Harrison outlasts Farwell in classic rivalry battle

By BEN MURPHY

Cleaver Sports Writer

Harrison scored on defense. They scored on special teams too. Throw in their patented chew-up-the clock offense and it was enough for the Hornets to get a big rivalry win at home on Friday, as they outlasted Farwell 38-22 in the Jack Pine Conference game that doubles as the annual meeting for the ‘Battle Axe’.

“It was one of those games where we knew going in that they were going to be pretty tough,” Harrison head coach Jamie Lipovsky said. “The kids, sometimes they look at records and sometimes think this shouldn’t be much of a game, but no, they are a dang good football team. I give Farwell credit; their game plan worked really well in the first half for them. The second half we made some adjustments both offensively and defensively, which really helped us.”

The first half of the rain-soaked contest was a back-and-forth battle, resulting in a 22-22 deadlock. The Eagles started the third quarter with the ball, but the Harrison defense forced a punt and began their next drive at their own 45-yard line.

The Hornets kept the ball on the ground and ate a bunch of time off the clock, eventually getting a five-yard touchdown run by Aiden Brewer. Matt Latunski threw to Ray Cosgrove on the two-point play to make it 30-22.

“In the second half we were not getting the same push up front as we did in the first half,” Farwell head coach Travis Waddell said. “That was the big difference.”

Another defensive stop for the Hornets led to another long drive for their offense. This time the series went 55 yards, and Cosgrove rushed in from 20 yards out. Brewer tacked on a two-point run to make it the eventual final, 38-22.

“For us to do what we did, it was a good win,” Lipovsky said. “We made some adjustments and challenged some kids to not get moved up front. The kids rose up to the challenge and started playing a little bit better and that was the difference in the game. Early in the second half, we stopped them on three plays and they punted and that was a huge momentum change because we knew them having the ball coming out of the half, that we had to stop them and our kids stopped them and we took the ball and drove quite a long ways to score.”

The game opened with a defensive score. Farwell was driving on Harrison’s side of the field, however Hunter Lafeve forced a fumble on a tackle, and the ball popped up into his hands, and he raced the other way for a 57-yard touchdown. This was followed by a successful Collin Dennis two-point run.

Farwell began its next possession on its own 30-yard line, but after a couple first downs, the Eagles got Hunter Edlin to race all the way in for a score from 47 yards out, tying the game at 8-8.

The Hornets responded immediately, as Clayten Austin returned the ensuing kickoff 65 yards for a touchdown and 14-8 advantage.

Scoring with your defense and special teams before your offense has a chance to get going certainly helped the Hornets in the early stages of the contest.

“It did (get us going), football is one of those games where if every fact of the game is working you give yourself a chance to win,” Lipovsky said. “The fumble, he made the tackle on the kid and the ball just popped right into his hands and it was just like, sometimes you get a lucky bounce. Anytime you can score a defensive touchdown that’s huge, that can swing momentum and to take the kickoff back for a touchdown, you can’t ask for much more than that.”

The Eagles were able to tie the game back up on their next series, as quarterback Mason Esterline ran a keeper for 37 yards to make it 14-14.

Harrison had a five-yard touchdown from Brewer, with a Latunski pass to Cosgrove on the two-pointer to make it 22-14 and Farwell scored right before the half ended on a 60-yard touchdown run by Esterline, making it 22-22 at the break.

“I feel like our players played well and played with heart,” Waddell said. “We had a couple of big plays not go our way. The forced fumble scoop and score was a big play. The kickoff return, and a dropped pass in the endzone were mistakes that we knew we could not make.”

The Hornets had Brewer finish with 91 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries, Cosgrove ran 11 times for 50 yards and one score, and Clayten Austin carried the ball 11 times to result in 48 yards. Their defense was led by Lafeve who had 13 tackles plus the scoop-and-score, Alex Erskine had seven tackles. Alex Jansen added six, Austin had five with Cosgrove chasing down four tackles.

For the Eagles, Esterline led things with 137 yards and two touchdowns on eight rushing attempts, and he was also four-of-eight passing for 42 yards. Edlin had 73 yards rushing and a touchdown on 12 carries. Their defense had Marcus Hunziker get nine tackles and Zane Hanna added seven.

Harrison (6-1 overall, 4-1 JPC) heads for Gladwin (4-3, 4-1) on Friday for their JPC crossover game. The Flying G’s started the season 0-3, but have since won four in a row, including last week’s victory over Bullock Creek, 50-30.

“This is going to be a tough game for our kids, we are very undersized team wise and they’ve got double the number of kids that we have in our high school,” Lipovsky said. “They have some great athletes. We have to execute our game plan, which is essentially play keep-away. We have to have 10-to-11-minute drives and limit their opportunities to have the ball.”

Farwell (3-4, 1-4) heads for Bullock Creek (3-4, 1-4) on Friday for their crossover matchup.

“They run a spread zone-based offense, they are athletic and big,” Waddell said. “The cross over is always a tough game, just because we are playing a school close to double our size. But our team has competed very well all season against good teams. We will work hard and be ready to go.”

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