Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Hay Springs Hawk, Trent Reed, smashes into Connor Glanz as he carries the ball down the field. Glanz, and teammate, Jared Anton, worked together to bring Reed down.
The Potter-Dix Coyotes hosted the Hay Springs Hawks in their season home opener last Friday night.
Heading into Friday nights action left some unanswered questions for Coyote fans. Could the Coyotes keep up with the well know Hawks 6-man team who faced Spalading Academy and Riverside in the 2017 playoffs?
Heading into the matchup, holding junior running back Trent Reed would be a challenge but one that needed to be done.
Reed finished his 2017 sophomore season with 2,401 rushing yards, making him the leader in the state of Nebraska and the Nation's leading rusher in 6-man football.
As difficult as it seems to hold the Nation's number one rusher to minimal yards, the Coyotes did struggled at some points in the game but held their ground and forced the Hawks to use other offensive threats during play as well. The Coyotes were able to hold Reed to 141 rushing yards in the first game of the season.
On the other side of the ball Potter-Dix worked through their line up and played four at the QB position, freshman Jared Anton, senior Grant Hickman, senior Izaak Glanz and sophomore Donald Moench.
Anton attempted three passes but none were completed, Hickman finished 1-10, Glanz 0-2, and Moench 1-1 for seven yards.
Even through the strong defensive line of the Hawks, the Coyotes were able to squeak a couple of runs for 73 total rushing yards on the evening, but even so it wasn't enough to compete with the Hawks 297 rushing yards.
Anton carried the ball five times for a total of 14 yards, averaging 2.8 yards per carry, Hickman carried the ball twice for a total of 16 yards averaging eight yards per carry. Sophomore Brandon Mendoza had two carries for 10 yards for a average of five yards per carry and Moench lead the Coyotes with a total of 16 carries for 43 yards averaging 2.7 yards per carry.
Hickman caught one pass for a total of seven yards also in Friday nights opener.
The Coyotes came on the field to start the night off right holding Hay Springs to only one score in the first part of the first quarter. Then the momentum of the Hawks soared into the game with the first quarter coming to a close 22-0 Hawks. The second quarter seemed to roll on with the Hawks extending their lead to 48-0 at half time.
Potter-Dix was able to hold the Hawks to just six points in the third period but again came up short struggling to get past the defense.
The Coyotes were out scored again in the fourth quarter yet were able to get some points on the board with a rushing touch down from Moench to end the game.
The final score from Friday's home opener for the Coyotes was 68-6.
A tough first game of the year for Potter-Dix but Hay Springs, a tough opponent picked to finish third in the district D6-6 in the Panhandle Prep this year only behind Cody-Kilgore and Hyannis was prepared for the season.
Up next for the Coyotes is a road trip to Crawford to face the Rams tomorrow, Friday August 31.
Crawford is now 1-0 this season with a win at Edgemont last Friday at 7 p.m.
