Hawks Hand Majors First Loss in Barnburner

10/13/2017

In typical Hayfield fashion, spotting opponents several scores before finding their grove has been their modus operandi. In five of six games this year, Hayfield has failed to score on their opening drive, including last Friday's victory against Mount Vernon. After trailing 0-14 early, not many would have predicted it would turn out to be the second highest scoring game in Hayfield history, falling four points short of last year's 67 point drubbing of Edison. In addition, the combined 104 points (63-41) eclipsed the previous Hayfield record of 96 set between Hayfield and South County in 2016.

Senior Travis Williams broke the ice for Hayfield by pressing the stiff arm and spin buttons on a 48 yard touchdown pass from Junior Monty Byers, the first of many. Mount Vernon was not deterred and responded immediately after poor tackling by the Hawks, to maintain the two score lead 7-20. On the next possession, Byers (JR) would find a wide open Brian Cobbs (SR) on a 17 yard pass, signaling the salvo from Hayfield's air attack was just getting started.

After the Majors first drive of the 2nd quarter stalled, Byers (JR) started to spread the wealth to Cobbs (SR), Tim Wiggins (JR), and Rayjuon Pringle (JR). Byers (JR) hit Wiggins (JR) on a 48 yard pass and then found Pringle (JR) on a 22 yard touchdown to put the Hawks ahead 21-20. Sensing an impending barnburner, the Majors attempted, and failed, on a fake punt. Byers (JR) wasted no time finding holes in the Mount Vernon secondary and connected with Williams (SR) on a 36 yard touchdown to extend the lead 28-20 with 7:00 remaining in the 2nd quarter. The Majors drove the ball into the Hawks redzone and on 1st and Goal slipped poor tackling from Hawk defenders to score, 28-26. Unfortunately for the Majors, the 78 seconds remaining before halftime was more than enough time for Byers (SR) and Pringle (JR) to execute a 62 yard tunnel screen blocked perfectly by Senior left guard Kofi Aboagye-Nyame and Junior left tackle Javier Oliver to go up 35-26.

Early in the 3rd quarter, Senior Demonte Richardson forced and recovered a Mount Vernon fumble at which point Hayfield would lean heavily on Senior running back Kylan Booker, who would finish with 116 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries. Byers (JR) found Cobbs (SR) again on a 5 yard touchdown pass to extend the lead 42-26. With the game pulling away from the Majors, they would fail on a 4th down at midfield. Then on the next Hawks possession Jalen Byers (JR) made a nice adjustment on an under-thrown ball from his brother Monty to undercut the defender and secure the 35 yard touchdown pass. Byers (JR) would finish 18/33 with 378 yards and seven touchdowns. The seven touchdowns are the most by a Hayfield quarterback in a single game in recent memory, however it cannot definitively be said it's a school record as not all statistics are known from years ago.

In the 4th quarter, Mount Vernon's 10 play 40 yard drive would stall, but the flipped field position would come in handy. On the next Hayfield drive, a tipped ball off the fingers of Cobbs (SR) was snagged by a Mount Vernon defender for a 19 yard defensive touchdown. "Two Play" Booker (SR) handled the next drive all by himself on a 23 yard pickup and then finished with a cut move, outrunning two Major defenders and plowing over a third for the 33 yard score, 56-34.

A desperation heave by Mount Vernon was intercepted by Senior Kennedy Ntiamoah, but the succeeding Hayfield drive would be fumbled after confusion with the snap count, one of the few Hawks miscues. In Hawk territory, the Majors would cash in on a quarterback run, but it was too late, 56-41. Booker (SR) would tack on another touchdown for the final 63-41 score. Hayfield was also a prefect 9/9 on extra points with Freshman Elly Gorham contributing seven kicks and Senior Ben Gaynor with two. The Hawks have won 11 in a row over the Majors and lead the all-time series 22-16-1.

Next up: @ T.C. Williams (4-2) | Saturday, October 14 | 1:00 pm