SHICKSHINNY – Entering Friday’s game at Northwest at 0-4 and having scored just 17 points in its first four games, Hughesville might not have looked like it had much of a shot on paper against a Ranger team that entered the game 4-0, having outscored its first four opponents 176-68. But games thankfully aren’t played on paper.
Despite managing just 33 yards of its own on two first downs in the first half, Hughesville’s managed to keep Northwest off the scoreboard and then flipped the script in the second half. Two key second half turnovers by Northwest led to a pair of Hughesville touchdowns, and the Spartans tallied three total scores in the second half to pick up its first win of the season and hand the Rangers their first loss with a 21-0 win.
“Our defense has been carrying us most of the year. We’ve had a decent defense all year and tonight they put it together and were able to stop a really great team,” said Hughesville coach Howard Rainey. “They gave us some opportunities for our offense to get some easier scores.”
Northwest’s game-opening drive lasted over eight minutes before being forced to punt and the Rangers also turned the ball over on downs inside the Hughesville 5-yard line in the second quarter. Northwest held advantages in total yards (139-33), offensive plays (39-14), first downs (9-2) and time of possession (16:30 – 7:30) in the first half.
But after halftime, Northwest got just two more first downs and gained only 34 yards in the second half.
“We knew which guys they liked to throw to and watched them pretty hard on film work, so we made sure we had good man coverage on them and knew where they were going to run almost every play – we had a good idea,” said Rainey. “Their one guard would kind of give things away with how he’d pull and we’d know where they were going to go. The kids did great with the film work this week.”
“Anytime you don’t come out with a win at the end of the game, it stings, but we’ll take this as an opportunity to learn,” said Northwest coach Greg Mullins. “There are now some things on film that we’re weak at, and we can work on correcting those things.”
While the Spartans struggled in the first half, failing to advance the ball beyond midfield at all, Northwest just couldn’t finish any drives. Northwest was forced to punt from the Hughesville 36 after its long first drive, and the Rangers also punted on their second drive to once again pin Hughesville deep.
The Spartans then punted back to the Rangers, giving them the ball on their own 36 with 5:55 left in the first half. A 21-yard run by Loegan Diltz and a 33-yard completion from Cole Cavuto to Wyatt Orlowski flipped the field and gave the Rangers a first-and-goal at the Hughesville 6-yard line. But four straight plays produced just two total yards, as Mullins elected to go for it on fourth down after a timeout after the field goal team had trotted out on the field prior to the timeout.
“Shame on me for not getting the play call right to punch it in there,” said Mullins. “I believed if my guys said ‘go get it,’ I trust them. But they stopped us and they played a really good defense.”
The Rangers would manage just two more first downs first downs the remainder of the game, while Hughesville turned things around as the Spartans picked up eight first downs in the second half after picking up just two in the first. Hughesville also had 148 yards in the second half, but its biggest advantage was picking up two turnovers.
“They did a great job of stopping what we wanted to do. They’re a very well coached team – big, fast and physical,” said Mullins. “I think the difference was, I didn’t do a good enough job of predicting or seeing what they were trying to do when we got close, so I put that on me.”
A 44-yard kickoff return to begin the second half by Chase Shrawder gave Hughesville the ball near midfield, and although the Spartans didn’t score on that drive, it gave them an advantage in field position that would later lead to their first touchdown.
One of the unheralded stars of the game may have been Hughesville punter Connor Anstadt, who not only had a 65-yard punt in the first half and averaged just under 40 yards per punt on five punts in the game, but also pinned the Rangers back at their own 3 and 13-yard lines on consecutive punts to begin the second half.
On the second of those drives following the punts, Northwest committed a holding penalty to get backed up to its own 6, and then fumbled a handoff that was recovered by Hughesville at the Northwest 3.
Nicholas Stubbs then punched it in on Hughesville’s first play to break the ice and give the Spartans a 7-0 lead at the 5:11 mark of the third quarter.
The Spartans lost a fumble on their next drive – their only turnover of the game – but Northwest was unable to take advantage as Orlowski missed a 44-yard field goal with 7:48 left in the fourth quarter.
Hughesville took over and went 80 yards in seven plays, capped by a 35-yard touchdown pass from Stubbs to Anstadt, who hauled in a jump ball in the corner of the end zone to make it 14-0 with 4:50 left in the game.
Alphonzo Smith then picked off Cavuto on Northwest’s ensuing drive, giving the Spartans the ball at the Northwest 29 following a penalty. Three straight runs by Shrawder, the last of which went nine yards for a touchdown with 2:07 left, iced the game.
“We conditioned very hard for this game,” said Rainey. “We thought we had a good shot of coming in and winning, even though they were 4-0 and a really good team. We conditioned harder and made sure they’d be good both ways and wouldn’t tire out in the second half like the last couple of games when we did.”
Hughesville 21, Northwest 0
Hughesville (1-4) 0 0 7 14 – 21
Northwest (4-1) 0 0 0 0 – 0
Third quarter
5:11 – (H) Nicholas Stubbs 3-yard run (Anstadt kick), 1-3, :06
Fourth quarter
4:50 – (H) Connor Anstadt 35-yard pass from Nicholas Stubbs (Anstadt kick), 7-80, 2:58
2:07 – (H) Chase Shrawder 9-yard run (Anstadt kick), 3-29, 1:00
Statistics
H N
First downs 10 11
Rushes-net yards 31-136 41-115
Passing yardage 45 58
Passing 4-7-1-0 7-17-0-1
Fumbles-lost 3-1 4-1
Penalties-yards 4-35 6-47
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Hughesville: Chase Shrawder (12-51-1), Nicholas Stubbs (10-39-1), Alphonzo Smith (4-10), Connor Anstadt (3-38), Grayson Stanley (1-0), Connor Miller (1-(-2)); Northwest: Loegan Diltz (12-71), Robby Voyton (11-18), Ben Bonham (10-29), Cole Cavuto (6-(-7)), Noah Arnett (2-4)
PASSING: Hughesville: Nicholas Stubbs (4-7-45-1-0); Northwest: Cole Cavuto (7-17-58-0-1)
RECEIVING: Hughesville: Connor Anstadt (2-36-1), Jullian Smith (1-9), Chase Shrawder (1-0); Northwest: Loegan Diltz (2-10), Mason Bilby (2-4), Wyatt Orlowski (1-33), Chris Martinez (1-10), Noah Arnett (1-1)