TURNER — Leavitt's offense had one message for the coaching staff as it developed the game plan for the Pine Tree Conference Class B semifinal against Hampden Academy.
Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Leavitt running back Josh Strickland hurdles Hampden Academy's Nolan Turner as looks to take off into open field during first half action Friday night in Turner. To the surprise of just about everyone on the field and in the stands, Strickland was given a penalty for hurdling and the Hornets were stung with a loss of yards instead of a first down.
Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Leavitt's Zach Frost, #36 is first to hit Hampden Academy's Logan Steward before other teammates can pile on before he can escape into the secondary.
Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Hampden Academy's Alex Cust, left drags down Leavitt's Josh Strickland as teammate Jonathan Haws, right pushes him back during first half action in Turner.
Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Leavitt's Lucas Witham intercepts a pass intended for Hampden Academy's Cody Miller during Friday night's game in Turner.
We want redemption.
"We played very poorly on the offensive line and, honestly, our backfield didn't do their jobs the first time we played," Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway said, referring to Leavitt's 29-22 overtime win in Week 1 against Hampden. "Those guys said, 'Coach, we want to run the football, and we're going to do it right this time.'"
With few frills in the game plan, the bigger and stronger Hornets pounded the ball against the Broncos, tallying 381 yards rushing in an impressive 35-7 win.
"This has been our dream since second grade," senior QB Eric Theiss said. "At the beginning of the year, we set a goal. We have yet to accomplish it, but we're on the way."
Josh Strickland led the bulldozers with 265 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries. Theiss and Jordan Hersom added two rushing touchdowns apiece for the top-seeded Hornets (10-0), who are headed back to the Eastern B championship for the first time since 2002, Hathaway's first season. They will host No. 3 Gardiner for the conference championship next weekend. No. 4 Hampden ends its season at 7-3.
"Me and Hathaway talked a little bit earlier this week and he said I needed to step up a little bit," said Strickland, a senior tailback. "I came out here and did my best."
Strickland's best was a little too good in what was the turning point of the game. Tied at 7 on the last play of the first quarter, Strickland was flagged for hurdling over a Hampden tackler, an obscure rule that cost the Hornets 15 yards and pinned them back to their own 16 to start the second quarter.
Strickland made sure he wouldn't have to hurdle anyone the next time he got the ball, bursting to the left side and outracing the entire Hampden defense 84 yards to pay dirt.
"I didn't know hurdling was a penalty. I've done it all year. I guess they didn't like it today," Strickland said. "I was pretty angry, so (the TD run) was my revenge, I guess."
"He runs hard all the time," said senior right guard Luke Wiley. "He doesn't go down on first contact. As a line, we like that kind of stuff. It's worth all the hard work that we put in."
Leavitt threw the ball just four times all night, but Theiss' first completion, a 28-yard strike to Jon Letourneau, was the big play on a key scoring drive just before the half. That set up a 9-yard TD run by Theiss in which he sidestepped a tackler in the backfield, then stiff-armed another at the 5 before crossing the goal line to make it 21-7 with 38 seconds left in the half.
The Hornets made it book-end scores on each side of the intermission with a fake inside run to Strickland and a reverse to Hersom, who ran 31 yards untouched for his first TD just 1:32 into the third quarter. The play worked so well, the Hornets ran it again to cap their next drive with a 16-yard scoring run by Hersom.
"We just thought as much as they were seeing Josh and Eric that it was pretty well set up," Hathaway said. "Their strength is their speed on defense, so we wanted to have some things in the book to use that against them."
The Broncos didn't drive into Leavitt territory in the first half. Their only score came after Ryan Blake recovered a Theiss fumble at Leavitt's 33. A 19-yard pass from Jon Haws (10-for-20, 76 yards) to Nolan Turner got them to the 8, and Michael Jenkins pounded it in from the 3 to briefly tie the game.
"They just ouplayed us. When you're beat 35-7, there isn't too much to say," Hampden coach Harry McCluskey said. "I'm not taking anything away from (Leavitt), but we're better than we played tonight. Why, I don't know. We just couldn't seem to get in synch. And they had something to do with it because they played a heck of a game."
Just as it did on offense, Leavitt's defensive front overpowered Hampden in the trenches to put pressure on Haws, the PTC's leading passer. The Hornets collected five sacks, led by Jesse Pelletier (2.5 sacks) and Matt Pellerin (1.5 sacks, forced fumble). Lucas Witham added an interception.
"We lost contain (on Haws) a couple of times in the first half, but the emphasis for us at halftime was to keep Haws in the pocket because we thought Pellerin and (Mat) Porter would get a really good push in the middle," Hathaway said.
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