By Connor Hawthorne, Sports Editor
On October 6th River Hill students packed the stands to watch one of the most well known high school traditions: the homecoming football game. A tradition going back years, the homecoming dance was originally a celebration of football teams finishing their season and making their “homecoming.” Since then, the event has expanded to include many different traditions, however the homecoming football game is still to many students one of the most important aspects of the homecoming weekend.
The football team played Mount Hebron High School for their homecoming game. Expectations were high as students packed into the stands. The team was ready to perform as Coach VanDuesen acknowledged that Mt Hebron is a “great run team” stating that “We’ve got to try to make some big plays with misdirection and play action passes to help us.” As the football team filed into the stadium excitement and confidence was at an all time high.
Unfortunately for River Hill, this confidence proved to be short-lived as Mt Hebron scored a touchdown early in the first quarter, missing the kick. Another touchdown widened Mt Hebron’s lead and after scoring a two point conversion, the quarter ended with a score of 0-14.
Mt Hebron’s momentum slowed down in the second quarter, however, with a clear trend emerging. River would try to pass the ball throughout the second quarter, however all of their passes were incomplete. Running the ball proved more effective for the Hawks and they almost managed to score. With two minutes to go in the second quarter, River Hill fans looked expectantly for the Hawks to score their first touchdown. Unfortunately, these hopes were dashed as the star quarterback, Omar Hassan, was injured and the ball was turned over to Mt Hebron who ran the ball for a touchdown, thus ending the second quarter with a score of 0-21.
For the halftime show, the students present were treated to an entertaining performance from the POMS team, and then a great performance by the marching band. Luckily for the students of River Hill, kicking for chicken was a success and all students present can now claim their free Chick-Fil-A sandwich. After that, several outstanding former athletes and coaches were inducted into the River Hill athletic hall of fame, among them Coach Graves, who for almost two decades has coached the golf and basketball teams here at River Hill. After this display honoring our amazing athletes, the players returned for the start of the second half.
To the surprise and astonishment of all the spectators present, Omar managed to return to the field at the start of the third quarter, despite his apparent injury at the end of the previous quarter. Invigorated by the return of their starting quarterback, River Hill almost scored but the ball was turned over at the ten yard line, much to the disappointment of all students present. Following this unfortunate turn of events, River Hills’ luck continued to worsen as more players sustained injuries and were removed from the game. Mt Hebron scored again, but failed to complete the two point conversion, ending the third quarter with a score of 0-27.
At this point in the game, most River Hill spectators had left the game, having resigned to defeat, however the football team continued to play on undeterred. The beginning of the final quarter did not mark a change in River Hills fortunes as several passess were intercepted, Omar was once again injured and Mt Hebron scored once more making the two point conversion. The game ended with a score of 0-35 with a valiant effort on the part of the football team.
They truly gave it their all in this game, as evidenced by the multitude of injuries they sustained in dedication to the sport. There is no doubt however, that the football team will soon be back better than ever, ready to do their best and win some games. Coach VanDuesen states that despite the setbacks, “hopefully we’ll get healthy, get some of our starters back and our goal is always to be playing our best football at the end of the year.” It’s not about how hard you can hit, but how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. Go get em Hawks!