A strong Hagerty running game put Tohopekaliga behind early, and then Mother Nature finished the job, as the Huskies sent the Tigers down to their first loss of the season, 26-14, on Friday night.
The game, which was delayed more than hour by a lightning storm, was called with 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter when another strong storm came rolling in.
Toho (2-1) put itself in a deep hole early. Hagerty needed just three plays to move 68 yards and take a 7-0 lead as Porter Williams ran for three and 23 yards before Jalon Lewis broke loose on a 45-yard scoring run. Toho picked up a couple of first downs on its first possession but had to punt. Hagerty again struck quickly, with Williams covering the final 36 yards on a touchdown run to make it 14-0.
The Tigers would finally slow the momentum on its next possession as Sabby Meassick hit Tre Punter on a 42-yard catch-and-run to cut the lead to 14-7. But Hagerty made 3-for-3 on drives by taking advantage of a short field on an unsuccessful on-sides kick attempt and Lewis covered the final 10 yards to make it 20-7.
After driving the Tigers inside the 10, Meassick was able to overcome a bad snap from center and hit Tony Brown on a 13-yard scoring pass to cut the deficit to 20-14.
The Tigers then looked poised to totally reverse the momentum of the game.
On a third and 12, the Tigers got a terrific pass rush and forced Hagerty’s Caden Mitchell to throw one up for grabs that was intercepted by Nashawn Noel at the Huskies’ 42-yard line. But the Tigers were whistled for a questionable roughing the passer call. Three plays later, Williams broke loose on a 73-yard scoring run.
“Whether it was the right call or not can be questioned, but I told our kids you can’t control what is called, but you can control what happens afterwards and we failed in that regard,” Tigers coach Anthony Paradiso said. “WE still had them deep in their own territory and we give up a huge play and that’s on us.”
Still, Tohopekaliga had its chances. On the ensuing kickoff, Meassick drove Tohopekaliga down inside the Huskies’ 10-yard line. But a bad snap from center lost five yards and three straight incompletions kept it a 26-14 lead at half.
The Tigers defense did its job in the second half – holding Hagerty scoreless – but its offense simply could not get on track. Meassick was intercepted on one possession and Toho’s offense turned the ball over on downs twice before lightning halted the game early in the fourth period.
“We had our opportunities to get back into the game. We had some guys open, we just didn’t make the plays,” Paradiso added.
Hagerty’s running game really spelled the difference in the game. Williams carried the ball 14 times for 176 yards and Lewis rushed nine times for 99 yards, both scored two touchdowns. “Give them some credit they ran the ball hard on us,” Paradiso said. “Still, they gashed us early because we were not reacting to their delayed handoffs.”
Meassick finished the game 14 for 31 for 202 yards. Brown, a freshman, had eight catches for 114 yards. Punter had four for 57. Jaxson Hardnett had a solid game with 94 yards rushing on 14 carries.
Tohopekaliga hits their bye week and will return to action Sept. 20 at Viera.
