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Hubbard’s first-half onslaught more than enough
By Steve ruman
NILES
The Hubbard High Eagles had a major issue working against them Friday in their All-American Conference game at Niles.
The Eagles just couldn’t convert extra-point attempts. They missed out on three consecutive two-point conversion attempts, then failed at a kick.
Fortunately for the Eagles, they were scoring enough touchdowns that the PATs were of little consequence.
Hubbard scored 31 first-half points and coasted to a 31-14 win over the Red Dragons in a game which wasn’t as close as the final score would indicate.
Hubbard (3-3, 2-1 All American Conference White Tier) built a 31-7 halftime lead. In the first two quarters of play, the Eagles racked up 370 yards of offense, including 341 rushing yards. Senior Tyreq Moorer rushed for 164 yards prior to the break, while junior quarterback Davion Daniels compiled 134 yards on the ground in the first two quarters.
Moorer finished the night with 165 yards on 17 carries (one TD), while Daniels also carried the ball 17 times for 149 yards (two TDs). Daniels also completed eight of 12 passes for 65 yards.
Lukas Mosora had a 21-yard run to paydirt, and Ray Minniti rushed over from 8 yards out to complete the Hubbard scoring.
Niles (0-6, 0-4) was led offensively by senior quarterback Jordan Soda, who threw for 165 yards. However, Soda was often hurried, and completed just 12 of 32 passes (one TD to Alex Lawrence). Robbie Savin rushed for 96 yards and a touchdown.
“I have to be honest, we played a dominant first half, kudos to our defense and our defensive coaches for coming up with a game plan and carrying it out,” said Hubbard coach Brian Hoffman. “That second half, we played some gritty defense. Our offense kind of sputtered, we missed some opportunities inside the 20, but I cannot be disappointed in our effort.
“We had a lot of guys make a lot of plays on both sides tonight. This was such a team effort.”
Following a three-and-out on its first possession, Hubbard scored the next four times it had the ball.
Minniti, Moorer, Daniels and Mosora each found the end zone during the scoring run. Daniels’ 24-yard run with 3:17 left in the half — followed by a successful Chase Powell PAT kick — capped Hubbard’s scoring for the half and for the night.
Powell was a late replacement at the kicker position for Anthony Corrin, who was injured this week while playing soccer.
“Our mindset was to go for two points until we could put Anthony in a better scenario,” Hoffman said. “He did a nice job when we put him in there.”
Both teams struggled offensively in the second half. The only scoring came on a Soda-to-Lawrence 20-yard pass with two minutes left in the contest.
“Our offensive line was outstanding tonight,” Hoffman said. “We were able to open up a lot of holes, then Tyreq and Davion were able to read the blocks and do their thing.”
Hoffman also praised Mosora.
“He’s a true iron man, he never comes off the field,” Hoffman said. “He played about four different positions tonight, and he must have made about 20 tackles.”
Niles coach Brian Shaner was left frustrated over the fact that the hard work the Red Dragons put in during the week is not resulting in success on Friday nights.
“We just can’t figure it out. We work hard, we practice really hard all week long and we don’t give up, but we have to learn to play mistake-free football,” Shaner said. “We play hard all four quarters, but you can’t make mistakes any week, let alone against a good football team like Hubbard.”
Niles turned the ball over three times, all on fumbles.