The Eagles scored on their first six possessions.

By PETE MOLLICA

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

LIBERTY — Four weeks ago Hubbard High was sitting at 2-3 and feeling sorry for themselves.

Then first-year coach Brian Hoffman challenged his team to turn things around and salvage the season.

Friday night the Eagles (6-3) won their fourth straight game with an impressive 45-13 victory over Liberty in a Trumbull Athletic Conference game.

Hubbard is now 5-1 in the TAC, but their only defeat was to Lakeview, which is 6-0 and has clinched a tie for the league crown.

“We’ve come a long way in these last four weeks,” said Hoffman, “We really became a football team over this stretch, and you have to give credit to our senior leadership. They wanted it.”

The Eagles put on an offensive display against the Leopards (6-3, 3-3), and senior quarterback Marc Kanetsky was the leader on the field.

The 6-foot, 190-pound veteran threw for 255 yards and three touchdowns, while sophomore Andre Taylor rushed for 106 yards on just six carries and scored twice, once on a 50-yard pass from Kanetsky.

“Marc is the one that makes the offense go,” said Hoffman. “He does so many things on the field for us. Several times he changed the play at the line that took us out of a bad situation.”

“He had a lot of help tonight from our offensive line, which did a great job, and his receivers turned several short passes into long gains,” Hoffman said.

Liberty just never got on track in the contest and was led by junior running back Fitzgerald Toussaint, who rushed for 94 yards and scored twice on runs of 20 and 54 yards.

“We just didn’t play well tonight,” said Liberty coach Jeff Whittaker. “We didn’t play well on offense, defense or special teams.”

“I don’t know if Hubbard is that much better than us — I would hope not, but they played very well tonight and we didn’t,” he said.

The Leopards dug themselves a hole right off the first series when senior quarterback Justin Machamer was intercepted by Andrew Zitnik at the Eagles 29-yard line.

Kanetsky wasted little time as he tossed a little swing pass to Taylor at midfield and the speedster broke to the sidelines and went all the way for the first score.

Hubbard, which scored on its first six possessions in the game, went up 14-0 on its second series.

Taylor ripped off a 26-yard scamper, and then Kanetsky hit senior Mike Carnahan over the middle leading him perfectly for a 49-yard touchdown pass.

Toussaint returned the ensuing kickoff out to the Eagles 45-yard line, and from there the Leopards kept it on the ground with Ira Cross and Machamer getting it down to the 20, where Toussaint took a handoff and broke loose for the Leopards’ first touchdown.

But the Eagles never missed a beat and raced right back as Carnahan ran 17 yards and Taylor ripped off 26 more before Robert Wigfall finished the drive with a 2-yard run.

Toussaint fumbled on the next series for Liberty at his own 37, and the Eagles made them pay.

Kanetsky passed twice for 23 yards to Wigfall and 16 more to Carnahan, and Bobby Thompson capped the drive with a 1-yard run.

Toussaint pulled the Leopards back in the game with his 54-yard touchdown run, where he zig-zagged all over the field before breaking loose.

But the Eagles came roaring back again with a 53-yard drive that Thompson capped off again with a 1-yard run.

Hubbard opened the third quarter with Carnahan returning the kickoff all the way to the Liberty 25-yard line, and two plays later Kanetsky hit Taylor with the scoring toss.

The Eagles added one last score in the final quarter when John Madeline, who was perfect on six PAT attempts, kicked a 37-yard field goal.

mollica@vindy.com