Stingy second half defense leads Harrison to win at Pinny

By BEN MURPHY

Cleaver Sports Writer

Harrison shut out host Pinconning in the second half of the two’s Jack Pine Conference football game last  Friday. The Hornets used that solid defensive effort to pick up another victory, as they took down the Spartans 24-14.

“Pinconning is a tough opponent, their record isn’t very good (1-5 overall), but we knew going in they would be good,” Harrison head coach Jamie Lipovsky said. “They are well coached, and they have some disciplined kids, so we knew it was going to be tough. The kids played hard and they just battled. They scored first, but we battled back and got a couple. They got close but we just finished the job.”

The Spartans scored the game’s first touchdown, giving them the early 7-0 lead. Harrison put together a scoring drive of its own in the opening frame though, capping it off with a five-yard touchdown run by Clayten Austin. Collin Dennis ran in the two-pointer, and it was an 8-7 Hornet lead after one.

Harrison scored next to increase their lead to 16-7, getting Austin to find paydirt from six yards out this time. The successful two-point conversion was a Matt Latunski pass to Ray Cosgrove.

The Hornets nearly took that lead into the half, however, the Spartans scored with just 16 seconds left in the quarter, bringing them within 16-14 at the break.

It was still 16-14 entering the fourth, but a one-yard touchdown run by Latunski and a Latunski two-pointer made it 24-14.

“We played pretty good defense in the second half and once we got up by 10, we felt pretty comfortable that we were in control at that point,” Lipovsky said. “We had some kids battle through some injuries and continue to play and continue to fight and that was big. We don’t have a lot of guys on the team, so when kids battle through injuries and continue to play, that’s one of the keys to our success, is that we have tough kids.”

The Hornets had Austin finish with 77 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries, Cosgrove had 11 carries for 60 yards and Latunski ran for 45 yards and a touchdown on eight attempts, and he was two-of-four passing for 61 yards, completing both passes to Hunter Lafeve.

Looking at the defense, Lafeve had a team high 12 tackles, Alex Jansen had 10 and Alex Erskine took down five, and he also had one sack. With three tackles apiece was Austin, Gavin Vaburen, Keleder Hathaway and Parker Latunski.

Harrison (5-1 overall, 3-1 JPC) hosts Farwell (3-3, 1-3) on Friday. The Eagles are coming off a loss to Meridian last week, 41-6.

“We figured Farwell was going to be a tough game, we always think that” Lipovsky said. “Farwell is an inner-county rivalry, and they are well-coached, they are playing better than they have the last few years and we knew that going in because they have a good group of young kids coming. This is a battle, this is a trophy game, we are playing for the Battle Axe and it is our homecoming game and the last home game for the seniors. There’s a lot to play for. We are excited about playing Fawrell, we think they are a quality opponent and we are both pushing to try and make the playoffs.”