HUMBOLDT Anchored by a pair of senior players, the Humboldt Cubs cruised to a dominating performance on both sides of the ball in a 44-0 win over Jayhawk-Linn on Friday night in its home opener.
Conor Haviland had 8 carries for 260 yards and three touchdowns including a 35-yard fumble recovery on offense that he scooped up and took the distance in the second quarter as the Cubs scored early and often.
It was just that type of night for him. The kind of night where he picks the ball up and takes it in from 35 yards. We have to start getting more sound, because we are getting to the point in the season where we cannot rely on those types of plays, Humboldt head coach Logan Wyrick said.
The Cubs excelled in all three phases of the game.
Defensive end Joshua Hull was a matchup nightmare for the Jayhawks, being a constant force in the backfield, racking up two sacks and a forced fumble. The Cubs limited the Jayhawks to 97 yards of total offense on 50 plays.
Early on in the season we were trying to do some different things schematically. We have a lot of small quick guys, I mean a lot of them. It was just showing that it wasnt working. Finally, we just said lets just do what we do. Line up in our 4-3 and play. Wyrick said. We expect that from Josh every week. That is the type of player he is, he should be in everyones backfield. He is that type of athlete and we need him to step up. When we stay sound on defense, it allows him to step up on the option and read the play.
On special teams, Isiah Coronado blocked a punt and took it in for a touchdown, while Cooper Jaro blocked another to set up a Coronado 2-yd td run with 33.6 seconds left before halftime giving the Cubs a 38-0 lead.
Coach Jeremy Weilert saw something during the week on film, so we went after it. Actually on the second one, we were trying to set up a return because it was so late and we put Haviland back there. But Cooper just got back there and blocked it, Wyrick said.
JLHS got off to a decent start, marching down the field deep into HHS territory before turning the ball over on downs.
One play was all Haviland needed, taking it 80-yards for a touchdown with 3:22 remaining in the first quarter. He added the 2-pt conversion to make it 8-0.
Coronado added a touchdown off the blocked punt and the 2-pt conversion with 6:11 left in the second quarter to give the Cubs a 22-0 lead.
Later in the half, Haviland scooped up the ball and took it 35 yards for a score and added the conversion to give Humboldt a 30-0 lead.
Haviland rounded out the scoring early in the third with an 85-yard jaunt with 9:49 remaining in the quarter.
The referees then went to a running clock for the remainder of the game, as Coach Wyrick tried to get as many players on the field as possible.
Well, we found out that we will not be playing our J.V. game on Monday night because they dont have enough players, Wyrick said. Its kind of a double-edged sword when they go to a running clock. We needed to get as many guys as we could some experience, but with a running clock it makes it difficult.
