EMORY, Va. – The unbeaten Honaker Tigers have piled up the points and achieved some sterling statistics thanks to that new-fangled Air Raid offense, but they proved on Friday night that they can get back to the basics and win with an old-school approach as well.
Senior Aidan Lowe led the way for a rugged rushing attack that was relied upon heavily in the second half as Honaker kept its perfect record intact with a hard-fought 26-18 triumph over the Patrick Henry Rebels in a Hogoheegee District football showdown.
The wet field that had been saturated all day by precipitation and the intermittent rain that fell during the course of the game didn’t prevent Honaker (8-0, 3-0) from prevailing, the latest victory was just stylistically different than the others.
“We came into the game knowing we probably weren’t going to be able to throw as much, so we really focused on the running game,” said Honaker quarterback Peyton Musick. “We practiced that all week and we really needed to show everybody that we could ground and pound.”
The Tigers ran the ball 19 times in the second half, compared to just 10 pass attempts.
“We can run the ball when we have to,” said Honaker coach Todd Tiller. “The weather conditions kind of changed the game plan and coming in we knew that’s probably what it was going to be and we did a great job with that.”
Honaker 8 6 12 0—26
Patrick Henry 15 3 0 0—18
Scoring Summary
H – A. Lowe 43 pass from P. Musick (A. Musick pass from P. Musick)
PH – Goodspeed 32 run (Goodspeed run)
PH – Goodspeed 25 run (Buchanan kick)
H – P. Musick 4 run (pass failed)
PH – Buchanan 32 FG
H – Bandy 16 pass from P. Musick (pass failed)
H – A. Lowe 37 run (run failed)
Team Stats
First Downs: H 16, PH 17; Rushes-Yards: H 27-159, PH 52-314; Passing Yards: H 173, PH 0; Comp.-Att.-Int.: H 15-24-0, PH 0-1-0; Fumbles-Lost: H 0-0, PH 1-1; Penalties-Yards: H 3-20, PH 3-20; Punts-Average: H 2-33.5, PH 2-27.5