Hart football executes extremely well, breaks 26-year drought against Montague with win

HART — Twenty-six years. Hart had gone 26 years without defeating Montague heading into Thursday's game. In fact, the Pirates hadn't even been competitive in the series in that span - a 27-point defeat in 2014 was the closest game Hart had played against the Wildcats since their last win.

Not anymore.

The Pirates delivered clutch play after clutch play and executed their game plan to near-perfection, grabbing an early lead and scoring a 30-20 win that gave Hart a 2-0 record, 1-0 in the West Michigan Conference Lakes.

"They knew (the history) very well," a smiling Hart coach Joe Tanis said. "The last seven meetings, we'd been outscored 405-6. We thought if we could get eight points...we've already done something.

"We really tried to remove the fear. We knew there was no pressure on us. Nobody really expected us to win, I don't think, and that's right where we wanted to be. It allowed us to be fearless."

Hart knew if it tried to out-athlete the Wildcats, they were in trouble; Montague star Cole Moss is one of the best players in the area. The Pirates' plan was simple in concept - just don't let the Wildcat offense on the field. It's often harder to execute.

Not for Hart, though, which came up with a huge fourth-down conversion on its first drive when Sawyer Boos battled through the Montague defense on fourth-and-6, setting up Keaghan Monroe's six-yard touchdown run.

Moss proved how good he is by returning the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown - Hart didn't kick it to Moss, but the Wildcats ran a nifty end-around play on the return to get him the ball anyway - but in a way, the play backfired on Montague, because it put Hart's offense back on the field.

After using five minutes of clock on their first drive, the Pirates burned off 10:34 on their second. Quarterback Kolton Rockwell made a big-time throw to Boos on his first pass attempt of the game, Kole Thomas had a big third-down conversion, and Rockwell found Haegan Hansen out of the backfield for an 11-yard touchdown, another huge fourth-down play. After a successful two-point conversion, it was 14-6.

Montague scored in response, converting the two-pointer to tie it up, but with just over two minutes to work with, the Pirates delivered again, with Rockwell connecting with Thomas again on an impressive throw to get his team into scoring range. Monroe later scored on a four-yard TD run and a two-pointer put Hart up by eight going into the break. Montague had had exactly one offensive possession.

"We had a very strategic plan on how we wanted to play the game tactically," Tanis said. "We knew we had to make it an ugly game. We knew we had to make it our kind of game. We knew we had to limit possessions. We had to win the key moments."

"Our goal was to take time off the clock," Rockwell said. "One drive took 10 minutes off the clock. If we have the ball, they can't score, so that was our mindset. If we can finish our drives and they don't have the ball, we have a pretty good chance."

Montague ended the game with 26 offensive plays. Mission accomplished.

Maybe the most key moment occurred when Montague worked into scoring range to start the third quarter. The Pirate defense came up with consecutive sacks to end the drive and maintain the lead. Although Hart punted on its next drive, the stop proved to be crucial.

Montague scored the next time it got the ball, but missed the two-point conversion, allowing the Pirates to make it a two-possession game with their own TD and two-pointer. They did just that, with Hansen scoring on a six-yard run. Nine minutes remained, but the pace of the game made it feel like much less.

Hart's defense came up with one more huge stop to secure the win when Hansen recovered a fumbled snap with six minutes left. The Pirates then ran out the clock. 

Rockwell completed all three of his throws for 71 yards and a touchdown, but most importantly ran the offense with poise. Tanis mentioned before the season that Rockwell, a third-year quarterback, knew the offense almost as well as the coach did by now, and with a couple of impressive audibles, he proved it.

"Kolton Rockwell switched a couple plays on me that turned out to be huge plays and fixed some of my plays," Tanis said. "Having a three-year quarterback is a huge advantage. He can do some stuff out there that most people can't."

Hansen's four tackles (two solo, four assists) was second on the defense behind Jordan Thies' 4.5. He also had 66 offensive yards, including his touchdown. His leadership has been his most impressive quality, Tanis said.

"That guy is an absolute stud," Tanis said. "I've coached some great leaders, guys that went on to be captains in college. He might be the best one I've ever had. He just absolutely does everything the right way and leads our guys."

Hart will try to keep the fun going next week against Fremont, which upset Whitehall this week. For the Pirates, the key will be remaining steady and continuing to execute at the level they did Thursday.

"Just keep doing what we're doing and go week by week," Rockwell said. "Don't skip over anyone, because a lot of games this year are going to be just like this, and just like Reese, one-score games down to the end."