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No matter how you say it, Lopuchovsky earns success
By Pete Mollica
Warren
Hubbard High senior quarterback Michael Lopuchovsky sleeps very well following an Eagles football game.
The 6-1, 190-pound standout practically never leaves the field for the Eagles and his efforts Saturday night sparked Hubbard (1-1) to an easy 41-11 victory over Warren JFK here at Mollenkopf Stadium.
All Lopuchovsky did against JFK was rush 11 times for 116 yards and one touchdown, pass 12 times, completing six for 52 yards and another TD. He also kicked three extra points and a 33-yard field goal and not to mention he punted four times for a 36 yard average and also had seven kickoffs.
The senior had plenty of support as the Eagles rushed for 353 yards as senior Daniel Duvall added 88 yards rushing and a touchdown and senior Blake Novotny tacked on 58 yards on six carries and two touchdowns.
“Michael [Lopuchovsky) can do it all out there, but the one thing that I respect most about him is that he’s the complete team player and all of his teammates look up to him because of that,” said Hubbard head coach Brian Hoffman.
“We definitely made some improvements from last week tonight,” Hoffman added. “I was very pleased with our offense and all of our offensive backs tonight and I thought the defense also showed some signs of improvement also.”
Both teams struggled early in the contest and only a safety was scored over the first eight minutes when JFK punter Mark Fordreley miss-handled a punt snap from his own five yard line and the ball rolled into the end zone where JFK managed to kick it out of the end zone for the safety.
Lopuchovsky finally got the Hubbard offense moving late it the opening period when he kept the ball right up the middle, broke loose and raced 66 yards for the game’s first touchdown.
JFK (0-2) finally got moving late in the period, the big play was a 42-yard pass from Zack Nicholas to Carl Broadbent and the drive ended early in the second quarter when freshman kicker Eric Bofenkamp kicked a 27-yard field goal.
Lopuchovsky added his 33-yard field goal and Duvall capped another drive with a 1-yard run as Hubbard pulled to a 20-3 halftime lead.
The Eagles broke the game open in the third quarter scoring three times as Lopuchovsky hit Cory Rushwin with a 12 yard pass after Tyler Duez had picked off a JFK pass.