Hampshire topples Burlington Central
Xavier Bennett wouldn't be denied. The Hampshire senior returned the opening kickoff to the Burlington Central 20-yard line only to have it called back by a penalty. No worries. Two plays later he took a short pass from Jacob Vincent and raced 73 yards for a score.
That started a run of 27 straight Hampshire points as the Whip-Purs exploded after intermission for a 27-9 victory in nonconference action on Rocket Hill Friday night.
Vincent scored on a pair of short runs and Jared Lund also scored for Hampshire.
The Whips' defense was dominant. Michael Kruse had 2 of Hampshire's 3 interceptions, Eric Bajorek recovered a fumble that he nearly returned for a touchdown, and Hampshire held the Rockets scoreless for more than 39 minutes.
"The defense has been working hard all week, and we just went out and executed," said Kruse. "Since June we've been preparing for Burlington Central."
The usual opening-night jitters, plus the added intensity of a rivalry game did not make for an aesthetic success. The teams combined for 5 turnovers, 228 penalty yards, plus some just-plain-weird moments.
The Whips moved the ball somewhat in the first half, but killed themselves with ill-timed penalties.
"Once we started eliminating those in the second half and running our offense the way it should be run, the kids played really well," said Hampshire coach Mike Brasile. "Some weird things happen. It seems that there's always some weird things that happen for Hampshire up here on Rocket Hill."
Central took an early lead on Cole Tecza's 25-yard field goal and it stood up until halftime. The Rockets got in the end zone on a 19-yard pass from Robert Doubek to Conor Mahoney.
"It was not a very well played first half, I think Hampshire's coaches and our coaches would agree on that," said first-year Central coach Jason Newburger. "But they cleaned some things up, made some adjustments at halftime, and we started to wear down."
Vincent finished 17 of 31 for 256 yards for Hampshire. Bennett had 4 catches for 111 yards. The running game, which totaled 1 yard In the first half, also came to life in the second half. Jeremy Curran led the way with 73 yards on 11 carries.
Doubek finished 12 of 28 for 150 yards for Central. Jason Berango totaled 46 yards on 9 carries and also had a 41-yard reception.