Hart entered Friday's game at Central Montcalm hoping to pull out a
victory that might have launched the team into the playoffs, and for a
quarter it looked as though the Pirates would be able to keep up with a
high-powered Hornet offense.
However, Central Montcalm, which
has cleared 35 points five times this season, proved too much to handle
for the Pirate defense, scoring three second-quarter touchdowns to take a
big lead on the way to a 60-24 victory.
The Hornets' aerial
attack was instrumental to their success, as they passed for 397 of
their 581 total offensive yards on a very efficient 18-of-22 attempts by
quarterback Zayne Cooper. Hart (4-5) countered with another impressive
effort from Kyle Greiner, who ran for 285 yards on 30 carries.
The
offenses were in command from the start, with the first seven
possessions of the game resulting in touchdowns. Greiner ripped off an
81-yard scoring run to even the score at 8-8, and the team pounded its
way downfield for two more scores to keep things tied at 16-16 and then
at 24-24 before the Hornets wore down the Hart defense.
Central
Montcalm scored twice more before the half, including a damaging
12-yard touchdown pass just before halftime to go ahead 40-24. The
Hornets, who outscored Hart 20-0 after halftime, also forced two
turnovers to the Pirates' none in the game.
Haegan Hansen led
the Hart defense with 13 tackles, including a sack. Logan Jorissen added
nine takedowns and Abdel Lopez had eight.
"Thank
you to this senior group who helped pave the way for a team that fought
with great effort and great attitudes for nine weeks even when things
didn’t go our way," Hart coach Joe Tanis posted on the team's Facebook page. "This was one tough and gritty squad
and we couldn’t be prouder to coach these young men."
