Section 8, 9-Man: Comets kick Panthers 49-8

Published 09:58 p.m., October 27, 2009

By Jon Weisbrod

Daily Journal

It’s not going to be this easy from here on out.

After dismantling sixth-seeded Onamia 49-8 Tuesday night in the opening round of the Section 8, 9Man tournament, the Hillcrest football team knows what lies ahead.

A date with Bertha-Hewitt.

“Coach just told us after the game to stay focused,” said Hillcrest running back Zach Taylor, who ran for three touchdowns and 72 yards on just eight carries against the Panthers. “It’s all about staying intense in practice, eating right and things like that.”

The Comets will travel to Bertha Saturday evening for a 7 p.m. confrontation with the second-seeded Bears, who defeated Eagle Valley Tuesday.

In Week 2, Bertha-Hewitt pinned a 22-18 loss on Hillcrest (7-2) in Fergus Falls.

“All we want is another shot,” Hillcrest coach Charlie Brue said. “We all know it’s going to get very difficult from here on out.”

On Tuesday, however, it was anything but.

Hillcrest had little trouble moving the ball against Onamia (4-5), racking up 406 yards of total offense, most of which came in the first 24 minutes.

By halftime, the Comets had a 42-0 lead as Taylor found the end zone from 8, 20 and 10 yards out, scampering to paydirt virtually untouched on all three touchdowns.

“I had some huge holes to run through,” Taylor said. “Jeff Schmidt is probably the funest guy to run behind. Andrew (Twedt) does a great job of lead-blocking too.”

Schmidt — who stands 6-foot-6 and weighs 280 pounds — teamed up with the rest of his sturdy offensive line to help the Comets rack up 286 yards on the ground.

The Hillcrest defense also stepped up, holding the Panthers to just 114 total yards while creating four turnovers.

“That’s something we’ve been stressing in practice lately,” Brue said. “This defense is going to help carry this team as we get deeper in the playoffs.”

The quick-strike Comets offense started the blowout on its first possession, needing only three plays to find the end zone as Devon Apgar plunged in from two yards out to help make it 7-0 with 10 minutes, 11 seconds remaining in the first quarter. The short TD run was set up by a Jarod Schultz interception on the third play from scrimmage.

Roughly four minutes later, Schultz polished off an efficient four-play, 34-yard drive with an 8-yard TD run through a gaping off the left side.

The Comets blew the game open on their next offensive possession when senior receiver Andrew Hohncke took a reverse 48 yards into the end zone on the third play of the drive.

At that point, the Comets had 10 offensive plays, 96 yards, three touchdowns and a 21-0 lead.

“I thought the offense executed well tonight,” Brue said. “We came out with a lot of focus.”

Despite a three touchdown lead, Hillcrest remained full-speed ahead, scoring three more times before halftime and grabbing a sizable 42-0 advantage. The final three touchdowns before the break came in a 10-play span.

Schultz — who completed 6 of 11 passes for 116 yards — led the Comets with 91 yards in the ground on just five carries, a robust 18.2 average.

Twedt came in second with 79 yards on seven carries, including a 58-yard touchdown scamper early in the second half to help extend the lead to 49-0.

Hohncke registered a team-high four receptions for 37 yards.

On defense, Twedt led the charge with seven tackles while Taylor picked up a team-best three tackles-for-loss.

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