Sports
Harvest Prep Ends Waterford’s Season
By: Tyler Corbit
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The Waterford Wildcats’ historic season is now over.
The Wildcats brought their stout defense to the table, but the Warriors high octane offense was too much to match. When the dust finally settled on the game, Harvest Prep was able to lift the regional championship trophy, with a final score of 29-15.
Much of the game was going to revolve around Waterford senior quarterback Isaac Huffman and Harvest Prep junior running back Daniel Bangura. While Huffman was a Gridiron Glory Player of the Year finalist, Bangura has a big honor associated with his name, leading rusher in the nation. Entering tonight’s game, Bangura had 3,781 yards on the season to go along with 51 touchdowns. The true battle between the two could not be seen however, as Huffman was ruled out with a concussion suffered last week against Trimble.
Early on it looked like Waterford would be able to be the first team all season to contain Bangura. With Waterford’s defensive line making big plays early on to shut down the star tailback. Waterford took the lead early in the game on a short run by Tyler McCutcheon, which was immediately answered by Bangura to make it 7-7. After forcing a Waterford punt, Bangura would score again to make it 13-7, and what looked like a quiet night for Bangura quickly changed. A Braden Bellville score would give Waterford a brief 15-13 lead, but that would be the last time that Waterford would have the lead in the game.
As time expired in the second quarter, Harvest Prep quarterback Jamal Lipsey would find would find Savon Mitchell from 24 yards out to give Harvest Prep a 21-15 lead going into the half. In the second half Lipsey was able to find Daquan Owens-Johnson on a short touchdown pass to expand the Warrior lead to 29-15, a lead they would keep until the clock hit zeros.
Waterford missed the presence of Huffman all game, though he rallied the troops from the sidelines, the offense made minimal impact through the air, and had to rely on the ground game. The Waterford defense came up big for most game. Holding a Harvest Prep offense that scored over 50 points in their last six of their last eight games to under 30. Yet Harvest Prep just had too much talent for a depleted Waterford team.
Although the Wildcats season came to an end, it was an impressive season from start to finish. Taking away Trimble’s grip on the TVC-Hocking and making it all the way to the regional final. While the Wildcats are now in the off-season, the Warriors advance to play in the state semi-finals next Saturday.