Wolves come through against the odds
Heavener comes through against Hugo Friday night in the Wolves’ district opener in football despite facing some steep obstacles.
Read more: Heavener comes through against Hugo, 35-24The Wolves had not won a game and playing the most athletic team in the district, one that had caused Heavener problems in the past with the Buffaloes’ speed.
On the first fall-feeling night of the season, Heavener overcome those odds, defeating Hugo for only the second time in school history in a key district game for playoff seeding.
Heavener used three long drives and then got a clinching 40-yard touchdown run from Brandon Sanchez as the Wolves were trying to run out the clock in the final minutes for a 35-24 victory.
The Wolves improve to 1-3 overall, 1-0 in district play going into next week’s game at Prague. Hugo is also 1-3 overall and 0-1 in district play.
While Hugo did make many big plays Friday, Heavener countered that by rushing for 246 yards while holding the Buffaloes to only 82 yards on the ground. Heavener also got a huge play late in the game as Brayden Semore intercepted a pass to halt a Hugo drive in Heavener territory.
For the third time out of the four games this season, Heavener scored on its opening drive of the game. This time, the score came from a 21-yard run from Semore (in the picture accompanying the story by Kaydence McGee) to cap off a drive that ate up 6:16.
Hugo answered, but failed on the two-point conversion, the first of four failed tries on the night to cut the deficit to 7-6.
Heavener scored again in the second quarter after a long drive on a 1-yard blast from Spencer Clubb, who had his best night of the year rushing with 75 yards on 15 carries. Semore led Heavener’s rushing attack with 76 yards on 14 carries, also the most this season.
Hugo scored with only a second before halftime to trim the Wolves’ lead to 14-12 at the break.
Heavener had to kickoff to start the third quarter, but the Wolves recorded a short kick. Ben West scored his first touchdown of the season with 8:21 left in the quarter on a 6-yard pass from Semore for a 21-14 lead.
Clubb also came up with a big play on defense, stripping the ball from a Hugo runner for a fumble recovery.
The Wolves added a 21-yard touchdown pass from Semore to Silva with 11:53 left, Silva’s fourth game with a touchdown and Heavener had a 28-12 advantage.
Hugo scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter, again missing two-point conversions to cut Heavener’s lead to 28-24. The Buffaloes tried onside kicks after both of the touchdowns, but neither try came close to going the necessary 10 yards.
The Wolves then got the big run from Sanchez to put the game away and Semore’s interception iced the win in their best game of the season.
Get even more, subscribe to our free newsletter at https://heaveneronline.substack.com
