Huntington Defeats Berne Union to pick up first win
By: Ben Axelrod
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CHILLICOTHE, OH (WOUB)-The Berne Union Rockets traveled to Huntington to take on the Huntsmen in a non-conference matchup. The Huntsmen would get off to a strong start to take control of the game early on.
To get started on the first play of the game, Berne Union had their pass intercepted as Jonah Yates came in to make the interception for the Huntsmen. Huntington, on their first offensive drive, would take advantage of the Rockets’ turnover, and they would get a short rushing touchdown from Wes Hamilton to go up 7-0 early.
Huntington would then force a Rockets three-and-out and would drive down the field to get another quick score. Gordon Cyrus would have a short rushing touchdown to put Huntington up 13-0 with just over seven minutes left in the first quarter.
Later in the first, the Huntsmen got more going with their passing game, with Huntington quarterback Frankie Hirsch finding LJ Cooper down the field, which then helped set up another Cyrus rushing TD. That would give the Huntsmen a 20-0 lead at the end of quarter one.
Berne Union would get started to get things going offensively to begin the second quarter with Carson Kiger throwing one up deep across the middle of the field to Ashton O’Rourke, who made an impressive catch around multiple Huntsmen defenders. The Rockets capped off the drive with a short receiving touchdown for James Hocking to cut Huntington’s lead to 20-7.
The Huntsmen on offense got back to running the ball well while slowly driving down the field, but on a fourth-and-goal, Berne Union would get a big stop due to a Colton Moore sack.
At the end of the first half, Huntington would find their way back in the end zone with Hirsch making a nice throw down the sideline to Troy McDonald to put the Huntsmen up 27-7 at the half.
On Berne Union’s first offensive drive of the second half, they would drive down the field, but the Huntsmen would prevent them from scoring with Kiger throwing a pass intercepted by LJ Cooper in the end zone. Huntington would capitalize on the interception with Hamilton having a short rushing touchdown to put the Huntsmen up 34-7.
The Huntsmen would go on to force a third Rockets turnover, Calvin Hursh forcing a fumble that Huntington would recover. The Huntsmen wouldn’t go on to score after that, with the Rockets eventually getting an interception to get their first turnover in the game.
Not a lot of scoring happened in the second half, with it being a defensive half. Huntington would let the clock wind down in the second half to win this game by a final score of 34-7. The Huntsmen had an impressive defensive performance by only allowing the Rockets to score 7 points.
Next, Huntington will host Paint Valley while Berne Union will travel to play Symmes Valley.