By CRAIG ADKINS
For The Reporter
ARCADIA – Friday night’s home opener was special for Hamilton Heights for numerous reasons. The Huskies had waited long enough to join the trend of high school football teams across the country and now they can say they have a new turf field at Husky Stadium.
The Huskies made sure that they were the only team that scored during their first game on their new field turf, keeping the visiting Bombers off of the scoreboard in a convincing 21-0 win.
“We have been waiting and waiting and waiting for this night,” said a satisfied fifth-year Hamilton Heights head coach Jon Kirschner.
“We probably had our best practice all year on the turf last night. We had our best Thursday night clean up practice, under the lights and it’s the most focused we’ve been,” continued Kirschner on a change in the Huskies having a new surface to practice and play on.
“Physically, mentally, emotionally, it all just plays into it,” stated Kirschner on the impact the turf has had on the Huskies just this week in preparation for this game against a Hoosier Conference opponent. (The Bombers are in a different division, so it does not count in the conference standings.)
Hamilton Heights students were moved from the old Jackson Central to the current Heights campus during Spring Break toward the end of the 1992-93 school year. The first football season on the grounds of Husky Stadium took place in August 1993. Now, it’s 30 seasons later and the surface has been converted from natural grass to field turf.
This was one of those games where it took both squads some time to feel each other out and figure out what they can do and how.
The Bombers started off the game with an 11-play drive that resulted in a turnover on downs at the Huskies’ 10 on a botched snap that quarterback Corbin Mathew had to dive on.
The Huskies resembled the same, but took 14 plays just to turn it back over to Rensselaer Central on downs at their 22.
The new five possessions were three Bomber punts and two Husky punts. Then Heights was able to get something going on their next series.
Heights put together a 10 play, 87-yard drive that was capped off by a Bodie Derrer 19-yard touchdown strike to Tyler Champion for a 7-0 Husky lead.
“Getting that first touchdown and on the board first was a big deal, but typically speaking, we haven’t always been a team that can go in and get the score right before half,” said Kirschner on his team’s first scoring drive.
Hamilton Heights wasted no time at all when it got the ball to start the third quarter.
They marched down the field again in 10 plays, but just 61 yards this time, taking six minutes off the clock. They had a 4th down and six at the Bomber 35 and Derrer went to the air again. He found junior Jaylyn Pugh for a 35-yard TD, pushing the lead to 14-0.
“We came out in the second half and we hit that second touchdown. Not only that, but to run six minutes off of the clock, on a team like Rensselaer Central, where they are methodical with everything they do, putting two touchdowns behind the eight ball is a big, big deal,” Kirschner continued on the Huskies’ ability to wear down the Bombers all night,
The next Bomber drive had the visitors in position pushing for a score, but a sack of Mathew and a holding penalty took them back to a 4th down and 23 at the Heights 29. Rensselaer Central went for the end zone and Mathew threw an interception right to Pugh.
“He (Pugh) has done that twice this year,” said Kirscner of Pugh on his second big interception in just three games.
Two drives later, running back Diego Hernandez-Reyes fumbled at the 11-yard line, giving the Huskies an extremely short field to work with.
After a penalty and another miscue, Heights faced a 4th and 12 at the Bomber 13.
Derrer then found Champion with ease for the 13-yard touchdown, making it what wound up as the final score of 21-0.
“We were able to keep the pedal on and they were gassed,” stated Kirschner on Heights wearing down the Bombers’ defense, keeping them on the field so much.
“Beating a quality opponent like Rensselaer Central, we played them twice last year, because of how our conference is set up. We went up there twice. It was nice to play here for a change,” continued a happy Jon Kirschner on his teams’ performance to get their second win of the season.
“Trey Ehman was a big difference for us tonight as well,” said Kirschner on his senior running back.
“All three running backs that we played tonight, did a great job, but Trey has been out. He’s an all-state back, has been a 1,000-yard back the last two years and he has not played yet, because he has been recovering from an injury during track season. To have him fresh and ready to go, having another back in our stable, he’s a load,” continued Kirschner on Ehman and his impact back in the backfield.
After rushing for 317 yards and seven touchdowns in the first two games, Heights held running back Kadyn Rowland to 55 yards on 16 carries
Rensselaer Central (2-1) lost its first game this season. The Bombers will travel to Twin Lakes (1-2) next week.
Trey Ehman led the rushing attack for the Huskies with 96 yards on 24 rushes and also caught one pass out of the backfield for 21 yards.
Bodie Derrer had a great night passing, going 13-of-17 for 210 yards and three touchdowns. Derrer connected on two of those scores with Tyler Champion, who grabbed five passes for 65 yards. Jaylyn Pugh caught four for 79 yards and a touchdown,
Hamilton Heights (2-1) heads to Kokomo for its first Hoosier Conference East Division game, at Northwestern (1-2) next Friday.
HAMILTON HEIGHTS 21, RENSSELAER CENTRAL 0
Score by Quarters
Rensselaer 0 0 0 0 – 0
Heights 0 7 7 7 – 21
Team Stats RC HH
First Downs 9 14
By Rush 7 8
By Pass 0 6
By Penalty 2 0
Rushes-Yards 34-84 38-61
Yards Passing 4 203
Comp-Att-Int-TD 1-7-1-0 13-18-0-3
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 3-22 3-25
Punts-Average 3-39.0 3-32.7
Heights Scoring
Second Quarter
1:00 – Tyler Champion 19-yard pass from Bodie Derrer (Teigan Scoles kick)
Third Quarter
6:00 – Jaylyn Pugh 34-yard pass from Derrer (Scoles kick)
Fourth Quarter
5:57 – Champion 13-yard pass from Derrer (Scoles kick)
Heights individual stats
Rushing: Trey Ehman 23-94, Owen VanHaaren 3-3, Eric Balcom 2-0, Derrer 10-minus 36.
Passing: Derrer 13-18-203.
Receiving: Champion 5-66, Pugh 4-75, Balcom 1-26, Ehman 1-16, Kaleb Murray 1-11, VanHaaren 1-9.