Daniel Fahmy (above) continued his emergence as one of the county’s top linebackers on Friday night. He helped the Hawks shut out their second consecutive opponent. (Handout)
By: Gabe Kamins, Co-Editor-in-Chief
A light outage during the fourth quarter of Friday’s football game between Hammond and River Hill caused quite a bit of confusion and tension on both sides. The two teams were sent to their sidelines as the referees met in the middle of the field to discuss the situation. Thankfully, after a 15-minute delay, the lights were turned back on, and play continued.
But the lights for this one went out long before the actual outage. Thanks to a ferocious rushing attack led by Zach Igwebe (24 carries for 131 yards) and Michael Crisitello (19 carries for 113 yards and 2 touchdowns), as well as another dominant defensive performance (118 total yards allowed), the Hawks (2-0) scored first and never looked back en route to an impressive 15-0 victory over the Golden Bears (0-3) on Senior Night.
On the Hawks’ first drive of the game, they took up the entire first quarter and marched down the field. Hammond defenders appeared to be exhausted, while River Hill ballcarriers picked up first down after first down. However, despite a 12-minute drive, the Hawks were ultimately derailed by four false start penalties and disappointingly came out of the drive empty-handed. Hammond then gained a first down before having to punt the ball back to the Hawks. This time, a 10-play drive was rewarded with a 5-yard touchdown run by Michael Crisitello to put River Hill up 7-0 just before halftime. Hammond came close to scoring after a big kick return by Tayshawn Yates, but ultimately ran out of time, and the teams entered halftime with the score 7-0.
With the stadium buzzing following an electric performance from the Poms team, the Hawks came out firing in the third quarter. The defense forced a Hammond punt, which again resulted in a Michael Crisitello 5-yard touchdown run. After a roughing the kicker penalty, Zach Igwebe successfully converted the 2-point conversion to give the Hawks a 15-0 lead.
Considering how the defense had been playing, this was all but the dagger. While the Hawks didn’t score another point, neither did Hammond. The final whistle blew, and the Hawks were 2-0.
Quarterback Dylan Burnett only attempted one pass in the win, but noted after the game that “running the ball is our brand of football. It sets the tone for the game, and it sets up the play-action.” He added that the team runs “the ball extremely well” and that it “starts with [the offensive line].” While Zach Igwebe and Michael Crisitello were dominant on the ground, Burnett was quick to give credit to wingback Nick Laumann, who “does a great job at setting up Zach and Michael [with his blocking].”
The Hawks will have a short week as they travel to Atholton on Thursday night to take on the Raiders (1-1). River Hill will look to improve to 3-0 and earn a victory over each team in their division, while Atholton aims to take down the Hawks for the first time since 2015.