Hawks improve to 5-0 in USA South

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Huntingdon football team closed out the road portion of its conference schedule with a 40-20 win over Greensboro on Saturday.

The win was the sixth straight for the Hawks (7-1) and pushed Huntingdon's record in the USA South Athletic Conference to 5-0. The Hawks will host Maryville (7-1, 4-1 USA South) next week in a battle for first place in the conference.

Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Samford Stadium on Nov. 7.

"We have to keep getting better and continue to improve on what we've been doing so far," Huntingdon head coach Mike Turk said. "We've got another big one coming up next week and it is shaping up to be an all or nothing kind of deal. We want to prepare this week and come out and play as well as we possibly can next weekend."

Against Greensboro (2-6, 1-4 USA South), Huntingdon played well for most of the game. But Turk saw plenty of room for improvement.

"It was a hard-fought game, but we didn't play particularly well in some spots," Turk said. "The one thing we did today, that we can't do, is turn the ball over three times. The good thing is we made some plays, made up for our mistakes and were able to get back in a rhythm. But we can't turn the ball over like that moving forward."

The Hawks jumped out to a 16-0 lead in the first quarter. Running back John Iwaniec scored on a 5-yard run on the opening possession of the game and running back Jay Ware scored on a 1-yard run in the final seconds of the first quarter. In between the touchdown runs, senior Anthony White and the defense recorded a safety.

But Greensboro made it interesting with three touchdowns in the second quarter. The Pride marched 40 yards for a touchdown on the first possession of the second quarter. Huntingdon countered with a 2-yard touchdown pass from Luke Bailey to Darius Dawsey to make it 23-6 with 6:47 left in the first half.

The Pride answered with a 65-yard touchdown run to make it 23-12 midway through the second quarter. A Huntingdon fumble at the Hawks' 8-yard line set up a third Greensboro touchdown to make it 23-20 with 1:16 left in the half.

From there, Huntingdon regained control of the game. Bailey hit Nick Haas for a 41-yard touchdown strike in the final minute of the half. A 1-yard touchdown run by Vic Jerald made it 37-20 in the third quarter and kicker Chase Young closed the scoring with a 23-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

"We were up 16-0 and they got back in it and cut it to three points late in the first half," Turk said. "We managed to score right before halftime and were able to take a 30-20 lead into halftime. In the second half, the offense and the defense played well. The running game was solid again and the defense was able to get some things straightened out. We missed some tackles in the first half, but we didn't give up a lot in the second half."

After allowing 275 yards in the first half, 228 of which came in the second quarter, Huntingdon held Greensboro to 61 yards in the second half. Greensboro was held to zero yards in the fourth quarter.

Linebackers Jake Green and Jacob Wright and defensive backs Brendon Brown and Demetrius Beverly each had five tackles to lead the defense. Green also forced a fumble, picked off one pass and broke up another pass.

Offensively, Huntingdon rolled up 506 yards of offense (282 yards rushing and 224 yards passing). Jerald, a sophomore running back, turned in his first 100-yard game as a Hawk and finished with 104 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. Ware added 86 yards and a score on 13 carries.

Bailey finished with 224 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions on a 17-of-26 day. Haas led the receivers with four receptions for 75 yards and a touchdown. In addition to his field goal, Young was 5-for-5 on extra points.