Hurons win August 26 football opener over Hillman
It took one quarter of play to find a groove, but when they did, the Huron football team rolled with unstoppable force. A 28-point second quarter powered the Hurons to a 46-0 win over Hillman in the football opener August 26 for both teams. That sets the stage for a showdown with the Posen Vikings Friday, who suffered an 8-0 loss to Cedarville last week. Huron senior Cody Wenzel, seeing action mostly at running back, scored three touchdowns, including the first one in spectacular fashion. With the Hurons driving at the Hillman eight-yard-line, the pitch went left to Wenzel, who found no running room, and cut back to the right, where he out-ran all defenders to go in untouched for the score.
?It was a lead option play with Cody as the pitch man,? explained coach Mike Kosiara. ?It fell apart at the point of attack. I don?t know how Cody did the rest. I do know this: the players kept working. The offensive linemen were continuing to make blocks.? Wenzel, lined up to kick the extra point, scored the two-point conversion when the ball got loose and he ran around the left end to make it 8-0 with 10:56 left in the second quarter.
ON THE ENSUING kickoff by Wenzel, the Tigers were trapped at their own seven-yard-line. On the first play of the drive, Tiger quarterback Brad Mercer found himself being chased by junior linebacker Trent Holmes who stripped Mercer of the ball. Mark Grulke and Evan Vogelheim pounced on the fumble in the end zone with Vogelheim getting credit for the touchdown. Wenzel?s kick, out of a hold by Dylan Centala, made it 15-0 with 9:56 left in the half. On Hillman?s next possession Holmes recovered a fumble on a third-and-three situation for the Tigers at the Huron 38. After Centala had picked up a first down running, Wenzel scored again, this time with a bolt around left end in a play that went as designed. His kick made it 22-0 with 5:19 left in the half.
But the Hurons were not finished scoring in the second quarter. After a pass interference call gave the Tigers a first down, Wenzel picked off a fourth-down pass at the Huron 23 and raced down the left sideline for a 77-yard TD return. The PAT kick failed, but the Hurons led 28-0 at the half. Junior running back Tyler Schuiteman got the next Huron TD, cashing in on a three-yard run at the end of a short Huron drive. A miserable punt by Hillman gave the Hurons the ball at the Hillman 14 yard-line. Four plays later, Schuiteman went over right tackle for the score at the 7:01 mark of the quarter, making the score 34-0 after a misplayed PAT attempt.
SOPHOMORE QUARTERBACK Chase McLennnan capped a seven-play, 50-yard drive with a four-yard run in the closing seconds of the third quarter. Speedy halfback Dylan Centala ended the scoring with a 47-yard run down the left side with 6:12 left in the game. Coach Kosiara was pleased with the play of his offense in opening up holes for the runners. Centala rushed for 109 yards on nine carries and Wenzel had 98 yards on 10 tries. Rogers City rushed for 252 yards on the day. ?Being the first game of the season, I am very pleased with the play of the offense,? Kosiara said. ? Cody and Dylan had big games, so that must mean our offensive line played well, too.? The coach had good things to say about McLennan, who started his first varsity game at quarterback.
?We are easing Chase in, but he is progressing well. We will be asking him to do more in our next two games,? Kosiara said of his sophomore QB. Senior Austin Fairbanks, last year?s MVP, will return to the position in the season?s fourth game. The play of the defense, in registering the first shut-out of Kosiara?s brief varsity coaching career, stood out. He explained. ?We are running a
BRAGGING RIGHTS will be on the line as the Hurons tangle with Posen Friday. Posen, under head coach Glenn Budnick, has made the playoffs each of the past six seasons. The Hurons last made the playoffs in 2001. ?Posen will definitely be fired up next week, especially since the game is in their house. They will be deceptive, running the T-formation, and hard-nosed on defense. We will prepare for them like everyone else. Every game is big for this team.?
Since 1981, the teams have squared off just three times, the last two 45-0, and 12-0 Huron wins in 1986 and 1987. In 1981, Posen took an 8-6 win over Rogers City, the season before the Hurons went to the Silverdome as the Class C state runner-up. Kickoff is 7 p.m. in Posen.