Struthers vs Hubbard

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Photos by Dustin Livesay

By Charles Grove

cgrove@vindy.com

Hubbard

It appeared the Hubbard High School football team had just pulled out a late miracle. It appeared Dillon O’Hara had hit Ray Minniti for a 33-yard touchdown pass to put the Eagles in a tie with Struthers with just seconds left.

But hearts sank on the home sideline once the side judge waved his arms to rule incomplete pass, Minniti was judged to be out of bounds.

Hubbard had one last chance with 10 seconds, but a Hail Mary was intercepted by A.J. Musolino and Struthers escaped with a 20-14 road victory.

“When you put in all this work in the offseason this means so much to [the players],” Struthers head coach Curt Kuntz said. “These were two similar communities, they’re extremely tough and they’re extremely well coached.

“It’s fun to be on this side of it but they played well enough to win.”

If you’re a fan of passing, this wasn’t your matchup. The two teams combined for only 22 yards passing. Hubbard (6-2, 3-1 All-American Conference White Division) rushed for 301 yards while Struthers (7-1, 3-1) ran for 259 yards.

Regal Reese led the Wildcats with 102 yards on 22 rushes and a touchdown while Musolino gained 73 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown of his own. Hubbard’s Rafael Morales rushed 24 times for 155 yards.

Musolino was quick to credit his offensive line.

“Those guys are big and they create holes,” Musolino said. “We didn’t really need to throw the ball tonight.”

The statistic Hubbard head coach Brian Hoffman will likely be pointing a finger at is three turnovers. Thirteen of the Wildcats’ 20 points came on drives resulting in turnovers.

“Turnovers hurt us,” Hoffman said. “We gave them good field position and a team like that is going to capitalize on them.”

Struthers scored first when Nick Adams scored from 5 yards out in the first quarter. A David Hernandez fumble gave the Wildcats the ball at the Eagle 40 yard line. Musolino eventually scored on a 11-yard run to make it 14-0.

Hubbard got a big boost late in the first half when O’Hara ran it in from 3 yards to get the Eagles within seven with 1:34 before halftime.

Struthers scored their final touchdown early in the third when Reese scored from 4 yards away after a Hubbard interception.

The Eagles came back with a 53-yard sweep run by Davion Daniels and had opportunities in the fourth quarter. But they were stuffed twice on fourth down, three if you count the interception on the final Hail Mary throw.

“We had some situations where we were marching down and then we would sustain a loss and that would put us behind the sticks,” Hoffman said. “We had chances to march it in but we didn’t capitalize.”

The win is the third road win in a row for Struthers after wins at Poland and Campbell. Kuntz said the main reason his team was able to go 3-0 during this stretch is the work the team put in prior to Week 1.

“I think we got these three wins down the stretch in the offseason when nobody was watching,” Kuntz said. “I really think that’s the difference in games like this.”

Struthers, was sitting third in Division IV Region 13 before the win and could be looking at a home playoff game in Week 11,

Hubbard came into the week in fifth place in the same region and will have work to do down the stretch against Poland and East.