High school football: Hamburg dominates Daniel Boone in non-league matchup
· Yahoo Sports
It was a special night at Hawk Hill for the entire community as military personnel and first responders were honored during an appreciation night Friday, with ceremonies before the game and during halftime of the non-league matchup between the Hawks and Blazers.
Hamburg head coach Tyler Hartranft showed his appreciation postgame, thanking the administration and everyone who made the night special as the Hawks represented the occasion by wearing camo tops with white bottoms.
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The Hamburg squad showed their appreciation with an all-around dominant performance in a 56-20 blowout against Daniel Boone.
“Ever since I was a little kid, I was like, one day I’m going to play on the field in front of all these people, and doing it now is a dream come true,” quarterback Isaac McFadden said of playing on the appreciation night. “Seeing all these fans supporting us, it’s just great.”
The sophomore had himself a career night in his 13th start of his high school career, throwing for 208 yards and four touchdowns, all to different receivers, while adding another score with his legs, all in the first half alone.
From his first start last year to now, McFadden says he has grown mightily, with not only the ability to throw the deep ball, but also the more mental part of the game with reading defenses and having more confidence in himself.
And the Blazers learned that immediately.
Minutes after the helicopter flyover at Hawk Hill, Hamburg (2-1) got the ball rolling.
Owen Bentz had a 58-yard kickoff to open it up. Three plays later, McFadden connected with Alex Soto, who ran a corner route with no defender in sight, recording a 17-yard touchdown.
On the next possession, McFadden scored on a QB sneak from 1 yard out, which was set up by completions of 25 yards and 26 yards to Bentz and Elijah Metzler.
“Isaac played a good game tonight,” Hartranft said of McFadden. “We challenged him. We knew with how they were going to play us on defense, they were going to try and load the box. They were going to try and pressure us. We needed to make plays in the pass game.”
And the Hawks did just that, all game long.
Following a fumble from Boone’s Dominic Stoudt, the Hawks took over and immediately returned to the end zone.
McFadden launched a go-ball to Metzler, who snatched the ball at its high point, juked the cornerback to the ground en route to a 50-yard score as the Hamburg crowd erupted to lead 21-0.
“I have so much confidence in throwing them the ball and catching it,” McFadden said about his receivers.
It was evident that the Hawks’ wideouts love playing with McFadden because every time a play was made, they were running to him to celebrate.
Fast forward to the fourth quarter, Metzler duplicated the same spectacular catch, ‘mossing’ the Blazers’ cornerback on a 35-yard score when backup quarterback Landon Colson took over.
It was a rough night for the Blazers (1-2), who have suffered back-to-back losses.
Boone picked up only two first downs in the first half, rushing for just 66 yards and getting bottled up at the line of scrimmage nearly every down.
Senior quarterback Dominic Stoudt completed just one of 10 passes for 12 yards and threw one interception in the first half, adding 19 yards on eight carries on the ground.
When the game was out of reach in the second half, with the running clock rolling, Stoudt had a nine-yard score to punch in his fourth rushing touchdown of the season.
To begin the second quarter, the Hawks continued to pour it on.
Following a 30-yard completion to Soto, McFadden connected with Noah Menapace on a laser screen for a 12-yard score.
And the Hawks defense felt left out of celebrating in the end zone as Carlos Rodriguez intercepted Stoudt on a third-and-5 for a 15-yard pick-6.
At the time with 8:34 left in the half, Boone had only one first down in the game.
“Our defense has evolved so much from last year,” McFadden said. “I have so much trust in them getting us the ball back in for us to punch it in.”
But unfortunately for the Hawks, Rodriguez decided to hand the Blazers a gift-wrapped score after two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties gave them fantastic field position.
With 6:31 remaining, Arturo Qurindongo broke away for a 28-yard TD to get on the board, with the Blazers’ triple-option offense confusing the Hawks.
Needing to lead by 35 points to enforce the running clock in the second half, the Hawks needed to recoup the last score, which didn’t take long.
McFadden dropped back and threw his fourth and final touchdown of the day, this time from the slot to Owen Bentz on a slant from 8 yards out.
“We challenged our kids and we told them that we needed to be the tougher team on Friday night,” Hartranft said of what he told his team while preparing for Boone. “Every drill, we told them you have to be the tougher team. That’s mental discipline. That’s physicality. It’s buying into what we’re trying to sell. Our kids played their butts off, and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Leading 42-7 heading into halftime, the game was essentially over, but both squads managed to find the end zone late in the game.
For Hamburg, Elijah Metzler led the team with 98 receiving yards on five receptions, followed by Bentz with 60 yards on five receptions. On the ground, Blaise Ernst had 50 rushing yards.
The Hawks will look to keep riding their momentum into league play next week, facing Berks Catholic at home next Friday.
After a tough loss for Boone, Steve Pangburn’s Blazers face Octorara back home at Birdsboro, looking to bounce back.