TURNER – The theme of this year’s homecoming at Leavitt was game shows, and the Hornets made sure to send their fans home with a nice parting gift, a 26-14 win over Hampden Academy.

Tyler Green rushed for 182 yards and a touchdown and Evan Barker added 115 yards and two scores as the Hornets (4-1) put together one of their best two-way efforts of the season.

Leavitt adeptly handled Hampden’s no-huddle offense in the first half, then stepped up its running game in the second half to pull away from the Broncos (2-3).

“The nice thing is that we run no huddle all the time in practice,” Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway said. “Lots of times when we practice, most of the guys that are starting on defense are on the ‘look’ team, so the see it every Tuesday and Wednesday for a half-hour, probably. The only thing it hurt is it kept us from substituting as much as we like.”

Thanks to a 37-yard return on the opening kickoff by Jon Letourneau, the Hornets only needed to drive 47 yards to take the early lead. Barker put them up 6-0 with a three-yard keeper three minutes into the game.

Barker scored his second touchdown on a five-yard run early in the second quarter. Hampden finally got it’s hurry-up offense into a rhythm late in the half behind QB Shawn Smith (13-for-29, 166 yards, 1 INT) and cut the deficit in half on a two-yard sneak by Smith with two minutes left.

Letourneau intercepted Smith on the first play of the second half and returned it to midfield to set up Leavitt’s next score, a two-yard run by Jeff Newton (eight carries, 49 yards).

The bigger Hornets wore down the Broncos in the third and fourth quarters. Green provided the capper with a 79-yard touchdown jaunt with 9:14 left in the game.

“It was a good job by the the linemen and the stunt blockers like Josh Strickland,” Green said. “I was just happy to get in the end zone. We had to finish them off.”

“I thought our offensive line played real well,” Hathaway said. “They gave us plenty of time to throw the ball and created some good running lanes. I think that was the difference.”

Smith added a three-yard TD run with 1:25 to go to complete the scoring. Leavitt tallied 364 yards rushing to Hampden’s 81 yards.