What began as a defensive battle between two young teams turned into a wild finish Thursday night, as Midway and Hobbton needed every second on the clock before the Raiders escaped with an 18-14 victory.
Hobbton grabbed control on its opening possession, with Julius Pope-Flores finding the end zone before the Wildcats added the 2-point conversion to take an 8-0 lead.
Midway began moving the football late in the first quarter but didn’t capitalize until the opening minutes of the second. Raiders quarterback Fernando Ambriz faked a handoff and kept the football, as he raced around the right side and into the end zone. Midway failed on the conversion attempt, leaving Hobbton ahead 8-6.
The Wildcats started their next possession from their own 38-yard line and quickly went back on the attack. Kyrie Best took a jet sweep for a big gain into Midway territory before Kevin Morrisey followed with another solid pickup on the ground.
Penalties eventually put Hobbton behind the chains, and the Wildcats failed to convert on 4th-and-long; Midway gained possession just shy of midfield.
Ambriz connected with tight end Gabriel Spencer to move the chains, but Hobbton’s defense responded when Anthony Stover delivered a big sack on third down. The play left Midway facing 4th-and-24 with 22.9 seconds remaining in the half.
Ty’Kevon Cash caught a crossing route over the middle on fourth down, but the Wildcats kept him short of the marker; their 8-6 advantage was preserved heading into halftime.
Midway received the football to begin the second half and quickly found itself facing another difficult situation. After a 2-yard run and a 2-yard loss, the Raiders faced 3rd-and-10. A screen pass to Cash picked up only 3 yards, bringing up 4th-and-7.
An offsides penalty against Hobbton shortened the distance to 4th-and-2, and Tristan Spencer fought for just enough yardage to give Midway a first down.
The conversion kept alive a methodical possession that would consume much of the third quarter. The Raiders continued marching downfield while controlling the clock before Cash hauled in a pass across the middle for approximately 25 yards, moving Midway into the red zone as the quarter expired.
The Raiders finally took their first lead early in the fourth, when Hunter Batten took a handoff up the middle and powered into the end zone. Midway again failed on the 2-point conversion but moved ahead 12-8.
Hobbton responded immediately.
Pope-Flores broke free for a long run that carried the Wildcats to the Midway 37, putting Hobbton in position to retake the lead. Morrisey followed with another big run, but a hard hit knocked the football loose, and the Raiders recovered at their own 19.
Midway turned the takeaway into another clock-consuming possession.
Andrei Grieser broke loose on a long keeper to move the Raiders across midfield, but Hobbton’s defense forced Midway into a critical 4th-and-8. A false start pushed the Raiders back another 5 yards, which left them facing 4th-and-13 with the game potentially hanging on the next snap.
Cash delivered.
The Midway receiver hauled in a clutch pass along the right sideline to convert the fourth down and move the Raiders deep into Hobbton territory with 2:38 remaining.
Tristan Spencer finished the possession as he punched the football into the end zone to extend Midway’s advantage to 18-8.
The Wildcats still weren’t finished.
Pope-Flores provided a huge kickoff return to give Hobbton favorable field position, and Best capitalized by finding the end zone to pull the Wildcats within four. Hobbton couldn’t convert the 2-point attempt, leaving Midway ahead 18-14.
Hobbton attempted an onside kick, but Midway secured the football and went to work trying to drain what remained of the clock.
The Raiders ran three plays for a combined gain of approximately a yard as they bled away the final seconds. The game clock reached three seconds before an extended delay by the officiating crew resulted in the clock being corrected to eight seconds.
Suddenly, the Wildcats had life.
Hobbton stopped Midway on fourth down with four seconds remaining, which gifted the Wildcats one final snap and one final opportunity to erase the deficit.
Best took a jet sweep toward the left side and broke into the open field. With the Hobbton sideline erupting, the freshman raced toward the end zone before Midway’s defense finally brought him down approximately 6 yards shy of what would have been the game-winning touchdown.
The stop finally secured Midway’s 18-14 victory.
For Midway JV coach Zack Fann, the victory carried significance for a Raiders roster dominated by freshmen who haven’t experienced much winning together.
“We’ve got a lot of freshmen on our team. Most of it is freshmen,” Fann noted. “We’ve got about 45 on our team. It’s a very young and small sophomore class. These kids haven’t won much. In middle school, I think they’ve had one win combined in two years. So for them to get a win in Week 1 is really special.”
While Fann acknowledged there is plenty for the Raiders to improve, he believes opening the season with a victory could help establish a different expectation for the young group.
“They’ve been used to subpar culture, all that, but we’re really trying to build that up here,” Fann added. “Winning Week 1, obviously, is a good step forward for that.”
Across the field, Hobbton JV coach Dasmine Joyner saw plenty to build upon despite the loss. The Wildcats have 19 freshmen and only a handful of sophomores, leaving several players to contribute on offense, defense and special teams.
“That freshman group that played their very first high school snap gave us everything that we asked them for,” Joyner reflected. “Some kids, as you’ve seen, were going back and forth, playing offense, defense, even special teams. Every time we asked them for one more, they gave us one more.”
Joyner pointed to Pope-Flores and Best as two of the young players who showed flashes throughout the opener.
“We relied on Kyrie, and we relied on Julius, and those guys are special only because they give us everything we ask for,” Joyner emphasized. “They work hard. Everything that we ask them to do, they’re going to do it to the T and more.”
For Joyner, the opener was another step in preparing his young roster for what matters most later in the season.
“As I told them in the huddle, that was Week 1, but the season ain’t over,” Joyner continued. “I know we’re going to take some bumps in the road. We’re trying to get ready for conference.”
For two teams relying heavily on freshmen, the opener provided plenty of teaching moments. Midway walked away with the victory, while Hobbton walked away knowing it was only a few yards from changing the outcome.
Midway (1-0) travels to Clinton next Thursday, while Hobbton (0-1) travels to Triton.