Hersey blows out Maine East
Hersey's football team stuck to the basics Friday against visiting Maine East at Ronald Goins Stadium.
"Our goal today was to execute to perfection," Hersey quarterback Jordan Hansen said. "We wanted to get the job done, and to get the backups some game experience."
Hansen led the way scoring 3 rushing touchdowns and passed for two more as Hersey routed Central Suburban Conference member Maine East 63-6 in a nonconference game on Parents Night.
Hansen rushed 5 times for 91 yards and scored on runs of 13, 19 and 3 yards. He completed 4 of 6 passes for 167 yards.
"We wanted to be aggressive and get points on the board early," Hansen stated. "We executed pretty well and I was able to get the ball to our playmakers."
After receiving the opening kickoff, the 3-0 Huskies went long on the first play. Hansen connected with sophomore wide receiver Ben Clawson on a crossing pattern for a 60 yard touchdown. Max McCall kicked the first of his 7 extra points for a 7-0 lead.
On the ensuing kickoff, Maine East (0-3) was not able to field the ball cleanly, and as the ball bounced into the end zone, Hersey's Anthony Morris recovered the ball for a 14-0 lead.
"On the kickoff, we had a first-time player back there and we weren't sure if he should down the ball or pick it up and run," said Maine East coach Bob Winkel. "That was my fault for not knowing what he should do. We have some nice athletes, but many are still learning Football 101.
Maine East only dressed 19 players with eight playing both ways.
Hersey would continue its aggressive play the rest of the quarter in building a 42-0 lead.
Hansen would score 2 touchdowns and then connect again with Clawson, this time on a 40-yard scoring play.
Senior Cole Vanstaalduinen would score on a 6-yard run to finish the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter, Hansen finished a 3-play, 40-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown. Hansen completed a 37-yard pass to junior Ben Randall to set up the score.
Reserve quarterback Jimmy Makuh hit Dylan Carlquist with a 15-yard touchdown pass to end the first half, giving Hersey a 55-0 lead.
The third quarter saw Hersey score on Ricardo Martinez' 5-yard run. Martinez was impressive, rushing for 101 yards on 10 carries.
The Demons put their only points on the board with 7:32 left in the game.
Quarterback Cesar Graham connected with Isaac O'Neil on a 51-yard pass play. Graham finished with 135 passing yards on 8 of 19 passing.
The Huskies out gained Maine East 500 to 135 in total yards.
The defense, led by linebacker James Meyers, held the Blue Demons in check.
"I just want to go hard all the time," said Meyers. "Going into this week, we had respect for them. We also wanted to get our defensive backups in the game. It's a chance for them to get some reps, and down the stretch it's important for players to have that playing time. We had to keep our defensive focus."
Hersey coach Joe Pardun saw the win as a tool to keep measuring his team.
"Our goal was to continue to measure ourselves as a team and to get better," he said. "We were able to get a lot of guys some good experience. We'll get a good test next week at Glenbrook North."