The undefeated
Hunter Huss Huskies had aspirations of winning the state title on their minds.
The defending state champions, the Charlotte Catholic Cougars, had repeating
the state title on theirs. The Huskies have pitched 6 shutouts this year and
have held three opponents to single digits. The Cougars have pitched five
shutouts and have held four opponents to single digits. Both were coming off big shutout wins from last week. Prince Bemah returned to action for Hunter Huss after missing the previous two games with a sprained knee. So something had to
give.
The
Cougars got the ball first and returned the kickoff to the Huskies 40-yard
line. But would shoot themselves in the foot with procedure penalties. A sack
by Jaheim Mullen would force the Cougars to punt. The Huskies were forced to
punt on their first drive as well. A short punt gave the Cougars great field
position around the Huskies 30-yard line.
Catholic
would get on the board with a Lamagea McDowell 10-yard touchdown run (PAT no
good). In the second quarter, the Huskies were forced to punt deep near their
end zone. Michael Neel blocked a Trevor Hargett punt and returned it ten yards
for a touchdown. Paul Neel’s run for the two-point conversion made it 14-0. The
Huskies tried to get a late drive going in the first half to avoid a half-time
shutout but would get no closer than the Cougars’ 35-yard line.
The
Huskies received the second half kickoff and would make the drive count. Jamal
Littlejohn would cap it off with a 14-yard touchdown run (Hargett kick). The
Huskies got a big break on the following drive as the Cougars attempted a fake
punt, but were stopped at the Hunter Huss 47-yard line well short of the first
down. The Huskies were unable to capitalize on and were forced to punt. Brian
Jacobs would return the punt 73 yards for the touchdown that extended the
Cougars’ lead back to 13. The PAT was no good.
Nothing
would go right for Hunter Huss after that. Lamagea McDowell put the nail in the
coffin midway through the fourth quarter with a seven yard touchdown run.
McDowell’s run for the two-point conversion was good, giving the Cougars their
largest lead of the night at 28-7. That score was set up by a 41-yard first
down run by Paul Neel. That would be all she wrote.
The
Cougars defense registered three sacks and three interceptions. Nick King got
two sacks and Ari Rodriguez had one. Jacob Schachte, Adam Robbe and Joseph
Satori each intercepted a pass from Huss quarterback Zo Wallace. Robbe, King, Rodriguez, Schachte and Kevin Coss all had tackles for loss. Jaheim Mullen
recorded two sacks for the Huskies. He, Deaven Lowery, Marcus Mauney and Prince Bemah also had tackles for loss.
“It’s a
tough loss. We have nothing to hang our heads about. I’m proud of these young
men. Nobody expected us to even be here throughout the course of the season.” said
Hunter Huss head coach Jamar McKoy “We finished the season 13-1 and I am proud.
Right now, it just hurts. Right now, it’s just painful.”
“We needed special teams to be
special and that didn’t happen for us.” McKoy said “We had a blocked punt for a
touchdown and a punt return for a touchdown. They scored 14 offensive points
and we scored 7. If those things don’t happen, we’re still in this ball game
and possibly tie it or just win it in the end. We had some miscues and
turnovers and that hurt us in the end. That punt return for a touchdown was the
turning point in the game.”
Charlotte
Catholic will host another Big South foe, Kings Mountain (11-3). The
Mountaineers defeated the top seeded Northwest Cabarrus (13-1) 49-28. Hunter
Huss’s season ends at 13-1.
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