Harding vs Howland

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Harding vs Howland

By John Bassetti

bassetti@vindy.com

HOWLAND

Acronyms are for amateurs but SRO and TNT fit the occasion at Lombardo Field Friday night where 7,000-plus fans watched Howland beat Warren Harding, 25-22, in the first meeting of the teams since 1998.

The standing-room-only crowd was treated to a dynamite game between a pair of unbeatens.

Howland coach Dick Angle may have used “great” a few times too many, but when he said: “It was a great night,” he wasn’t exaggerating.

The Tigers (3-0) and Raiders (2-1) went toe-to-toe and, eventually, Chris McClearn’s foot made the difference.

The 6-foot, 185-pound senior who played in the Howland-Canfield soccer game on Thursday night, had the margin of difference — not in the closing seconds, but in the first quarter when his 49-yard field goal put Howland on the board following Harding’s opening-drive touchdown via a Mikhail Seawood-to-Edward Killingworth pass play covering 49 yards.

McClearn put three kickoffs in the end zone in the first half and two more that put Harding in poor field position to start drives.

His five punts traveled for a 44.4 average.

“Our kicker was a big difference,” Angle said. “When you have the confidence to kick a field goal like that, that’s big because those points were big in the end. Our kicker, our quarterback, Dan O’Brien and both lines played well. It was a great night.”

Did Angle mention De’Veon Smith?

“De’Veon had a great game and [QB Tim] Parana made some key passes and key sneaks and runs. He’s a tough little kid and he threw the strike perfect,” the coach said of the senior. “We said that it was going to be a one-play shot and you’ve got to hit it.”

“It” was a 48-yard strike from Parana to O’Brien that put the Tigers in the lead for good with 9:31 remaining.

Of his decision to go to O’Brien on first down, Angle said: “It’s a football play we have all the time. We’re running Smith and we’re running Smith and they [Harding] needed to get extra guys in the box to stop him. We felt our quarterback was going to read the strong safety and if he was sneaking up in the box we were going to throw. So we beat the corner on the post and he [O’Brien] was there and Tim threw the ball perfect. It was a call we thought of throwing all night. We waited for the opportune time and we took it.”

Smith had eye-popping numbers that came as a result of a fine offensive line and Smith’s churning legs.

The sophomore had 204 yards on 28 carries and one TD.

Harding’s final touchdown was a 17-yard run by Demond Hymes that put the Raiders ahead, 22-17, with 6:40 left in the third quarter. Seawood’s conversion run topped it off.

Harding coach D.J. Dota said that Parana’s pass to O’Brien was a backbreaker.

“We came out pretty good in the second half and stuffed them, then they hit that one pass on us and that kind of broke us.”