yards to the Rebels’ 13.

Two plays later, the Hornets’ Shaquille Ross powered over from 8 yards out and the game was over. The Rebels’ balloon burst.

In Huntsville’s first playoff win in 18 years, the Hornets got plenty of big plays from their stars and standout players.

Gilbert rushed for 199 yards and two touchdowns, the second of which came after a 4-yard punt by the Rebels. Ross scored three times, two on offense and one on defense.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Ross picked off a pass and rumbled 56 yards to make it 38-14.

Equally important, the Hornets got plenty of production from their lesser-known guys, players who don’t get their names in the newspaper every day.

Crawford, Kase Delaune, Darius Evans, Cody Murray, Henry Ford, Erroll Hodge and Cameron Simmons all contributed to Huntsville’s emotional 45-14 victory.

“When those guys were called on, they answered,” Hornets coach Mitchell Coey said of his unsung heroes who played a major role in Saturday’s big win.

“That punt, though, started taking the momentum back from them. That was big,” the coach added. “Then on back-to-back plays, Gabe intercepted the ball.

“Our guys are playing some good football right now,” Coey concluded after a short workout Tuesday.

The Hornets are playing some good football. And they’re playing together as a team. That’s one of the reasons they captured a co-championship in District 18-4A, and it’s one of the reasons they advanced to the area round of the Division I playoffs.

Rush to make a district meeting in Brenham on Tuesday afternoon, Coey and a couple of his assistants took time to talk about the little guys who helped the Hornets notch their biggest win in years.

“Kase Delaune had two tackles for losses the other night as a backup linebacker,” defensive coordinator Shane Martin pointed out. “Quenntin Tucker had a good game and Cameron Simmons did, too.

“Another big deal was Henry Ford. He did a great job on kickoffs.”

Defensive line coach David Cooper mentioned sophomore Darius Evans. After Gilbert scored the game’s first touchdown on a jaw-dropping 46-yard run, Evans made a heady play on the kickoff following Gilbert’s score.

A sophomore who was called up from the junior varsity team, Evans raced down the field and grabbed a free ball when it bounced over Hays’ Anthony Garza.

“He’s a JV running back who took Erroll’s place on our kickoff team because Erroll’s foot has been hurting,” Cooper said.

Hodge didn’t let a little foot trouble keep him from breaking up a pair of passes, both on fourth down.

Murray made an athletic move on a shovel pass late in the fourth quarter and snagged it before it hit the ground. And finally, Simmons intercepted a pass on the last play of the game. He nearly ran it back the length of the field for another score, but was tackled on the Rebels’ 5-yard line.

“There’s a lot of fight in us,” Crawford said. “We wanted this one.”

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