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Posted: 2007-09-23
2007 GAME SUMMARY: Varsity vs. Brighton
Week #4: Hartland falls to 0-3 in the KVC
By David Lee — Hartland remains winless in the KVC this season after dropping their third straight league game to Brighton, 21-15.
FIRST QUARTER
Hartland won the kick-off, but went 3-n-out in their first series. A short punt gave Brighton great field position at the 50, but Brighton could not do anything and punted back to Hartland.
On the first play of that series, Hartland's Drew Mixter rushed for a 1st down (SEE VIDEO #1011). However, we couldn't gain another 1st down and again had to punt it away. This time the punt was long and the punt coverage was awesome! Both Jared Felix and Jon Stevens put a big hit on the Brighton return man — stopping him dead in his tracks (SEE VIDEO #1012).
Brighton was able to get things together in their next drive — driving 60 yards, and ultimately scoring. It was play-action pass to the left that had their receiver running a curl route, then faking inside, then running back to the outside and down the sidelines untouched. The extra point kick was good with 4:52 left in the 1st quarter.
On the ensuing kick-off, Jones' middle return abruptly came to a halt when a Brighton defender came out of no where with a "clothes hang" style hit (SEE VIDEO #1013). That may have rattled him a bit, being that he dropped the next pass. No worries though, Hartland was able to gain a 1st down on Chris Cagle's scramble/run left. That play also costed Brighton an extra 15 yards — due to a late hit penalty — putting Hartland at mid-field.
Hartland's next possession had Greg Matthysen on a jet-run left for a few yards, and Jon Stevens gaining a few more with a short hitch reception. On 3rd and 1, a QB sneak for the 1st came up short. Then on 4th and 1, Hartland drew Brighton offsides for the automatic 1st down. Mixter was able to rush for another 1st down (SEE VIDEO #1014), and Jones finished out the quarter with a short reception. Brighton led 7-0 at the end of the 1st quarter.
SECOND QUARTER
Hartland continued the same drive with Cagle keeping it and running down inside the Brighton 10-yard-line (SEE VIDEO #1015). After a short rush by Mixter, Cagle went to the air. In what appeared to be a great touchdown reception (fade route, deep left corner of the end-zone) by Jones, the ref ruled him out-of-bounds — but threw a flag on the Brighton defender for interference (SEE VIDEO #16). (Comment: The ref saw something I didn't. I looked like a score to me on film — his feet were definitely in and he maintained possession while falling.) After a Hartland timeout, Cagle connected with Stevens on slant for the touchdown (SEE VIDEO #1017) at 9:35 left in the 2nd. Zach Minor missed the extra point kick. Brighton led 7-6.
On Brighton's next possession, Hartland's defense played hard with gang tackling (SEE VIDEO #1018) and some great individual efforts by Kyle Summerfield and Josh Theis (SEE VIDEO #1019) — forcing Brighton to punt away.
Hartland started the next series by picked up a few 1st downs — utilizing a good combination of Mixter's ground attack and Cagle's pass completions to Matthysen (SEE VIDEO #1020) and Carson Pippin (SEE VIDEO #1021). However, the drive stalled just before the half and Hartland was forced to punt. The punt was almost blocked, but ended up being a great punt because Felix was able to down the ball on Brighton's own 1 yard-line. Brighton then ran out the clock and went into half-time with a 7-6 lead.
THIRD QUARTER
The 3rd quarter started a little frisky when Hartland kicked-off to Brighton and someone from Hartland (sorry I didn't get your number!) put a huge hit on the return man — which started a little "in your face" jawing between the two teams. (Comment: It was actually refreshing to see a little spunk out there, boys! I thought you were going soft on me. ;-)
Brighton marched the ball down the field picking up 1st down after 1st down. Even after a huge gain was called back due to a holding call, they came right back with another big play. Once inside our 10, and after a nice break-up by Jones (SEE VIDEO #1022), Brighton punched it in on a counter to the right side. The extra point kick was good and Brighton led 14-6 with 6:40 left in the 3rd.
Vonn Jones left us in great field position on the ensuing kick-return (SEE VIDEO #1024). Hartland's next drive had Stevens finally get his number called again (being there was at least a 12" height difference between he and his defender), but the pass was over-thrown. Hartland was able to continue their drive and at 3:04 left in the 3rd, Cagle threw a bullet to Jones on another slant for the score (SEE VIDEO #1025). Hartland then attempted a 2-point conversion to tie on a fade route to Jones in the right corner, but the pass was over-thrown. Luckily, there was a Brighton flag on the play and we had another shot at it. This time we attempted a slant to Jones, but the pass again fell incomplete. Hartland trailed 12-14.
Brighton's next drive wore Hartland's defense down a little. They were able to run up the middle on us multiple times while eating up the clock. Despite some great defensive efforts (SEE VIDEOS #1026, 1027, and 1028) Hartland's defense as a whole began to give up yardage. At the end of the 3rd, Hartland trailed 12-14.
FOURTH QUARTER
Brighton continued their end of 3rd quarter drive, and at 10:09 of the 4th quarter, they scored on a run play over the right tackle. The extra point kick was good and Brighton increased their lead to 21-12.
The ensuing kick-return by Felix put us again in decent field position. (Comment: It would have been 15 yards further, but the refs missed an obvious face-mask call. No problem Jared, we all witnessed it from the stands.) A pass to Jones (SEE VIDEO #1030) and some great runs by Mixter — thanks to some gaping holes produced by the offensive line (SEE VIDEOS #1031 and 1032) — allowed Hartland to get down inside Brighton's red zone.
When Hartland reached the 12 yard-line with 5:43 left, we called timeout to gather ourselves and strategize. However, when we took the field after the timeout, to everyone's disbelief, Hartland was called for a delay of game penalty because we could not get a play called in time. (Comment: Doh! Why not call the next play IN the timeout huddle... just sayin'.) That penalty backed us up to the 17 and after a short completion to Jones that got us to the 10, Hartland decided to attempt a field goal to pull within a touchdown. With 4:49 left, Minor's 26-yard field was good — bringing the score to Hartland 15, Brighton 21.
Brighton's next possession was rushed because they used all their timeouts trying to stop our last drive. Our defense came up BIG — stopping Brighton and forcing them to punt on 4th and 1. But, Hartland had to burn a valuable timeout because our return team was not completely ready.
After a Jones punt return, the Hartland stands were on their feet in anticipation of a game-winning drive late in the 4th. After a painful double-penalty on Brighton that cost them 30 yards, Hartland was in position to do something with 2:35 left. A short Mixter run on 1st down and a sack on 2nd, faced us with a 3rd and 13 situation. Cagle's nifty footwork allowed him to elude would-be tacklers and launch a long pass down the right sidelines to Matthysen (SEE VIDEO #1033). But, the line judge ruled the catch out-of-bounds. Hartland was looking at 4th and 13 with :52 seconds remaining. The Brighton defense simply overwhelmed Hartland on the next play — forcing Cagle to scramble left, then right, before eventually throwing the pass incomplete. Brighton took over on downs and three knees later secured the victory, 21-15.