Huskies Crush Crusaders, 41-7
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CADIZ -- First, it was concern over masks and social distancing, then came the weather. As the evening went on, none of those things were able to shut down a game at Wagner Field on Friday night.
Despite a nearly 45-minute delay to start the contest, Harrison Central's explosive Huskies were impressive in their opener, scoring non-stop in the first half before stopping visiting Steubenville Catholic 41-7 Friday night.
Coach Anthony Hayes' Huskies, coming off a 4-6 finish a year ago, opened the season with the impressive win, Harrison Central's first season-opening win in five years. It is back in action on Thursday playing host to Toronto.
Catholic Central's second-year grid boss Anthony Agresta saw his gridders drop their opener after a year in which they finished at 5-5. The Crusaders will welcome River next Saturday at Harding Stadium.
"We preached to them all week about getting out of the gates faster," Hayes said. "That's been a problem for us in the past. We are a year older and we have a lot of the kids back, so we knew it was important to jump out quick.
"Our kids and coaches have endured a lot with the pandemic and then we come here (Friday) and have the weather delay. They have had to make a lot of adjustments and that's where I am most proud of them. They just keep pushing forward."
Harrison came out of the gates smoking with an 81-yard kickoff return by James Brooks to start the game. Brooks took the kick and sailed down the right side untouched for the score. Brooks would finish the contest with 200 rushing yards on just four carries to go with the return.
"The fact that we had a nice special teams play right off the bat, we just had a nice game all the way around," Hayes said. "We are proud of our coaches. Of course, we aren't doing anything that everyone else is doing. It's been a crazy year."
Following a Crusader punt, Harrison put together another quick score just six plays after taking over on their own 20. At the 5:33 mark, it was ultra-talented senior Kobe Mitchell who connected with Jonathan Vermillion on a 40-yard scoring play. Jace Madzia booted his second PAT for a 14-0 lead.
Just minutes later, Mitchell hooked up with Trevor Carman on a pair of passes, the first covering 31 yards and the second going for 29 stripes and a score with 3:20 left in the first. Madzia's boot pushed it to 21-0.
Harrison had one more score in it before the first frame would end. Brooks added his second with a spectacular 78-yard run with 1:32 on the clock. Madzia added the PAT.
In the second frame, the Huskies would tack on to their lead at the 8:24 mark as Mitchel found an opening on the left side and scampered 25 yards for a score.
Before the half, Brooks blazed 80 yards on another scoring run at the 1:21 mark. Madzia added the PAT to close the Huskies scoring.
"We knew that they were very good that didn't surprise us," Coach Agresta said later. "We also knew that we were young and inexperienced and couple that with our starting defensive endout with an ACL, our starting defensive back with surgery on a broken finger and one of our starting linebackers is out with a strained ACL. Those are usually two-starters. That team is probably physically better than us already so it showed."
It wasn't until later in the fourth that the Crusaders got on the board on a 16-yard run by Isaiah Mullins. Isaac Hough added the PAT.