HOPEWELL-LOUDON 12, DANVILLE 8
By Kyle Holsinger
BASCOM — Hopewell-Loudon was able to hold on for a win against Danville last night, 12-8. The Chieftains gained 415 total yards while the Blue Devils gained only 99. Hopewell-Loudon did however have four turnover-on-downs and two interceptions to keep the game close.
“Possessing the ball wasn’t our problem tonight,” Coach Brian Colatruglio said. “Finishing drives was somewhat of an issue. I thought, offensively, we were up and down the field, and we had a ton of yards.
We controlled the time of possession. We just ended with a couple penalties and a couple red zone stops.”
The first of Hopewell-Loudon’s turnover-on-downs came on their initial drive. On a fourth-and-three on the Danville 42-yard line, Chieftain RB Braylon Martinez was stopped for no gain to thwart his team’s drive.
On the ensuing drive, Danville (2-1) had a turnover-on-downs themselves. After driving 39 yards to the Chieftain 19, Hopewell’s Mason Reinhart came through with a sack on Danville QB Jacob Hackman to end the Blue Devil drive.
The momentum from the defensive stand transferred into a 10-play, 70-yard scoring drive. Chieftain QB Jacoby Ellis hit Jack Colatruglio over the middle for a 27-yard gain to set up a seven-yard Martinez touchdown run on the following play.
Hopewell elected to go for a two-point conversion and failed, leaving the score 6-0 in their favor with 9:56 left in the second quarter.
A short punt by Danville on their next drive gave Hopewell-Loudon (3-0) great field position at the Blue Devil 38. Unfortunately, the Chieftains had another turnover-on-downs after getting down to their opponent’s 10-yard line.
Later in the half, the Scarlet & Gray were able to get the ball back at their own 46. A 19-yard pass from sophomore Kellen Frankart to Evan Eilrich got H-L into Danville territory. Four plays later, Ellis threw a screen pass to the left to Martinez. Martinez was able to weave in and out of the Blue Devill defense to get to the end zone for a 25-yard TD reception. A failed PAT kick left the Chieftains up, 12-0, and they held that lead going into halftime.
At the half, Hopewell-Loudon had held Danville to 31 total yards, all of them on the ground.
Hopewell-Loudon came out of the half and drove 46 yards on seven plays before Frankart threw an interception in the end zone to Danville’s Wesley Payne.
The Chieftains got the ball back at their own 45-yard line. After a personal foul penalty on H-L, they found themselves in a third-and-27 scenario. An Ellis screen pass to Frankart gained 19 yards, but Ellis’ pass on fourth-and-eight was incomplete for a third turnover-on-downs for Hopewell-Loudon.
Two plays later, Danville’s Hackman found senior Caleb Lucas wide open and all alone for a 59-yard score. The Blue Devils’ Aidan Burke punched it in on the two-point conversion attempt to get Danville within four points of the Chieftains, 12-8, with 3:05 to go in the third quarter.
“It feels like we’re in complete control of the game, and all of a sudden, it’s one bad play and it’s a one-score game,” Colatruglio said.
Hopewell-Loudon proceeded to go on a 16-play, 43-yard drive that saw the Chieftains get down to the Danville 10 before a holding penalty backed them up to the 21-yard line. Ellis’ incompletion on fourth-and-goal from there gave his team their final turnover-on-downs.
Hopewell-Loudon’s defense came up with a three-and-out against Danville to get the ball back on a punt downed at their own 29-yard line with 5:59 remaining in the game.
The Chieftains ran the clock out from there on a 13-play drive that saw three third down conversions to keep the chains moving.
“When our backs were against the wall, and we really needed to grind some stuff out, our defense got a stop when it needed to,” Colatruglio concluded. “That’s a really good football team…and I won’t be surprised at all if they win their region”
Statistics
Hopewell-Loudon had 267 yards passing and 148 yards rushing on the night. Ellis completed 20-of-31 passes for 213 yards, one TD, and one INT. Frankart was 8-of-12 for 54 yards and one INT.
Martinez led the Chieftains in rushing with 88 yards on 19 attempts and a touchdown. Frankart had 13 rushes for 60 yards.
Jack Colatruglio ended with nine receptions for 84 yards. Martinez caught eight passes for 58 yards and a TD. Eilrich had six catches for 59 yards.
Danville passed for 61 yards and rushed for 38 yards. Hackman was 2-of-8 passing for 61 yards and a TD. Burke led the way in rushing for the Blue Devils with 30 yards on 12 carries.
Hopewell-Loudon hosts Gibsonburg (2-1) and Danville hosts Mount Gilead (2-1) next Friday.
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