Lake left feeling blue

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Keno Sultan, fridayhightohio.com

NORTH CANTON  The North Canton Hoover Vikings were in a rush last

night at North Canton Memorial Stadium. Actually, it was more of a case

of evening rush hour. The Erick Howard rush hour, that is.

Bolstered by his 345 yards of on 44 carries along with four touchdowns,

the Vikings showed why they are the defending Federal League

champions with a 27-7 win over the Lake Blue Streaks in front of a

capacity crowd of 8,000 at North Canton Memorial Stadium.

The Vikings 417 yards of rushing offense played a pivotal role in pushing

their record to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the Federal League. Add to the fact

that the Vikings held the ball for 31:01 to 16:59 for the visitors along with

a convincing 16 play, 80 yard drive in the final quarter that devoured 7:22

off the clock and it paid dividends for the defending Division I regional

finalists.

"The offensive line came off the ball real well especially in the fourth

quarter and blocked real well. We got after them tonight," North Canton

Hoover head coach and alumnus Don Hertler Jr. said. "Erick ran hard

down the stretch over the course of the game."

Going back to a 24-17 loss to Canton McKinley, Lake's offense has

averaged 11.9 points the last three games and defensively allowed

22.6 points during their three game losing streak.

When asked about this trend, Lake head coach Jeff Durbin was notpleased about that.

"I'm not going to talk about what has happened the last three games," he said diplomatically. "We're going to get this turned around and you can mark my word on that!"

The Vikings set the tone for the evening on their first drive of the game. Using basically a drive that consisted of power, it only took them 10 plays to score when Howard scored from 10 yards away. A.J. Sarbaugh's extra-point gave the Vikings a 7-0 lead.

But the second quarter provided unarguably (and undeniably) the play of the game. Pinned at their own one yard line, Howard powered his way into the Lake secondary and eventually outran two Blue Streaks defenders for a 94-yard touchdown scamper to extend the Vikings lead to 14-0 before halftime.

"We just didn't execute consistently enough," Durbin said of Howard's

touchdown run.

Trailing 14-0, the Blue Streaks got a major shot in their arm. Behind

the running of sophomore running back Jim Luther, the visitors finally

cracked the scoreboard when Luther fought off two Hoover defenders

for a 33-yard touchdown run and Logan Martin's kick slashed the

Vikings lead to one touchdown at 14-7 after an eight-play drive.

Whatever hopes that Lake had for a victory rested on whether the

defense had the formula to stop Howard. Two punishing, time

consuming drives by the Vikings proved to be the difference of the

game. He added on two scores late to put the game out of reach at 27-7.

Just how formidable were the last two drives of the hosts? They went for a combined 26 plays, 171 yards, and a time of possession spanning 12:48. Those two drives by far turned out to be the longest drives of the year to this point for the defending league champions and sending a message that the Federal League championship goes through no other high school but North Canton Hoover.

"I felt as an offense, we played very well in the second half," a gleeful Hertler Jr. said.

For Lake, their work is cut out for them at 2-3 and 0-3 in the Federal League. Getting back on track will be their first priority next Friday when they visit Perry Stadium to challenge the Perry Panthers, who defeated the Blue Streaks in a 35-28 thriller last year at Alumni Field at Lake Blue Streak Stadium. The previous year before that, Perry overcame a blocked punt return for a Lake touchdown to win 14-7 in a defensive battle.

Once again, Durbin summed up what his legion of Blue Streaks will do before departing North Canton Memorial Stadium.

"We're going to get this turned around period," he said.

NETWORK

Hoover High School senior DB Travis Moldovan defends the pass.

Hoover Vikings Football

Hoover Vikings Football

Uniontown Lake Game Review

Hoover High School junior RB Erick Howard shows why he's a tough target to tackle.