By Nick Beversdorf
Reporter
After a slow start that gave Phillips an initial six-point lead, the Hatchets came back with a vengeance and ended up scoring 40 points in the second, third and fourth quarters for an eventual 40-6 victory.
At first, the Hatchets fumbled the opening kickoff that lead to the Phillips’ possession and eventual touchdown. The 49-yard touchdown run was followed by a failed two-point conversion, setting the score at 6-0. Not letting a touchdown within the first two minutes put them in despair, the Hatchets came back starting the second quarter with a Easton Phalin throwing a 49-yard touchdown pass to Jackson List, with Phalin getting the two point conversion on the ground.
Nick Szymanski scored another touchdown from an 11-yard run and Wyatt Wenninger followed suit with another six points from a six-yard run (both two-point conversions failed). In the second half, Phalin threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Jake Ruid and again Phalin got the extra two-points from a run.
In the fourth quarter, Phalin threw a 59-yarder to Eli Wurl good for six (two-point conversion failed) and to top it off Wenninger got the last touchdown of the game with a six-yard run (PAT failed).
“Good win for the Hatchets on Friday night,” comments head coach John Larson. “It is always nice to get a victory on Hatchet field in the home opener in front of our fans. Got off to a slow start. First quarter was ugly, we gave the Loggers some incredible momentum by fumbling the opening kickoff and then allowing them to score a TD in the first two minutes of the game. After that we played well enough in the remaining three quarters to win going away.”
The Hatchets gained 493 yards on a total of 53 total offensive plays. They had 17 first downs, three by passing and 14 by rushing. They had three penalties totaling 38 yards lost and four fumbles, two of them lost.
“Offensively, we put up some big numbers statistically, 493 total yards; 292 of those yards came from some tough running by our backs. Four backs (Phalin, Szymanski, Woodall, Wenninger) would rush for more than 50 yards each. Wenninger led the way with 15 carries for 100 yards and two touchdowns. Wyatt ran with great vision and was a punishing runner all night.
“We also had some big plays through the air. Easton Phalin would finish the night 9-13 for 201 yards. and three TD’s. Jackson List hauled in a 49-yarder, Eli Wurl a 58-yarder and Jake Ruid a 22-yarder. Phalin overall threw the ball pretty well and our offensive line did a good job giving him time to throw. We made some progress offensively especially in the running game. Our goal was to get better between the tackles and we did that.
“Defensively, we played well enough to win but fell short of our team goals for the game. We gave up way too many yards against a team that has struggled offensively. Two big reasons for giving up those yards are; we were undisciplined in playing our responsibilities and we did a horrible job of tackling! If we do not stay disciplined in doing our job and greatly improve our tackling it will be tough to stop anyone on our schedule.
“Special teams took a step backwards from week one, we need to do a much better job of covering our kicks and our blocking up front and our extra point/FG team has to improve. How you practice is how you play! We need to have a great week of practice in order to take a big step forward.”
Hatchet varsity football will play on Friday at 7 p.m. at Stratford.
TMK: 0 20 8 12-40
PHL: 6 0 0 0-6
Passing: Phalin (9/13, 201 yds, 3TD).
Rushing: Phalin (7 TCB, 64 yds); Kole Woodall (3 TCB, 51 yds); Wenninger (15 TCB, 100 yds, 2TD); Szymanski (13 TCB, 53 yds, 1TD); Ruid (2 TCB, 24 yds).
Receiving: Wurl (2 rec, 81 yds, 1TD); List (3 rec, 73 yds, 1TD); Ruid (3 rec, 46 yds, 1TD); Wenninger (1 rec, 1yd).
Interceptions: Wenninger (1, 30 yds); Gerstenberger (1, 0 yds).
Punting: Wenninger (1, 26 yards, 26 avg).