Trick play gets unbeaten Hubbard going

By BOB ETTINGER

sports@vindy.com

POLAND

Hubbard’s Cam Resatar trusted more in teammate and quarterback Davion Daniels than he did himself. Daniels rewarded not only Resatar, but the entire Eagles’ sideline as he went above three Poland defenders for a reception. The move had Hubbard rolling downhill in a 17-0 victory over Poland at Dave Pavlansky Field on Friday night.

“In a close game, there’s always one, two, or three plays looking back in hindsight that are pivotal,” Poland coach Ryan Williams said. “That was an athletic play.”

The win gave the Eagles (9-0, 6-0) the All-American Conference White Tier championship and solidified the Eagles’ position in the Division IV, Region 13 race for the playoffs.

“It means a great deal,” Hubbard coach Brian Hoffman said. “Nobody’s won the conference outright since 2014 when we did it. I’m proud of the team. At this point in the season, it’s playoff time. We have to prepare ourselves. We have a big challenge in Youngstown East next week. We’ll see what happens.”

On fourth-and-7 from the Poland 27, Resatar took what looked to be a reverse and lofted a pass toward Daniels, who was open early in the play, but was surrounded by three Poland defenders when Resatar let go of the ball.

“Poland was wearing gray jerseys and I thought it was Hubbard white,” Resatar said. “I wasn’t sure who was who. [I knew it was Davion when] he started to wave at me. He’s a heck of an athlete. I have complete trust in him. He can do anything. [I had more faith in] him. Definitely him.”

Daniels went over the two defenders in front of him to make the catch at the Poland 2 setting up a touchdown from Rafael Morales with 2:18 to play in the first quarter.

“I saw the outside linebacker was cheating on the jet sweep so I slow-played it,” Daniels said. “Then, I ran the route. I saw Cam was being chased and I signaled for him to throw it. I had faith he’d make the throw and I caught it. That opened things up a bit. It changed the tempo. Sometimes, trick plays are the way to go.”

Lukas Mosora took a Daniels pass 20 yards for a touchdown to put the Eagles ahead, 14-0, with 8:07 to play in the first half.

“We were moving the ball enough with the running game,” Hoffman said. “The defense was trying to take away the run. They had too many men in the box. We knew we had to make a play in the passing game. Davion did a good job getting out of the pocket and Lukas did a great job getting into the end zone.”

Anthony Corrin tacked on a 33-yard field goal for Hubbard midway through the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs (6-3, 3-2) have lost three of four, but still control their own destiny in Division IV, Region 13.

“We haven’t thought about that yet,” Poland coach Ryan Williams said. “We’re worried about each and every opponent, just like we were this week.”

The Bulldogs generated little offense, with four first downs, 49 rushing yards and 38 passing yards.