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Hawks Rip Lafayette, Host Oakville in Class 6 Football Semifinals, Saturday
PILING ON !!!– Somewhere in the pile of players from Lafayette (white) and Hazelwood Central (dark) is the football at the end of a play in last Saturday’s 41-10 Hazelwood Central win. Jim Wieners photo
By Jim Wieners
Hazelwood Central Rich Nixon called week eight “a wake up call” after in losing to Class Six, District Four champion McCluer North, 16-10, and scoring two touchdowns with 39 seconds to go in a week nine staying alive win over Riverview Gardens, 27-20. The Hawks are on a roll and won the last three football games over teams with seven or eight wins by margins of 28 points or more, with the 35-point non-stop clock being used briefly in the last two games before their opponents scored late.
Last Saturday at Hazelwood Central the 11-1 Hawks rolled past 8-4 Lafayette, 41-10, in the Class Six Quarterfinal win eight days after a 35-7 Sectional win at 8-3 CBC and two weeks after shutting out visiting Hazelwood West, 28-0, a 7-3 team in the last week of District Four. This Saturday the Hawks welcome in Oakville in the Class Six Semifinals. The game at press time, generally was scheduled for 1:30 but Hazelwood Central athletic director John Pukala said last Saturday he hopes to move the starting time to 1 p.m. just in case there is overtime because it gets dark after 5 p.m. Hazelwood Central has no lights. The winner plays Nov. 27, 7:30 at the Edward Jones Dome, downtown St. Louis, against the winner of this Friday’s 7 p.m. game between DeSmet and Blue Springs.
“When you are at home,” said senior wide receiver/defensive back Jawyne Thomas “it pumps you up.”
Oakville is in their fifth post-season playoff since 1992 but it is the first State Semifinal game for the Tigers whose colors, black and gold (like Hazelwood Central, University City, Fort Zumwalt East and Lafayette), and fight song are similar to the University of Missouri (Columbia). Oakville is 9-3 with two wins over Fox, 19-13 at Fox and 45-17 at home, a win each over Northwest-Cedar Hill, 42-0, Seckman, 52-29, and St. Louis University High, 31-3, in route to this Saturday’s game,. The Tigers losses are to Suburban West Conference rivals Lindbergh, 17-6, Kirkwood, 29-14, and Lafayette, 24-14.
Hazelwood Central is not only the defending Class Six State Champions but is also making their 14th semifinal appearance, including 1972 as Hazelwood, and the Hawks are 13-0 in semifinal games. A win Saturday would send the Hawks to the state title game (Show-Me Bowl) for the 14th time, which would set an MSHSAA record for most Show-Me Bowl appearances surpassing Kansas City-Rockhurst (13), who lost to Blue Springs, 23-21, in last Friday’s Class Six Quarterfinals.
“We’ve been here before,” Thomas said. Last year the Hawks won over visiting Fox, 31-6 in the semis.
Last Saturday Hazelwood Central broke a 3-3 tie against Lafayette by scoring 38 unanswered points, 28 in the second quarter including 21 in the final 2:38 of the first half. After Tra Brown scored the first of his two touchdowns with 2:38 left in the first half the Hawks padded their lead with two more touchdowns in the final 36 seconds. Quarterback Kerry Gibson, who completed eight out of 13 passes for 202 yards, hooked up with Thomas for a 10-yard touchdown and after the Hawks got the ball back Gibson scored on a 12-yard run with 12-yard run with 16 seconds left.
“When we are at full speed,” said Nixon, “we are capable of making plays.”
With Sean Wills replacing Gibson at quarterback the Hawks scored 10 more points in the fourth quarter. Ryan Crandall, who kicked a 32-yard field goal to open the scoring in the first quarter, booted a 14-yard field goal six seconds in the fourth quarter and Brown scored his second touchdown from a yard out with 6:20 left in the game. The non-stop clock went into effect for 2:19 until Lafayette got a 16-yard touchdown pass with 4:01 left from Kyle Blocker to Brandon Graft.
Rodney Smith put the Hawks up for good in the second quarter, with 8:36 left, on a one-yard run after several key passing plays by Gibson on that drive. Lafayette had tied the game at 3-3 with 2:35 left in the first quarter on a 41-yard Nick Aussieker field goal that countered Crandall’s 1st field goal.
Defensively Hazelwood Central has allowed 9.7 points per game and no one has scored more than 20 points Last Saturday Thomas had 2 interceptions, Cortland Dunlap had eight tackles and five assists while Yomi Alli had four tackles and five assists.
“We are going to hang our hat on playing mean, nasty defense,” Nixon said.
