L.J. Scott did most of his damage in a huge first-half performance for Hubbard

By John bassetti

sports@vindy.com

HUBBARD

According to Hubbard sports historian Gayle Yeager, Hubbard High led the Brookfield series in football, 47-32-4 before Friday’s non-conference game.

His records showed that Hubbard scored 1,531 points to Brookfield’s 1,000 in the 83 games which began in 1922.

Following Friday’s 54-9 win, Hubbard (6-0) put a pretty good dent in its points-scored advantage.

L.J. Scott rushed for 184 yards on 20 carries and scored two of his three touchdowns on the ground in the lopsided battle.

“We just came to work and tried our best as a team,” said the junior running back, who gained 172 of his yards on 19 carries in the first half. “We want to keep getting better.”

Scott’s lone second-half carry was a 12-yard TD run at 8:14 of the third quarter. His other TD was a 33-yard pass play from quarterback Brennan Wassil.

“Brookfield is a tough team and they didn’t give up, but we tried to stay undefeated on our field, so we also came to play to do what we could,” Scott said.

After the 17-year-old L.J. registered the game’s first touchdown, his 16-year-old brother, Isiah Scott, also a junior, scored on a 9-yard pass from Wassil and Vlassios Pizanias’ point-after kick gave the Eagles a 14-0 lead at 10:41 of the second quarter.

Wassil, who was at Brookfield (4-2) as a freshman before spending the last two years at Kennedy Catholic, said that he had some incentive to play well.

“I was looking forward to playing Brookfield and I’m pleased with the results,” Wassil said. “At the same time, I respect them.”

Wassil had the distinction of picking off an Augustus Necastro pass just moments after throwing an interception himself.

“I had to get that one back,” Wassil said of his redemption after Brookfield’s Brian Hiner intercepted the Hubbard QB.

Bill Fisher returned another interception 68 yards for a touchdown late in the game. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound senior also sealed Hubbard’s victory over Girard when he picked off the Indians in the closing minutes.

Hubbard coach Brian Hoffman said that Fisher was playing safety at the time last night.

“We rotate four guys in those two safety spots so that kind of iced the game for us,” he said.

Hoffman also had good words for two-way lineman Jake Frost, who had a fumble recovery at Brookfield’s 38-yard line that put the Eagles in scoring position.

“He‘s been consistent on offense and he put pressure on their backfield with a couple sacks,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman expressed his concern with upcoming games against Niles and Poland.

“They possess big-strike capabilities to score a lot of points, so our defense has to be up to those challenges, prepare well and tackle well.”

Hoffman was pleased with his team’s offensive mix.

“Our offensive line and running game did a nice job and we threw the ball tonight,” he said. “Brennan did a real nice job throwing the ball, making good decisions and hitting the open guys with play-action. That’s going to go a long way down the road and keep people honest and keep people from loading up on our running game.”

The Eagles also played well on defense.

“We utilize quite a few guys on that side of the ball, so we just need to get better each week,” Hoffman said.

Hubbard has won the last dozen games in the series, with Brookfield’s last victory of 22-19 coming in 1998.

When Hubbard scored to go up, 40-0, Brookfield could have folded, but didn’t, thanks to Tyler Hailey’s inspirational play in the form of a blocked PAT attempt by Pizanias.

After the 5-8, 180 senior’s valiant play, the Warriors took the kickoff and marched toward its only TD, a 7-yard run by Joe Clark.