Woodstock nips Hampshire

Hampshire owned the line of scrimmage and dominated the statistics, but Woodstock led in the only statistic that matters.

Dante Arnold returned an interception 80 yards for a touchdown and the Blue Streaks reached deep into their bag of tricks to win their first game of the year, defeating Hampshire 15-14 in Fox Valley Conference Fox Division action at Woodstock’s Larry Dale Field Friday night.

Woodstock led 15-8 after Arnold stepped in front of Kyle Anderson’s pass and brought it all the way back.

Hampshire answered with a 59-yard drive capped by Chase Lundry’s second touchdown of the game. But Anderson was tackled short of the end zone on the 2-point try and the Blue Streaks ran out the clock.

“I thought we played the best game we did all season,” said Hampshire coach Dan Cavanaugh. “We played hard on both sides of the ball. I thought we dominated the line of scrimmage, but we gave up some big plays.”

Both teams are 1-6, 1-4.

Lundry had 109 yards in the second half alone, finishing with 161 yards on 37 carries and scoring runs of 6 and 7 yards.

“That was our game plan, just pound the ball the whole game,” said Lundry. “We figured we could beat them with our line and we did. We just had to make sure that we got in the end zone when we got our chances.”

Hampshire ran 64 plays to Woodstock’s 35, and gained 290 yards to just 174 for the Blue Streaks.

The Whip-Purs’ defense harassed the Blue Streaks and quarterback Tyler Purkey all night. Grant Bender, Philip LaPointe and Michael Gibas sacked Purkey, and Andrew Wilson and Ben Bednarek recovered fumbles.

But the Whips were victimized by Woodstock’s razzle-dazzle. The Streaks’ first scoring drive was kept alive by a 27-yard run on a fake punt by Matthew Swedberg. Earlier, Joe Hunt ran 21 yards on a reverse. Woodstock also pulled out a fake reverse, a halfback option pass, and an option pitch out of the Wildcat formation.