Huntingdon shuts down Averett on Senior Day

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon football team celebrated Senior Day with a 42-6 win over Averett on Saturday in the final home game of the season.

"The final home game is always emotional and bittersweet," Huntingdon head coach Mike Turk said. "The sad part is knowing we're not going to have these guys back next year. But I'm proud of the way these seniors have handled themselves and the way they have matured into young men and leaders. This is a special group of young men and they've meant a lot to this program."

The Hawks' 21 senior football players have put together a 25-12 record during the past four seasons and finished with a 14-5 record at home. Huntingdon is 8-2 at home the past two seasons.

"Today is an unbelievable feeling," senior linebacker Zach Brownell said. "You have a lot of emotions on Senior Day and you begin to remember all of the work you've put in with your brothers on this team. I'm proud of the way we played today."

The Hawks travel to North Carolina Wesleyan next week to close out the season. Huntingdon (6-3, 5-2 USA South) will be trying to reach seven wins for the third time in four seasons.

Against Averett (2-7, 1-6 USA South), the Hawks scored on three of their first four possessions and built a 35-0 lead early in the second half. Sophomore John Iwaniec scored on a 2-yard run on Huntingdon's opening drive and sophomore quarterback Luke Bailey connected with Jamichael Bibb for a 21-yard touchdown on the Hawks' second possession.

Bailey also completed a 45-yard touchdown pass to Nick Haas late in the second quarter. The second touchdown pass was Bailey's 22nd of the season, tying the Huntingdon single-season record set by Justin Ridgeway in 2009.

In between Bailey's two touchdown passes, senior quarterback Taylor Hughes scored on a 4-yard run. Saturday was the first time Hughes has taken the field since suffering an injury against Birmingham-Southern in the second game of the season.

"It meant a lot to be able to get back out there today. It was a great experience," Hughes said. "When I got hurt, we weren't sure if I would be able to come back this year. To get in the game and be able to score one more touchdown at home, that was a big moment for me."

Freshman Lorenzo James scored the Hawks' final two touchdowns on runs of 3 and 13 yards in the third quarter. Senior kicker Jimbo Turk was 5-for-5 on extra points and senior David Ballard kicked the final extra point.

Iwaniec led the ground game with 83 yards on 14 carries and Bailey and Hughes combined for 283 yards passing. H-Back Darius Dawsey had three receptions for 77 yards and Bibb finished with four catches for 57 yards.

As a team, the Hawks finished with 511 yards of offense and averaged 7.9 yards per play. Defensively, Huntingdon held Averett to 101 yards of offense in the first half and 209 yards of offense for the game.

Brownell, who is averaging 12.4 tackles per game this season, finished with a game-high 13 tackles. With 200 career tackles in three seasons, he is now the Hawks' fifth all-time leading tackler.

Linebacker Jacob Wright added nine tackles and Jeremy Murphy, Anthony White and Anthony Wood each had interceptions for the Hawks. Murphy, who leads the Hawks with five interceptions and three blocked kicks this season, also blocked a kick against Averett.