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Usually, there’s no place for a four-letter word in scholastic football. But one was hanging over Hickory High’s football team during the ensuing week following its loss at Wilmington.
M-U-S-T — as in a must-win situation for the Hornets entering Friday night’s District 10 Region 3-AA showdown with Grove City.
The defending Class AAA titlist and owner of a 26-game regular-season winning skein, Grove City already had a win over Wilmington. And 6 minutes in, the Eagles coerced Hickory’s DeShawn Coleman into 2 fumbles.
But as Coleman confided, “I just kept my head up, kept pushin’. Everybody had to keep pushin’ harder and harder.”
Count Coleman among those who rolled up their sleeves and put their collective nose to the grindstone.
The senior speedster scored 4 touchdowns — highlighted by a 92-yard 1st-half concluding interception return — as Hickory harvested a 41-12 win at Hornet Stadium.
Owing to a series of miscues, the Eagles’ entire 1st-half field position took place in their own end. Grove City (2-1, 3-1) got away with that, however, as Coleman coughed up a pair of fumbles, negating his 30-yard 1st-quarter scoring sprint.
Chad Williams’ 4-yard TD run on the 2nd stanza’s initial play enabled the Eagles to edge within 7-6. A shanked put set up Coleman’s 30-yard touchdown run at the 7:24 mark that had Hickory ahead 14-6.
But a 14-play, 7-plus-minute 1st half-concluding drive ended in Eagles’ anguish. On a 3rd-and-14 pass from his own 38-yard line, Grove City quarterback Jared Graham got greedy, and his overthrown pass down the middle was pilfered by Coleman.
The subsequent return and Jordan Wombacker’s conversion kick hoisted the Hornets to a 20-6 margin at intermission. Grove City never got going thereafter.
“Was it a must-win?” Hornets’ head coach Bill Brest rhetorically asked. “I don’t think so. But,” he added with a relieved smile, “it feels good to win.
“Like I said to the team,” Brest continued. “When we lose, it’s on me; when we win, it’s on them. It’s all about them. They did everything we asked them to do.”
Coleman collected a game-high 18-carry, 155-yard rushing performance that included 23-, 30- and 37-yrd scoring sprints — the latter on Hickory’s 2nd serics of the 2nd half. In addition, quarterbacks Michael Nardone and Matt Voytik scored on 1- and 13-yard runs in the 3rd and 4th frames, respectively.
Grove City’s ground game, featuring Williams and Foster Reznor, consumed the clock and the Eagles ended with 72 offensive plays. However they also committed a handful of turnovers.
“Field position-wise, maybe we were a little bit reckless, but we were a little bit under-manned tonight and had to take our shots when we had ’em,” admitted Grove City head coach Jeff Bell, referencing two 4th-down gambles and an on-side kick. “But as the game went on we lost a few more kids and the wheels sort’ve fell off.
“ ... I’m not making excuses, but just about everything that could go wrong went wrong at the beginning of the game,” Bell continued. “It was key to get off to a good start against them. That ill-advised pass at the end of the half put them up twenty-to-six, and that was a miscommunication.
“Those things happen. We shouldn’t have been greedy; we should’ve been a little more cautious and went in fourteen-to-six and regrouped at halftime. That hurt us, going in at halftime, them scoring that touchdown.”
“We always like to go in at halftime with momentum,” Brest explained. “and we knew we were going to get the ball (at the beginning) of the second half (after deferring the opening coin toss). That was huge! From one score, to being up two scores going in at halftime and knowing you’re going to get the ball back, that was a big boost for our mind-set for the second half.”
Coleman’s quick-strike capability aside, Hickory (2-1, 3-1) had only 29 offensive plays and was outgained 227-198, including a trio of turnovers. However the 5 forced turnovers, coupled with 1st-half sacks by Daulton Linton, Joey Hines and Austin Aikins set a tone.
“Our mind-set is always ‘One week at a time, strive to be one-and-oh.’ We know that this region is a gauntlet, but what a great team we played tonight. They’re an outstanding football team, very explosive,” Brest began.
“They did everything we asked them to do, they paid attention to detail at practice this week, they picked it up with the intensity and their focus and their preparation ... and I’m just very proud of the boys,” Brest beamed, adding in regard to Coleman,
“We always try to keep the positives with our guys with their mind-set, and he did. He kept saying, ‘Feed me the ball, feed me the ball, feed me the ball’ and he was ready to play. He’s a mentally-tough kid.”
While Grove City was getting its district title, Hickory hoisted hardware in AA last year. So when the Eagles’ enrollment dipped and they joined Region 3-AA, it turned a Week-4 regular-season game into much more. And the possibility exists that the two clubs could meet again come November.
“I don’t know if that’s something you want to wish for,” Bell ruefully acknowledged after considering his club’s injury list, though quickly adding, “Definitely we would like to get healthy and get things back on track, and definitely be a team that, hopefully, can make some noise in the playoffs.”
“You know, that’s ironic ... because we felt like that last Friday night,” Brest related. “I told Jeff, ‘Coach, I have great respect for you guys and we’re glad you’re down here in our region, and you’re gonna be in the playoffs down the road, we know that. You’ve got a great football team.
“It was a tough bus ride home (last) Friday night,” Brest recalled. “but we told the team, ‘We’re excited about our year, we’re excited about this football team, and come back ready to work , and they did. As of noon, we’re getting ready for Titusville.”
———
GROVE CITY 0 6 0 6 12
HICKORY 7 13 14 6 41
Scoring plays
H — Coleman, 23 run (Wombacker kick)
GC — Williams, 4 run (kick failed)
H — Coleman, 30 run (Wombacker kick)
H — Coleman, 92 interception return (kick failed)
H — Coleman, 37 run (Wombacker kick)
H — Nardone, 1 run (Wombacker kick)
GC — Graham, 1 run (pass failed)
H — Voytik, 13 run (Wombacker kick)
Team stats
GROVE CITY HICKORY
17 First downs 9
206 Rushing yards 171
21 Passing yards 27
10-4--1 Att-comp-int 4-3-0
227 Total yards 198
4-4 Fumbles-lost 3-3-
5-52 Penalties-yards lost 4-35
Individual stats
Rushing: GROVE CITY — Williams 29-97, Reznor 16-87, Fulkerson 5-15, Skibinski 2-1, Graham 10-(-2); HICKORY — Coleman 18-155, Voytik 2-12, Lewis 3-5, Nardone 2-(-1).
Passing: GROVE CITY — Graham 10-4-1-, 21; HICKORY — Nardone 3-2-0, 18, Voytik 1-1-0, 8.
Receiving: GROVE CITY — Trinch 2-6, Williams 1-18, Reznor 1-15; HICKORY — Coleman 2-18, Derloni 1-12, Pryts 1-8.
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Hickory's DeShawn Coleman breaks loose for a touchdown during Friday's Region 3-AA clash against Grove City at Hornet Stadium in Hermitage.
Coleman, Hornets roll past GC
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