Hampshire notches 1st win

The Whip-Purs finally got back to playing Hampshire football.

With a heavy dose of fullback Joe Moore and Caleb Kendrick providing a change of pace, the Whip-Purs scored their first victory on their new football field, defeating Byron, 20-6, in a Big Northern crossover Friday night.

Moore rushed for 154 yards and a touchdown while Kendrick added 140 and a score on just 11 carries. James Goebbert also caught a touchdown pass from Evan Brenner.

Hampshire (1-3) controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, rolling up 438 total yards to just 161 for the visiting Tigers.

"It's nice to have a mentality of playing a good, physical football game and dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides," said Hampshire coach Dan Cavanaugh.

Moore agreed that the line's play was the key.

"They were blowing them off the ball," he said. "There were holes all night."

The Whips also dominated time of possession: they ran 43 first-half plays to the Tigers' 12. Not that the domination always showed up on the scoreboard. After taking the opening kickoff, Hampshire began a 19-play drive, but failed to score. The Whips reached the 4-yard line, but a penalty and back-to-back sacks of Brenner killed the drive.

After forcing a punt, Hampshire commenced another long drive. This time, it paid off as Kendrick's 3-yard run capped the 15-play, 74-yard march.

Just before halftime, Brenner found Goebbert in the flat for a 7-yard score. A roughing-the-kicker penalty on a punt by Brenner kept the drive alive.

Byron finally got on the board on the first possession of the second half, with David Boyle hitting Conor Bernhard for the score.

Hampshire answered by driving to the 1-yard line. The Whips were stopped on downs short of the end zone, but it hardly mattered. They forced the Tigers to punt from their own 3-yard line. They took advantage of the good field position, driving 34 yards for the clinching score. This time Moore took it in from the 1.