News and Announcements
Posted: 2007-08-31
2007 GAME SUMMARY: Varsity vs. Howell
Hartland Loses to Howell, 17-7
Hartland quarterback, Chris Cagle, on one of his many scrambles Friday night.
By David Lee — Hartland travelled to Howell's new Parker High School Friday night — only to get handed to them their first loss of the season. Field conditions were great, the weather was great, the boys were jacked — they wanted to spoil Howell's first-ever game on the new field.
A sluggish 1st quarter had both teams really not doing much of anything except a drive late in the quarter that fell short when Hartland couldn't convert on a 4th and 1 situation deep in Howell territory.
Things picked up in the 2nd quarter. After a long Howell pass completion on their opening drive, they began to confidently and methodically run the ball on us. At 9:45 of the 2nd Q, Howell punched it in. The extra point was good, Howell went up 7-0.
Howell then either attempted an onside kick or the kick went horribly bad. Either way Hartland's Thomas Lashbrook recovered on the 47 yard line, putting Hartland in great field position. Hartland capitalized on the Howell miscue by going to air immediately. Quarterback, Chris Cagle, scrambled right then left before finding Greg Matthysen for a 20-yard gain. Shortly following that play, Drew Mixter faked and end-around handoff to Matthysen and kept it for a sizable gain — but a Hartland penalty wiped out the gain. After a couple of plays, we were facing a 3rd and 3 situation with the ball on Howell's 16 yard line. Then Cagle connected with Vonn Jones on a fade route up the right side of the field for a Hartland touchdown. Zack Minor's kick tied the score at 7-7 with 7:29 left in the 2nd.
Howell began their next drive with powerful runs up the middle and off-tackle — consuming the clock along the way. At one point they had a long pass completion, but that was called back on a penalty. Hartland's Kyle Summerfield made a great play by sacking Howell's QB on the following play resulting in a 2nd and 25 situation for Howell. They couldn't convert and punted the ball away. Hartland had the ball in decent field position with 15 seconds left in the half. A run up the middle followed by a quarterback keeper ended the half.
The third quarter saw Howell eating up a lot of clock and driving the ball down inside Hartland territory. The way Howell was running the ball on us it appeared they were going to punch it in again. But, Hartland caught a HUGE break when a Howell running-back coughed it up on the 4-yard line. Summerfield recovered the fumble for Hartland at 3:48 left in the 3rd. Hartland was now facing a 96-yard drive. Unfortunately, the offense sputtered on the next series with a penalty, a bobbled snap, and short run gains. We punted out of our own end zone, giving Howell great field position at Hartland's 35 with 1:10 remaining in the 3rd.
That Howell series continued into the 4th quarter. Hartland gave up a defensive penalty, putting Howell in an even better position to strike again. After another powerful Howell run, the sticks were called out for a measurement. Howell came up short on the 3rd down play and was facing 4th and inches on our 3-yard line. Before Hartland could call a timeout to regroup, Howell quickly lined up in their effective Power-I formation and punched it in for the score. Extra point kick was good, Howell led 14-7 with 10:07 left in the 4th.
On Hartland's ensuing drive, Cagle was sacked for a loss. One play later, Cagle scrambled left to attempt a pass, but good down-field coverage by Howell's DBs forced Cagle to run for the 1st down — keeping Hartland's drive alive.
After two incomplete passes to Jones and Matthysen, Hartland was facing 3rd and 10. Howell blitzed on the next play, causing Cagle to miss his target and almost get intercepted. With 7:55 left, Hartland had to punt. A short punt gave Howell good field position at their own 39. Howell again gave us chance by not converting on a 3rd and 10 after their wide open running-back dropped a sure 1st down. They punted the ball away to us, but a block in the back penalty on Hartland buried us deep on our own 8-yard line with 5:40 left.
Hartland's offense again stumbled with two incomplete passes and sack. Punting from the back of the end-zone, the punt coverage by Jared Felix was outstanding. Felix made a great open-field solo tackle for a zero-yard punt return.
On their next possession, Howell again ran the ball with confidence — picking up 1st downs on the way and chewing-up precious time on the clock. Then, with 1:07 left in the game, Howell's place-kicker easily kicked a 36-yard field goal to make the score 17-7, Howell.
Hartland started the next possession on their 35. The first play resulted in a Hartland fumble which Howell's second team defense recovered with 1:01 left in the game.
Howell's second team offense finished out the game to secure a 17-7 Howell victory.
Hartland hosts a 2-0 Lakeland team this Friday. Lakeland just defeated the always-tough South Lyon team on Thursday. This could be a pivotal game for our Hartland boys. Good luck and Go Eagles!