24th-ranked Hawks outlast Louisiana College

PINEVILLE, La. – The 24th-ranked Huntingdon football team never trailed on Saturday, but the Hawks were in a battle until the end of a 52-49 win over Louisiana College.

Sophomore linebacker Trey Hayes intercepted a Louisiana College pass at the Huntingdon 30-yard line with 1:06 to play to end the Wildcats' final threat.

After two uncharacteristic fumbles earlier in the game, senior John Iwaniec gained 17 yards on third-and-9 to help seal the win. Iwaniec's first-down run with 35 seconds remaining allowed the Hawks to take a knee and run out the clock.

This was the fourth game in the last five meetings between the Hawks and Wildcats to be decided by seven points or less.

"This was not the way we would have mapped it out, but I'm proud of the guys for getting the win," Huntingdon head coach Mike Turk said. "There were a couple of times it looked like we had just handed the game to them. But our guys rose up and found a way to win.

"We made a lot of mistakes on both sides of the ball. We turned the ball over too much on offense and we missed tackles and were out of position on defense. Those are all things we have to correct and we will correct them. We made it a lot harder on ourselves today and as a result we had to have some late-game heroics to pull it out. But, I feel like if we can correct a few things, we have a chance to be pretty good."

Despite giving up more than 600 yards and 49 points, Turk said the defense's ability to produce turnovers was the difference in the game. The Hawks' defense came up with five turnovers, including two inside the Huntingdon 10-yard line.

"Obviously, there are some things we have to fix on defense," Turk said. "At the same time, the defense came up with some big turnovers at key moments. We had four interceptions and a fumble recovery, and that was the difference in the game. We came up with interceptions in our red zone to stop them from scoring and Trey's interception at the end helped seal the win."

Linebacker Cameron Compton had an interception at the Huntingdon 9-yard line on the first possession of the game and defensive back Anthony Wood had an interception at the Huntingdon 5-yard line with 3:45 left in the game.

Wood finished with two interceptions and nine tackles, Compton had one interception and nine tackles, Hayes had an interception and a team-high 12 tackles and Jalen McDonald recovered one fumble.

Offensively, senior quarterback Luke Bailey, Iwaniec and sophomore receiver Otis Porter sparked the Hawks.

Bailey passed for a career-high 423 yards and rushed for 66 yards to set a Huntingdon record with 489 yards of total offense. Bailey threw for three touchdowns and ran for two.

Iwaniec rushed for 115 yards and a touchdown and Porter, playing in his first varsity game, had four catches for 155 yards and two touchdowns.

"I can't say enough about how proud all of us are of Otis," Turk said. "He came in this year, had a really good training camp and worked himself into the rotation by making plays and doing what was asked of him. When he wound up with an opportunity today, he made good on it with four really big catches."

Porter's first varsity reception was for 16 yards to convert a fourth-and-nine in the first quarter. His second reception went for a 34-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. Porter's third catch went for 37 yards to set up the Hawks' final touchdown of the first half and his last catch went 68 yards to give Huntingdon a 52-42 lead with 5:30 to play in the game.

Iwaniec scored on an 18-yard run to give the Hawks a 21-7 lead in the second quarter and Bailey ran for two touchdowns in the second quarter to put the Hawks ahead 35-21 at halftime. In between his two touchdown passes to Porter, Bailey also connected with senior Nick Haas for a 40-yard scoring strike.

With three passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns, Bailey set one career record and tied another for the Hawks. With Saturday's effort, Bailey has been responsible for 66 touchdowns (passing and rushing) in his career. The previous mark of 63 was held by former Huntingdon quarterback Zach Golson. With 54 career passing touchdowns, Bailey is tied with Golson for first in the Hawks' record book.

"I'm proud of Luke and the way he played today and has played over the years," Turk said. "He's been a consistent player for us and he's been able to spread the ball around and help make some good things happen."

Rounding out the scoring for the Hawks were junior quarterback Chip Taylor and sophomore kicker Chase Young. Taylor scored his first career touchdown on an 8-yard run early in the second quarter. Young kicked a 25-yard field goal in the third quarter and converted 7-of-7 extra points.

Huntingdon returns to action at home on Sept. 10. The Hawks host Birmingham-Southern at 6 p.m.