Hersey uses all its weapons to roll past Carmel

Here's the issue with teams trying to deal with Hersey this season.

Late in the first half Friday, the Carmel's defense had the Huskies backed up deep in their own end. Then suddenly, a 44-yard pass to Dom Wentink, followed by 33 yards to Josh Riggs and Hersey was in control of the game.

Hersey quarterback Jake Nawrot, a Kentucky commit, threw for 273 yards and the Huskies opened the season with a 38-22 nonconference victory over Carmel.

Nawrot had a wide variety of weapons at his disposal. Besides six players catching passes, junior running back Jackson Travis rushed for 116 yards on 19 carries.

Riggs had 4 receptions for 74 yards and junior newcomer Jaxon Saint Paul added 4 for 50. Saint Paul is a transfer from Stevenson who used to live in California.

“With Jaxon being a new guy and a lot of younger guys coming up, we've got a ton of weapons,” Nawrot said. “They all know what they're doing. They're really special. We had two junior (running backs) come in and just do their thing. I'm so proud of the guys.”

Hersey pulled out to a 16-0 lead before Carmel found some rhythm on offense. However the Corsairs could never get back within one score.

“We want to run the ball to set up the pass we like to do whatever the defense is going to give us,” Hersey coach Tom Nelson said. “We want to be versatile. We're not stuck in one box or one philosophy.”

Carmel quarterback Reed Dangel had a nice debut. The transfer from Warren went 20-for-34 for 281 yards and no turnovers. He also showed some wheels on a 31-yard scramble to the 2-yard line. Receiver Kyron Hart had a big day with 6 catches for 112 yards.

“We started off slow, I missed on a lot of routes,” Dangel said. “But we came back, fought hard. We're looking forward to a great next week of practice and a great game (next Friday).

“I'm loving (Carmel). I'm getting a lot more chance to compete and throw the ball a bunch and loving all the guys I've been playing with.”