Hanover football comes back in second half to top Laconia
LACONIA - Reed Winter rushed for three touchdowns to help lead a second-half comeback for the Hanover High School football team in a 34-19 win over Laconia on Friday.
As the sun set, and the hill behind the Laconia field grew darker, it appeared as though the teams were putting on a track meet rather than a football game, as the first 24 offensive plays for both teams were running plays.
Laconia's rushing attack, led by Jacob Filgate and Drew Muzzey, looked strong in the first half as the Sachems had their way with the Hanover defense, stringing together solid first and second down runs to start drives.
On the first drive of the game, the Sachems marched down the field with ease on consecutive run plays, and facing a fourth-and-goal at the 1, quarterback Riley Roy snuck the ball into the end zone.
Hanover's offense matched Laconia's throughout the first half, and with Hanover down 13-6, Connor Stafford threw a long touchdown pass to even the game, and the two teams were tied 13-13 with 2:23 left in the first half.
Laconia appeared to be in control and have the momentum after the end of the first half, leading 19-13 after Roy connected an arching fade pass to Carter Doherty in the back corner of the end zone with 14.5 seconds left in the half.
But once the second half whistle blew, Hanover took over control of the game.
The Marauders were gifted excellent field position to start the first half, as Laconia attempted an awkward looking onside kick that was quickly scooped up by Hanover, giving it the ball at the Laconia 47-yard line.
Stafford capitalized on Hanover's excellent field position by throwing a 32-yard pass down the sideline, caught by Sam Ives at the 5-yard line, on the sixth play of the drive. Three plays later, Winter punched the ball into the end zone, as Hanover took the lead 20-19 after a successful extra point kick.
The game took a turn for the worse for the Sachems on third play of their first offensive possession of the second half. As Roy dropped back for a pass, he was sacked and fumbled the ball, and the Marauders took over possession with great field position. Five plays later, Winter ran the ball in to give the Marauders a 27-19 lead with the extra point.
The Sachems were now playing catch-up and had a quick three-and-out, forcing them to punt at the end of the third quarter. Hanover methodically drove down the field to start the fourth quarter, mixing in a heavy dose of run plays to eat up the clock, and after an 11-play drive, Winter again ran the ball into the end zone on a first-and-goal play for his third touchdown of the game, giving the Marauders a 34-19 lead.
With only 7:14 left in the game, Laconia was forced to throw the ball. The Hanover defense came up big by pressuring one incomplete pass, and deflecting another. After another quick three-and-out, Laconia punted the ball away for the final time with 6:49 left in the game.
Hanover effectively bled the clock down to 3:21 with consecutive running plays, but found itself in a fourth-and-6 situation. Stafford completed an excellent play-action pass to convert the first down and with less than three minutes left to play, the Marauders ran out the remainder of the time.
