By RICHIE HALL
ARCADIA – Hamilton Heights football coach Jon Kirschner saw this coming a couple weeks ago.
When the Huskies played physical football against West Lafayette, one of the elite teams in the state, for four quarters, he said, “I thought there was something on the horizon.”
Then came a big win last Friday against Northwestern. The next day, Heights began preparing for its Friday opponent, undefeated Western.
“Gentlemen, I’ve watched the film,” Kirschner told the Huskies. “If you meet their physicality for four quarters, you can win in the fourth quarter.”
It wasn’t the fourth quarter when Heights won, but Heights won. An overtime touchdown run by Nate Hulen and extra-point kick by Michael Lecher sent the Huskies to a 19-18 victory over the now-previously unbeaten Panthers.
“This is a huge program win,” said Kirschner after the game. “This is the biggest win of my head coaching career.”
“They answered every call that I asked them to answer tonight,” said Kirschner. “Defense, offense, special teams obviously comes in in the clutch. Special teams with a kick. Offense with a couple big touchdowns and we did it on the ground. We had the passes when we needed them. Devonte Henson had a huge catch on that fourth-down play that kept that last drive alive and tied it 12-12.”
That catch was the only one for Henson in the game, but it happened at the perfect time. It kept the drive going, and eventually the Huskies made their way to the Western 20. With the clocking ticking to under a minute, Guy Griffey sent a pass to Isaac Tuma, and Tuma made the catch.
Heights’ two-point conversion try was stopped, so it was on to overtime. The Panthers got the ball first, and their star runner Jerry Padgett took the ball in from the four-yard line on third down. Western went for two, but the Huskies stopped the Panthers.
Heights then got its offensive turn, and Hulen took over. He scored on a third-and-4 play, tying the game at 18-18. Michael Lecher then came up to try for an extra-point kick, and he sent it perfectly over the uprights.
“Just focus, do what I know how to do best, and that’s it, man,” said Lecher. “I do this all week. I came out here to get it done. That’s all there was in my mind was getting it done.”
Both teams got on the board in the second quarter. The Huskies scored first, with Trey Ehman running the ball in from the two-yard line with 2:58 remaining in the half. Western answered a couple minutes later, as Padgett took the ball in from the three.
The halftime score was 6-6, and the Panthers made it 12-6 after Padgett took the ball in from 17 yards early in the third quarter. Padgett led all runners with 197 yards.
Ehman topped the Heights’ rushing list with 131 yards in 25 carries. Quarterback Griffey had an efficient night, going 7-of-13 for 71 yards, including the big fourth-quarter passes to Henson and Tuma.
While the Huskies are enjoying this win, and deservedly so, they are also in a good position: Heights now leads the Hoosier Conference East Division standings at 2-0. The Huskies take a break from division play next week to travel to Twin Lakes, for a 7:30 p.m. start. (Both teams are in the Hoosier Conference, but the Indians play in the West Division, so this game will not count in the standings.)
“They’re another good football, team so we’re going to have to get after it this week,” said Kirschner.
HAMILTON HEIGHTS 19, WESTERN 18
(overtime)
Score by Quarters
Western 0 6 6 0 6 – 18
Heights 0 6 0 6 7 – 19
Team Stats WEST HH
First Downs 10 11
By Rush 7 10
By Pass 3 1
By Penalty 0 0
Rushes-Yards 49-215 38-174
Yards Passing 48 71
Comp-Att-Int-TD 3-7-0-0 7-14-1-1
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-2
Penalties-Yards 8-60 3-29
Punts-Average 2-28.0 2-42.5
Heights Scoring
Second Quarter
2:58 – Trey Ehman 2-yard run (kick blocked)
Fourth Quarter
0:57 – Isaac Tuma 20-yard pass from Griffey (run failed)
Overtime
Nate Hulen 4-yard run (Michael Lecher kick)
Heights individual stats
Rushing: Ehman 25-131, Griffey 3-20, Hulen 8-19, Joe Mayo 2-4.
Passing: Griffey 7-13-71, Hulen 0-1-0.
Receiving: Tuma 3-35, Ehman 2-minus 4, Devonte Henson 1-25, Cooper Vondersaar 1-15.