Hurons open season with win at Hillman
by Richard Lamb– Advance Editor
A ?stout? defense and an opportunistic offense were enough for the Hurons to snare a 34-18 win over Hillman last Friday, setting up a showdown with cross-county rival Posen. The Hurons host the Vikings Friday.
?I expect us to improve on what we did this past week,? said Huron coach Mike Kosiara. ?Posen will be looking to bounce back from their loss. They will bring their ?A? game.? Last week, the Hurons survived four turnovers to run up 439 yards of total offense in a 34-18 win at Hillman. Although the Huron defense allowed a handful of big plays, Hillman totaled just 77 yards on the ground and 142 passing. Rogers City never trailed in the game. ?The defense played stout and kept us in the game in the first half,? said Kosiara, who has a career record of 5-0 against the Tigers.
Junior quarterback Pat Quaine, in his first varsity start, hit on 9-of-20 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns, while tossing three interceptions. He got the Hurons on the board with a one-yard run with 53 seconds left in the first quarter. The TD came at the end of an 87-yard drive on the Hurons? second possession of the game, which ate up nearly six minutes of clock. A consistent running game set up the passing game.
?The line blocked well,? Kosiara said. ?Pat read the defensive front well and our backs ran hard.? Hillman answered quickly, scoring on a 67-yard passing play down the right sideline. After the point-after failed, the score was tied 6-6 with 11:41 left in the first half.
ON THE HURONS? next possession, they picked up a first down on a 24-yard pass play from Quaine to senior tight end Devon Ferris, then the drive stalled after two incomplete passes and a penalty. The teams traded possessions until the Hurons got the ball back at their own 47 yard-line. After a five-yard penalty, the Hurons lined up three receivers on the right side, Senior running back Kevin Fairbanks broke free over the middle and Quaine lofted a pass that hit Fairbanks in stride for a 58-yard touchdown. Alex Lemmon?s kick made it 13-6 for the Hurons. Hillman went four-and-out on its next possession, but the Tigers got the ball back on an interception at the Tiger 44. Then, facing fourth-and-ten, they came up with a 44-yard scoring pass to bring the score to 13-12 with 1:57 left in the first half. Rogers City scored again, on a 16-yard pass from Quaine to a wide-open David Lewandowski on the left sideline. The kick failed, but the Hurons led 19-12 with 27 seconds left until halftime. The big plays of the drive came on a 26-yard run by Fairbanks and a 21-yard pass to Ferris.
THE SECOND HALF tipped in favor of the Hurons but only after Hillman scored first in the third quarter. Again a fourth-and-long play hurt Rogers City as Hillman cashed in on a 44-yard pass play on fourth-and-eight with 4:28 left in the third. Rogers City responded with the next 15 points. The next Huron score came at the end of a 53-yard drive which spanned four minutes and used 10 plays. Jordan Zempel gained eight yards to bring the ball to the one-yard-line and then Quaine ran it in on the next play. Lemmon?s kick made the score 26-18 with 29 seconds left in the third quarter. On their next drive, the Hurons drove to inside the 10, but couldn?t score on a fourth down play. On the first play of the Hillman drive, Lewandowski and Zempel trapped the Hillman runner in the end zone f
The Hurons will likely suit up 16 players for Friday?s game. Kosiara expects junior wideout Ben Tulgetske to return from an injury while junior lineman Jacob Riesener remains sidelined indefinitely with a leg injury and senior Justin Idalski will return after the third game. Friday?s game will be broadcast on 99.9 The Wave with Karl Grambau and Karl Momrik handling the play-by-play.
Statistics: Total offense: RC 215 passing, 224 rushing. Hillman 142 passing, 77 rushing. Passing: Quaine 9-of-20, 215 yards, 2 TD 3 INT. Rushing; Fairbanks 19/119/1; Quaine 15/59/2: Lewandowski 13/38/0; Zempel 1/8/0. Receiving: Ferris 5/93/0; Lewandowski 3/65/1; Fairbanks 1/57/1. Defensive leaders: Zempel 7 tackles, 2 assists; Fairbanks 5 tackles, 1 assist, one fumble recovery; Hayhoe 2 tackles 4 assists; Elowsky 4 tackles, 1 assist; Quaine interception; Lewandowski forced fumble.