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Hubbard has lots of lethal weapons
By Kevin Connelly
HUBBARD
After guiding Hubbard to a 31-7 win over also unbeaten Struthers in the fifth week of the season, Eagles first-year quarterback Brennan Wassil happily admitted, “I’ve won more games now than I have in my whole high school career. This is a great feeling.”
Now 10-0, Wassil has the Eagles flying high entering the playoffs and his feelings haven’t changed one bit.
“I’m so grateful for all these guys and my whole line is giving me a lot of time.” the Kennedy Catholic (Pa.) transfer said. “I could sit back there forever and find open guys. At times, it’s too easy.”
With weapons like L.J. Scott, Darnell Tate, Isiah Scott, George Hill and others, Wassil has good reason to be greatful. The senior quarterback has quite a few toys at his disposal Friday nights, and the hardest part for opposing defenses is they could see a different one each drive.
“It’s fun that I don’t have to throw the ball 80 yards down field to make a big play,” said Wassil, who’s completing more than 60 percent of his passes and has a 3-1 touchdown to interception ratio. “I can just throw it five yards and they can take it any time.”
The backfield duo of L.J. Scott and Tate have combined to run for more than 2,000 yards and accounted for 33 touchdowns for the Eagles. Factor in that Scott missed significant time in two games, and sat out another, and the production from the two becomes even more impressive
“I think, fortunately for us, we’ve been in a position this year where those guys have complimented one another pretty well,” Eagles head coach Brian Hoffman said. “We have a solid nucleus of guys that are worked in. It’s nice to have those types of resources and we have confidence in all of them.”
Hubbard’s offense has soared to new heights this season averaging 44.2 points — up from 36.3 points last year. One of the many reasons for the increased scoring could be a healthy Tate. Last year the all-purpose back broke his wrist in Week 2 and played through pain for most of the season.
This year, it’s the junior Scott who’s been dealing with a series of injuries.
“I feel like we have a little bit more maturity with our team,” Hoffman said. “I feel like we’ve been in some adverse situations that maybe last year we may not have been able to come through, but this group of kids have been able to battle through.
“We’re hoping that we can take that mentality into the playoffs and hopefully be successful.”
The Eagles’ journey will start tonight when they host Marlington (8-2). And Hoffman isn’t going to let his team look past anyone this time of year.
“I think they understand what’s at stake,” he said. “We’ve really tried to make it a point that Friday night, at the end of four quarters, somebody’s moving on and somebody’s turning in equipment.
“If we don’t wanna be those guys turning in equipment, then we better come to play and give our best performance.”