Happy Valley routs Cosby after a slow first half
Published 12:26 am Saturday, September 21, 2019
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Happy Valley’s Landon Babb (32) gives a fist bump to Andrew Little (3) after Little scored his second touchdown of the game with just over 12 seconds left in the half. The Warriors took a seven-point lead 14-7 into the locker room.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Happy Valley’s Andrew Little (3) pulls in a pass, avoids the grasp of the Eagles Hunter Workman (4) and scampers 23 yards for the Warriors first touchdown of the night.
BY ALLEN LAMOUNTAIN
STAR CORRESPONDENT
COSBY – Happy Valley started slow, but a renewed run attack launched the Warriors to a 40-7 win on Friday night at Virgil Ball Stadium in Mountain East Conference action.
“This was a great response to last week,” Warriors head coach Jason Jarrett said. “With teenagers, you never know how they will respond, but its a step in the right direction. We weren’t real happy offensively, really the last four weeks so we put an emphasis on offense this week.”
Happy Valley (4-1, 2-0 MEC) drew first blood after junior Timmy Mounts recovered a Cosby fumble giving the Warriors the football at the 33-yard line.
From there, HV drove 67 yards on eight plays with junior quarterback Eli Ayers finding sophomore receiver Andrew Little on a 25-yard touchdown pass.
The Eagles (1-4, 0-2 MEC) took possession after a Warriors punt and went 70 yards on 10 plays with senior quarterback Hunter Workman taking the ball around left end for 10 yards and a touchdown to make it a 7-7 contest.
The Warriors next drive saw a touchdown pass called back on a penalty and on fourth down Ayers slipped and touched the ball which put him down and HV turned it over on downs.
After forcing an Eagle punt, the Warriors drove 80 yards on seven plays with Ayers connecting with Little on a nine-yard scoring pass. Cameron Cochran knocked in the point-after kick for a 14-7 Warriors lead at the break.
Senior halfback Jordan Campbell rushed for 62 first-half yards on seven carries with junior Matthew Bahn rushing for 55 yards on eight tries. Ayers completed 7-of-10 passes for 67 yards and two touchdowns.
For Cosby, senior tailback Eduardo Gonzalez lugged the pigskin for 78 yards on 16 carries and Workman had 27 ground yards and a touchdown.
The second half saw Happy Valley unleash the run game with Campbell scoring on a two-yard run and on the next possession Bahn scored on a 60 yard run for a 26-7 Warrior lead. Ayers capped the next Warriors drive with a one-yard dive for a 34-7 HV lead after Campbell ran in the deuce.
“Coach talked to us and got us hyped up and told us we needed to turn it around,” Campbell said. “That’s what we did, the o-line started blocking really well and we just picked it up.”
For the Warriors, Bahn finished with a game-high 149 yards on 14 carries and Campbell finished up with 114 yards on 15 tries.
Sophomore quarterback Blake Garmon capped the scoring with a 15-yard strike to Little – his third scoring reception of the contest.
“Andrew is an athlete and he has pure hands,” Jarrett said. “We want to utilize him in a lot of different ways. He is a two-way player and plus, he is just a sophomore.
“We challenged the line at halftime to play with pads low and they responded with relentless enthusiasm.”
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Happy Valley 40-7
Happy Valley 7 7 20 6 – 40
Cosby 0 7 0 0 – 7
Scoring summary
First Quarter
H – Little 25 pass from Ayers (Cochran kick) 5:32
Second Quarter
C – Workman 10 run (Gonzalez kick) 8:35
H – Little 9 pass from Ayers (Cochran kick) :12.8
Third Quarter
H – Campbell 2 run (kick failed) 7:49
H – Bahn 60 run (kick failed) 3:31
H – Ayers 1 run (Campbell run ) 1:04
Fourth Quarter
H – Little 15 pass from Garmon (pass failed) 4:13
