Hanson takes out frustrations on EIHS

FRANKLIN -- Wow. Just wow.

Hanson took out an entire season’s worth of frustration Friday night and the unfortunate recipient of that pent-up frustration was the visiting team from East Iberville.

The Tigers scored 10 -- yes, 10 -- touchdowns to demolish the visiting Tigers 69-24 in a non-district game.

“We’ve been overdue,” said HMS coach Richard Sandusky, whose team won its first game of the year. “We just came out and played hard. I’m proud of the kids. A lot of teams at this point would have fallen apart and be looking for the next sport to come along.

“Our kids never quit. Despite the scores this team has a lot of pride and they show it every day in practice. We came up on the short end quite few times this year and the kids never stopped working.

“It’s all about sending the seniors off tonight with a win at homecoming and for all the fans that came out and stuck with us we appreciate that. We wanted to play our best and I think that we did a pretty good job.”

Charles Uze and Zachary Stewart each scored three touchdowns rushing for Hanson (1-7 overall) and Mikey Payton put the game out of reach with a 63-yard interception return for a TD just before halftime to give the Tigers a 49-18 lead at the break.

“It was just finally good to get a win and get everybody’s spirits up and we’re looking forward to a game with VC (Vermilion Catholic) next week,” said Uze who led a plethora of Hanson rushers with 71 yards on the ground. “We’ve been working hard every. We haven’t given up.

“We’re still going to work hard until the end.”

Pulling out all the stops from the beginning, Hanson executed a perfect onside kick to start the game and drove the ball 46 yards in four plays as Uze scored the first touchdown on a four-yard run to give Hanson the 7-0 lead.

“That’s been our best kickoff all year,” said Sandusky. “We’ve recovered quite a few of them and we assumed that if we are going to give it to them at the 35- or 40-yard line we’d just try an onside kick. It worked out for us.

“We wanted to get the ball on the first possession and try to set the tone.”

East Iberville fought gamely early on. Brandon Jones went 65 yards on the visiting Tigers’ first possession to tie the game at 6-6.

Hanson came right back with another drive that ended with a four-yard TD run from Stewart and Uze added the 2-point conversion for the 14-6 lead.

After that, it fell apart quickly for the visitors, who only had 18 players dress out for the game.

“We dress out nine junior high boys and we started a 12-year-old at left tackle on offense and defense,” said EIHS (0-6) coach Jim Payton. “We only had two practices with five and eight guys this week.

“The bottom line is that we’re trying to get through without forfeiting. We had to forfeit a week ago because of a lack of players.”

Hanson exploded on offense in the second quarter, scoring four touchdowns and adding Payton’s interception return for a total of 35 points in the period.

East Iberville added two touchdowns in the quarter as the two teams combined for seven touchdowns.

Hanson scored three more times in the third to make it an even 10 touchdowns and 69 points. East Iberville added a TD in the fourth for the final margin.

“The kids were excited and got some confidence and we got a lot of young kids in, which is important as we build to the future,” said Sandusky.