Hat High on a mission

By Ryan McCracken on October 5, 2018.

NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Hat High Mohawks linebacker Justin Maser (42) tackles McCoy Colts running back Koby Laychuk-May (36) in the backfield during the first half of a Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018 Rangeland Football Conference game at the Methanex Bowl.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

The Hat High Mohawks shared the wealth on Thursday night at the Methanex Bowl.

The Mohawks used touchdowns from six different players to secure a 56-10 victory over the McCoy Colts and push their undefeated Rangeland Football Conference record to 4-0 with two games remaining in the regular season.

“It’s a team effort for every touchdown,” said Mohawks running back Ashton Larson, who punched in three touchdowns to help push Hat High to 4-0 on the season. “They pushed back of course, but we just had to keep our defence strong and we stopped them.”

The Mohawks took an early stranglehold on a slew of scoring drives in the opening half. Touchdowns from Larson, Lachlan Hardiker, Braeden Long, Janick Lacroix, Elic Ayomanor and Austin Walton —and a safety from Lacroix for good measure —paved the way to an early 43-0 lead before the Colts finally mustered a response.

“We came out with a game plan to go hard in the first quarter then get everybody in the game and spread the ball around, let a lot of the young guys have some game time,” said Hat High head coach Quinn Skelton.

After putting together an impressive drive in the dying seconds of the first half, the Colts booted their way onto the board with a buzzer-beating 25-yard field goal from Josh Cockill.

“We’ve been developing him quite a bit this year,” said Colts head coach Adrian Szola. “That was a great field goal that he had and we’re looking for more next time.”

Larson widened the gap halfway through the third quarter on a short touchdown run, but the Colts quickly answered back with a 55-yard touchdown pass from Chayce Davies to Zack Hickey.

“(Davies) has a very good head on his shoulders and at quarterback he did very well,” said Szola. “He’s not usually our quarterback, he’s usually a running back so he stepped up in that position when we needed him most and he did very well.”

The drive seemed to spark something on McCoy’s bench, as the Colts forced a turnover on the ensuing kickoff and Davies appeared to find another receiver in the end zone, but the touchdown was called back due to Davies breaking the line of scrimmage prior to the pass.

“It was the best game we played this year. The guys played very hard,” said Szola.

Larson punched in another touchdown in the dying minutes of the fourth quarter to round out the scoring, but added his Mohawks saw a much stronger effort from McCoy than in their previous meeting — a 54-6 victory for Hat High.

“They’ve definitely gotten better since the last time we played them,” said Larson. “They had a stronger defence and were able to knock down the ball more than once from us.”

The Colts return to the Methanex Bowl next Friday against the Brooks Buffalos at 5:30 p.m., followed by the Mohawks and Crescent Heights Vikings at 7:30 p.m.