Saturday, October 4, 2008

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Hudson Catholic's Labron Collins returning a third quarter fumble for a score during the Hawks' 33-14 win over Ferris on Friday night.

JERSEY CITY – There are many plays during the course of a football game that even the casual observer can pick out and notice their importance towards a game’s final outcome. Sometimes though, there are plays that do not necessarily show up in the box score that are equally, if not more, important to leading a team to victory. With a record of 1-2 going into last night’s HCIAA tilt against Ferris, Hudson Catholic head coach Rob Stern knew his team needed one of those plays to keep the momentum his team’s way heading into the locker room at halftime.

After a touchdown by Jason Hendricks gave the Hawks an eight-point lead late in the second quarter, Ferris’ Isiah Dixon nearly got six of those points back on the ensuing kickoff. However, HC’s Labron Collins tracked him down and made a touchdown-saving tackle.

They would hold Ferris off the scoreboard and get a 64-yard touchdown run from Brian Eatman with 43 seconds to play in the half, which boosted the lead up to a comfortable 15 points. The Hawks cruised from there in handing Ferris its first loss of the season with a 33-14 win at Cochrane Stadium on Caven Point.

“This game was a turning point for us and we had to show them that Hudson Catholic is here to play hard,” said Hendricks, who is being courted by several Division 1 schools such as Cincinnati, Pitt, and Eastern Michigan. “I’m happy that we were able to move the ball and we got the big plays exactly when we needed them.”

Ferris had to abondon its run first appraoch after falling behind.

When this decade started, Ferris was an HCIAA doormat. But ever since head coach Wilbur Valdez took over as head coach, the Bulldogs have been steadily improving and are now in the upper echelon of teams in the league. They raced off to a 3-0 start this season and carried that momentum into this game by scoring on their first possession.

Dixon broke two tackles and scampered 16 yards to the end zone to open the scoring. The Bulldogs appeared to have converted the two-point conversion, but the play was called back for an illegal shift. They did not convert on the subsequent try. Just 16 seconds later, that play loomed larger as the Hawks took the lead and never gave it back.

On the first play from scrimmage following Dixon’s TD run, Hendricks burst off tackle then used his blazing speed to outrun the secondary for a 77-yard score. Angel Hernandes tacked on the extra-point to put Hudson Catholic ahead, 7-6.

The score stayed that way until midway through the second quarter when the Hawks began winning the battle at the line of scrimmage and using the talented Hendricks between the tackles. He ran the ball five straight times, the last of which he cut back against the grain and walked into the end zone from eight years out for a 14-6 lead.

QB Steven Soto led HC to its second straight win after an 0-2 start to the season.

Dixon took the following kickoff and hit the wedge hard. He broke right through the hole and had two blockers ahead of him with just them and HC kicker Hernandes in the way of the end zone. Hernandes did a good job of slowing him down just enough to have Collins race down and catch him at the Hawks’ 25-yard line.

“To me, that’s the biggest play of the game,” said Hudson Catholic head coach Rob Stern of the tackle by Collins. “(Isiah) Dixon is a fast player who you don’t want in the open field. Labron Collins did a great job of catching up to him and bringing him down. To stop them after that and then score before the half was huge for us and our confidence.”

Ferris got all the way to the Hawks’ 4-yard line. But a big sack by HC’s Julian McCall helped stall the drive as the Hawks maintained an eight-point lead. It looked like the score would stay that way heading into the locker room until change-of-pace quarterback Brian Eatman made a big play of his own.

On a second-and-eight from the Hawks’ own 43, Ferris overloaded to Eatman’s right. He audibled at the line of scrimmage and called a play that had him rolling out to his left. The senior easily had the first down, when he broke a tackle. He then cut back to his right, used a big block from Collins, and raced 64 yards to the end zone with less than a minute to play in the half, giving Hudson Catholic a 21-6 halftime lead.

Ferris quarterback Brandon Spann dropping back to pass.

“We check down all the time in practice for those situations and I was ready,” said Eatman. “I was just hoping to get a first down, but I saw a hole and went for it. Once I saw the end zone, I knew if I could get there that we could break their spirit and we would go on to win this game.”

Collins saved a big touchdown in the first half, then scored one in the second half, putting to rest any thoughts of a Ferris comeback. He scooped up a fumble and went untouched 18 yards to the end zone for a touchdown and a 28-6 lead.

“We made too many mistakes and they capitalized on all of them,” said Ferris head coach Wilbur Valdez. “We thought we could have won this game, but they flat out played better than we did tonight. They started to control the line of scrimmage and that is where the game started to change in their favor. This isn’t that tough of a loss only because they just took it to us. It’s just one game though and we have to turn the page and work on getting better in all aspects.”

Hendricks finished with 170 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries for Hudson Catholic (2-2). He also finished with eight tackles, second only to sophomore middle linebacker Wilfredo Bustillo, who had 11.

Angel Hernandes returning a Hudson Catholic interception.

Dixon rushed 23 times for 141 yards and two TD’s for Ferris (3-1). Marlon Carpenter led the team in tackles with nine.

The players treated it as just another win, but Stern fully understood the importance of this win on the road to the state tournament.

“We get eleven power points from this win, which probably pushes into one of the top two seeds in Non-Public Group 2,” added Stern. “It’s a long ride to go St. Joe’s (Hammonton) and Holy Spirit (Absecon), and we don’t want to do that in back-to-back weeks; so we’re really trying to get one of the top two seeds. We’re starting to come along and I have a bunch of great kids who are willing to put in the effort. Now we’re starting to see the results we want and we’re building off of that.”

TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.