**Note: This article originally published on PaPrepLive.com**
HORSHAM — Every now and then in a football game the home team is able to jump on its opponent from the start and never look back. That was Hatboro Horsham’s goal during their SOL American matchup against Springfield Friday night.
“I think our players were well-prepared and they came out and executed,” Hatter coach Mike Kapusta said. “That’s what you plan on doing and it worked out tonight.”
That simple but effective game plan had Hatboro outscore the Spartans 49-0 in the first half en route to a dominating 63-21 win.
Jordan Mason led the charge from the fullback position, as the senior used the most of his three carries to total 158 yards and score every time he touched the ball in the first half. His first carry went for 87 yards, and the two others produced 28 and 43-yard touchdowns. He finished the game with 163 yards rushing.
“The line did extremely well with blocking,” Mason said. “I saw the hole and I took it. Every time I got to the second level I just wanted to burst out and try my hardest.
The offense played extremely well. I think we wanted to come out here and show them that we’re a team in the conference and we can play.”
Hatboro Horsham (3-3, 3-0) ran 16 plays to score 49 points in the first 24 minutes.
Also getting in on the action was signal caller Casey Walsh, who started the scoring for Hatboro with a 20-yard touchdown run after the Hatters recovered the opening kickoff, which was squibbed. He also hit Joe Lee on a 59-yard touchdown pass after Luke Gehlhaus recovered a fumble to set the Hatters up at their own 41-yard line. Walsh finished the game with 96 yards passing and 23 yards rushing.
Gehlhaus also had a sack in the first half.
“We played very good positional defense against a very dangerous quarterback,” Kapusta said.
Kingsley Nworu also scored in the first half on a 7-yard touchdown run. In all the Hatters outgained Springfield 359 to 114 in the first half, including 263 to 88 on the ground.
Hatboro registered 508 yards on offense in the game, which included 385 yards on the ground.
Phil Pagliaro finished off the scoring in the first half on defense for Hatboro Horsham with a five-yard scoop-and-score. In addition to his touchdown Pagliaro contributed a sack for a loss of nine yards in the first half.
The second half was much sloppier than the first, but Hatboro was still able to continue its dominance on their first drive. Backup running back Anthony Kwiatanowski carried the mail for the Hatters, finishing off a drive where he got the ball seven times with a 5-yard touchdown run. Kwiatanowski had 40 yards in the second half.
Springfield (2-3, 1-2) came to life in a way during the second half, scoring 21 straight points spanning the third and fourth quarters. Quarterback Justin Hill, who finished with 46 yards passing and 123 yards rushing in the game, registered two of those scores. Both of Hill’s touchdowns were on the ground. Senior Edwin DeJesus also got the Spartans on the board with a recovered fumble in the end zone after an errant Hatboro snap.
Backup quarterback Chris Edwards finished the scoring with a 39-yard rushing touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Edwards finished the game with 136 total yards on offense.
Hatboro, who remains undefeated in Suburban One American play, has a showdown at Upper Dublin next Friday at 7. Springfield will look to bounce back against Cheltenham.
“Being 3-0 is exactly where we want to be,” Kapusta said about his team’s effort so far this year. “But three wins is not where we want to stop so we got to keep preparing.”
No comments yet.