Red Devils Outlast Rockets
by Chris Yucus, BCR and Jared Bell, News Trib
September 05, 2009
Red Devils outlast Rockridge
By Chris Yucus - cyucus@bcrnews.com
EDGINTON — Hall got off the bus running, as Nathan Tucker broke
loose for a 33-yard dash on their first play from scrimmage enroute
to a 266-yard rushing performance for him on the night with two
touchdowns. The Red Devils outlasted Rockridge 33-26 Friday
night.
Tucker had 128 first-half yards as the Red Devils jumped out to an
early 20-0 lead. He set up their first score with his initial carry
and quarterback Michael Swingel capped it off with a 10-yard
scramble into the endzone following Tucker’s extra point kick it
was 7-0 Hall with 8:40 left in the first.
After Hall stopped the Rockets on t heir second offensive
possession, Tucker went right back to work rambling off a carry of
35 yards, and following it up with a 31-yard voyage down the left
sidelines to paydirt. He capped off the effort with another extra
point kick to give Hall a 14-0 lead with just under three minutes
left in the quarter.
“It got our morale up pretty good,” Tucker said of his team’s quick
start. “It was pretty important for us. We’re are not a team
that comes out right away, it is good that we set the tone like
that.”
Brad Lower added another first-quarter score on a 29-yard of his
own. Tucker’s extra point missed and Hall found itself with a 20-0
first-quarter advantage.
Rockridge awakened after the Lower score, and drove from their 43
with a nice sustained drive. The Rockets put themselves on the
board with a 5-yard pass when junior quarterback Hunter Frakes
rolled right and deliverd a strike to receiver Dylan Rowe in the
endzone with only 53 seconds left in the half. The Rockets’
two-point conversion pass failed and they entered intermission
trailing by 14, 20-6.
Tucker started the second half in grand fashion, scooting down the
left side for a 67-yard touchdown run on the Red Devils’ first
play. Aftetr tallying the extra point kick, Hall held a 27-6
advantage.
Rockridge proved that the they are at good second-half team as they
rattled off another scoring drive. Frakes’ 31-yard connection to
Rowe set up a 1-yard punch-in from Tanner Martin. The Rockets’
two-point conversion again failed and they trailed 27-12 with 7:42
to play in the third.
Another Rockridge score off an 11-yard pass from Frakes to David
Lee drew the Rockets to within 9, but once again their attempt to
cash in on a two-point conversion backfired, and they were left
with a two-score deficit, 27-18.
Hall increased its lead with eight minutes to play when Swingel
connected on his one and only pass of the evening, a 7-yard strike
to Austin Helm. The Red Devil conversion came up just short on a
Swingel scramble and Hall held a 33-18 lead.
Once again the Rockets battled back and Frakes and Rowe hooked up
for their second touchdown combo, a 4-yard pass for the score.
Frakes finally capitalized on a two-point conversion to Tanner
Martin, drawing the Rockets to within a single score, 33-26, with
1:43 left.
Rockridge held Hall to a four and out on the ensuing possession and
marched within striking distance as the clock wound down. They made
a nice run but came up short, and Gabe Leonard sacked Frakes to end
the contest and give Hall the win.
“Offensively we played pretty good. We had a lot of success early,”
said Hall coach Jason Bland, who picked up his first career win at
the helm of the Red Devils. “Defensively we have a lot of work to
do.”
Tucker lifts Hall,
Bland to first win
Saturday, September 05, 2009
By Jared Bell
EDGINGTON — Hall coaches Jason Bland and Mike Filippini walked
side-by-side, stride-for-stride towards midfield after Friday’s
Week 2 game at Rockridge before Filippini turned slightly towards
Bland and shoved him off his path. Bland, the first-year Hall head
coach, stumbled slightly while Filippini smiled and kept walking.
It was a simply yet congratulatory moment for the two coaches who
both applied for Hall’s head coaching position after the retirement
of former coach Gary Vicini and the two coaches at the helm of the
next generation of Hall football. Filippini’s offense scored 20
first-quarter points, had a running back go for over 260 yards and
racked up 343 total yards of offense, while Bland’s defense made
plays when it needed to Friday night, including the game-clinching
play.
After 195 wins over 25 seasons with Vicini in charge, the Red
Devils’ earned their first post-Vicini victory and Bland’s first
win as a head coach with a 33-26 road win over Rockridge. We hung
in for the win and that’s the big thing,” Bland said. “It didn’t go
exactly the way I thought it would. I said, ‘The big thing tonight
was we wanted to get a win, but wanted to play well.’ I said, ‘Play
how you should’ve played last week.’” For much of the game, Hall
rode the abilities of senior running back Nathan Tucker, who ran
for 262 yards on 22 carries and scored twice.
On the Red Devils’ first play from scrimmage, the 5-foot-10,
180-pound Tucker broke for a 27-yard run that was an immediate
indication that this Friday night was not going to be like Week 1’s
shutout loss to state-ranked Stillman Valley. “He ran really hard
and the guys up front blocked for him well,” Bland said. “And when
he got into the secondary he’s a great athlete and he can make a
lot of plays, and that’s basically what you saw.”
Tucker ran the ball three times on the opening possession for 36
yards and quarterback Michael Swingel ran in for a score on the
fourth play, giving Hall its first lead of the season. Tucker added
a 31-yard score on the Red Devils’ second possession — which lasted
all of three plays — and junior running back Brad Lower scampered
for a 29-yard touchdown on Hall’s third possession — which needed
just two plays to find the end zone — as Hall sprinted to a 20-0
lead after the first quarter.“Everybody will remember the end, but
we just didn’t execute in the first quarter for the second week in
a row and they did,” Rockridge coach Jeremy Adolphson said. “They
came out and got the stops when they needed to put us in a couple
of fourth-and-1, fourth-and-2 situations early.”
The Red Devils’ never trailed, but their early blitzkrieg attack
couldn’t last as Rockridge’s passing offense kept it in the game
and gave the Rockets a chance to tie or take the lead with less
than two minutes left. After scoring with 1:43 left in the game to
pull to 33-26, Rockridge used its timeouts effectively and its
defense held to put Hall in a tough decision-making situation.
Facing a fourth-and-2 from Rockridge’s 42 with 34.7 seconds
remaining, Hall opted to try and put the game away instead of
punting and putting the Rockets deep in their territory. The game
plan backfired as Hall’s Lower lost a yard to turn the ball over on
downs, and Rockridge quarterback Hunter Frakes found receiver Mike
Norris for a 16-yard gain to put the ball at Hall’s 41. “You saw
what our defense did all night and the way things were going,”
Bland said of his decision to go for it. “I didn’t want to put our
punt team out there and have our first bad snap of the year. We’re
playing good offensively, we’ll trust our offensive line and our
running backs to try and get the first down.”
After a hook-and-ladder play yielded little yardage, Rockridge
spiked the ball for one last attempt. Rushing its traditional three
down linemen, Hall senior Gabe Leonard sacked Frakes, who finished
the game 17-for-29 for 201 yards, sealing the Red Devils’
blood-pressure-raising victory. “They we’re playing three-deep
zone, so I thought we had to try and do something,” Adolphson said
of his team’s passing prowess. “They were really committing a lot
to run. They switched some things from when they played Stillman
Valley and we have some guys that can catch the ball, and I thought
Hunter threw with some poise.”
Lower finished with 54 yards to compliment Tucker, while Swingel
ran for the 10-yard score and threw for another.
Note: The Hall sophomore team was shutout for the second straight
time as it fell 16-0.
Jared Bell can be reached at 223-3200, ext. 139, or at
sports@newstrib.com
