Hampshire's playoff hopes dashed by McHenry
Hampshire hasn't had much luck stopping the run all season, which didn't bode well for Friday's must-win matchup against McHenry.
The Warriors dominated up front, opening hole after hole for Giovanni Purpura and his teammates to run through. The McHenry senior carried the ball 34 times for 262 yards and 2 touchdowns, leading the Warriors to a 34-22 victory.
While the win secures a playoff berth for McHenry (6-2, 5-2 in the Fox Valley Conference) a year after the Warriors went 1-8, Hampshire (3-5, 2-5) was eliminated from playoff contention.
"They are going to pound the ball," Hampshire coach Mike Brasile said. "All year we have had trouble stopping the run. I think we have given up more yards in the run game per play than pass game. For them to come out and imposing their will in the run game is something we have struggled with all year. It's won and lost up front."
The Whip-Purs fell behind 21-0 at halftime and 34-6 with 3:07 left in the third quarter.
To their credit, they didn't quit. Daniel Tuzak ran for a 10-yard touchdown, then quarterback Jacob Vincent threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Jared Hornbeck. Tuzak ran in the 2-point conversion after both touchdowns, and the 16 unanswered points brought Hampshire within 34-22.
The Whip-Purs stopped McHenry, and Vincent completed passes to Cameron Fleury and Connor Burke to move the ball to McHenry's 18-yard line with a chance to make it a 34-30 game.
But the Warriors held on downs, and they then proceeded to run the last 6:12 off the clock, the final touches of a 415-yard team effort on the ground and a 509-284 edge in total yards over the Whip-Purs.
"I'm proud of the way the kids kept punching and punching and punching," McHenry coach Nat Zunkel said. "We were just ready to go. That's a good football team. We performed really well tonight. (Purpura) is pretty special, and the offensive line did a great job."
McHenry led 7-0 after the first quarter on Braden Crowley's 18-yard run. Purpura scored on a 7-yard run early in the second quarter to make it 14-0.
A 10-yard sack by Hampshire's Isaac Rivas looked like it would keep the Whip-Purs within two scores at halftime, but McHenry quarterback Colton Klein threw a touchdown pass to Crowley on 4th-and-goal from the 25-yard line with just 38 seconds left in the second quarter.
Julio Alvarez gave Hampshire a spark recovering a fumble on McHenry's first possession of the third quarter. Vincent capitalized on the short field with an 11-yard strike to Erik Starrenburg.
Unfortunately for the Whip-Purs, the momentum didn't last long as Purpura went 71 yards on McHenry's next play.
Converting on fourth downs was a key for McHenry all night, going 5-for-5. That included a fake punt in the third quarter, a 29-yard run by Dominic Amettis, that set up the Warriors' final touchdown, Crowley's 45-yard run.
After throwing for just 19 yards in the first half, Vincent's big second half enabled him to finish 19 of 32 for 209 yards, completing 7 passes to Tuzak and 6 to Hornbeck.
"If we play like that second half it's a different ballgame but unfortunately we came out flat and didn't execute," Brasile said. "Being down 21-0 at half, our kids have a lot of resolve. For them to come back and battle and get almost within a score at the end is a testament to how much those kids care about one another and how much they will work for each other. We fell a little short but I have a great group of kids that are becoming young men."