Hamilton Heights proved on Friday night that once again, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.
The Huskies quickly found themselves down 14-0 midway through the first quarter of their home game with Twin Lakes. But Heights regrouped on both offense and defense, eventually coming back to win 26-17.
“I’m very proud of my kids,” said Huskies coach Jon Kirschner. “We’re in really good shape and we feel good about where we are. We got a gritty win.”
After that initial scoring binge, which took place in the first six minutes of the game, the Indians were held to only three points for the other 42 minutes.
Heights, meanwhile, got on the board late in the first quarter on a 19-yard pass play from Guy Griffey to Isaac Tuma. Jonathan Glenn’s kick got the Huskies within 14-7.
Griffey threw another touchdown pass in the second quarter, sending a seven-yard throw to Gavin Bramel. That made the score 14-13 at halftime. Twin Lakes kicked its field goal early in the third quarter, keeping it ahead 17-13 as the game entered the fourth quarter.
Heights took the lead with 8:01 to go in the fourth when Trey Ehman made a seven-yard touchdown run. Then with 37 seconds left, the Huskies put the game away when Griffey and Bramel connected on a 25-yard passing touchdown. Michael Lecher made the extra-point kick.
“At the end of the day, we got a good, solid victory,” said Kirschner. “And kudos to Twin Lakes. They played tough, they were very physical. They gave us some fits offensively just by some of the things they were doing.
“Trey Ehman, he had a really good game tonight. I’m very pleased with how we came out in the second half and all facets of the game were much improved. We cleaned up a lot of stuff in the second half. We made a few adjustments and we came out on top.”
Griffey had a solid game, completing 16 of 28 pass attempts for 230 yards. Bramel and Tuma each made five catches. Ehman totaled 153 yards rushing.
Heights improved to 4-2 with the win, and returns to Hoosier Conference East Division play next Friday when it plays at rival Tipton.
HAMILTON HEIGHTS 26, TWIN LAKES 17
Score by Quarters
Twin Lakes 14 0 3 0 – 17
Heights 7 6 0 13 – 26
Team Stats TL HH
First Downs 2 22
By Rush 1 10
By Pass 1 9
By Penalty 0 3
Rushes-Yards 20-67 47-176
Yards Passing 85 230
Comp-Att-Int-TD 5-15-0-1 16-28-0-3
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 0-0
Penalties-Yards 9-75 8-90
Punts-Average 3-38.0 6-36.8
Heights Scoring
First Quarter
1:57 – Isaac Tuma 19-yard pass from Guy Griffey (Jonathan Glenn kick)
Second Quarter
5:19 – Gavin Bramel 7-yard pass from Griffey (kick failed)
Fourth Quarter
8:01 – Trey Ehman 7-yard run (kick failed)
0:37 – Bramel 25-yard pass from Griffey (Michael Lecher kick)
Heights individual stats
Rushing: Ehman 34-153, Chance Yeager 5-23, Griffey 7-8, Bodie Derrer 1-minus 8.
Passing: Griffey 16-28-230.
Receiving: Bramel 5-116, Tuma 5-73, Cooper Vondersaar 2-14, Vincent Hartley 1-14, Harrison Hochstedler 1-9, Jaylyn Pugh 1-4, Yeager 1-0.