By: Ralph Amsden
Hamilton came back to beat Skyline 21-14, overcoming a 14-0 deficit, and five offensive turnovers to earn a spot in the division 1 semifinal round.
“I’ll take an ugly win over an ugly loss any day,” said Hamilton coach Steve Belles, who will be coaching in his 11th semifinal round in the last 14 years next week.
Hamilton runs out of the tunnel before their quarterfinal matchup with Skyline on 11/14/14 (Photo by Ralph Amsden)
Skyline took the opening kickoff of the game to their own 31 yard line, and on the first play of the game QB Jacob Roberts unloaded a bomb down the right sideline that Cory Anderson ran under and took 69 yards for the score. A second catch by Anderson to start the second quarter went for an 80 yard touchdown, and Hamilton found itself in a 14-0 hole.
The Huskies moved the ball with relative ease, but once they got inside Skyline’s 30 yard line, things would fall apart. After two missed field goals and a fumble, Hamilton QB James Sosinski went down with an injury, and backup Travis Lockhart orchestrated Hamilton’s first scoring drive, connecting with Kyeler Burke on a 4 yard TD pass. Hamilton had a chance to tie it before half, but Nik Carbo intercepted Lockhart and Skyline took a 14-7 advantage into halftime.
Hamilton opened the second half with Sosinski at QB, who found Kyeler Burke for a 15 yard TD to tie the game with 9:22 to go in the third quarter. “I thought James was done, the way it looked (when he was injured),” said Belles. “Lance, our trainer said he was done, but thankfully James came back and did a good job guiding our offense.”
Belles also commented on the excessive amount of turnovers Hamilton had, as Sosinski followed up his game-tying touchdown pass with an interception. When Skyline failed to capitalize by missing a 36 yard field goal, the Huskies wasted another long drive with a fumbled center-quarterback exchange in the red zone.
The Husky offense finally put it all together behind a drive that featured tough runs by Ari Johnson, and clutch catches by Chip Hansen and Kyeler Burke. Johnson would get into the end zone on a 3 yard carry to give Hamilton a 21-14 lead with just over 3 minutes to go in the game.
Skyline tried to complete a long pass on what they thought would be their final drive of the game, but Braxton Baniszewski intercepted the ball, giving the Huskies a chance to run out the clock and end the game. That’s when the turnover bug bit the Huskies one last time, with Ari Johnson fumbling the ball back to the Coyotes.
Interception Braxton Baniszweski. Hamilton takes over at their 32. One first down should win it.
— CTownRivals.com (@ctownrivals) November 15, 2014
Oh wow. The ball is fumbled back to Skyline. They’ll have it at Hamilton’s 25 with a chance to tie/win. 2:09 left. — CTownRivals.com (@ctownrivals) November 15, 2014
Skyline managed to get inside the Hamilton 15 yard line, but were backed up by a false start penalty. On fourth and 13 from Hamilton’s 17 yard line, Jacob Roberts scrambled to his right and was sacked by a combination of Emmanuel Byarm, David DeSilva and Tristen Vance to secure Hamilton’s spot in the state semifinals.
The Huskies will have a rematch with Brophy, who they beat 41-6 in the second game of the season. The Broncos have won 9 straight games, and only allowed one touchdown so far in the playoffs. The game will be played at 7pm on Friday, November 21st at Chandler High’s Austin Field. Hamilton senior WR Chip Hansen, who had made several big plays in place of Brandon Krcilek, said he wasn’t happy about having to play at Chandler. “I don’t like the idea of playing at Austin Field, and I don’t the idea of Chandler playing on our home field.” (Chandler is playing against Mountin Pointe at Jerry Loper Field on the other side of the semifinal bracket) Despite not liking the neutral site locations, Hansen was happy with getting a win, “I like a close game more than a blowout any day. I can’t think of a better way for seniors to end their playing careers in front of the home crowd, overcoming obstacles.”
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- Skyline runs through their banner before playoing at Hamilton on 11/14/14 (Ralph Amsden)
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- Skyline celebrates one of five turnovers their defense forced in their 21-14 quarterfinal loss at Hmilton on 11/14/14 (Ralph Amsden)
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- Kyeler Burke catches a pass from James Sosinskii (Ralph Amsden)
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- James Sosinski drops back to pass (Ralph Amsden)
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- (Ralph Amsden)
Categories: Featured Story, Football, Hamilton High
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