WILMINGTON – Every coach will tell you he is confident in his team, but no coach is willing to enter a game and say he is overconfident. It is definitely something that will wind up on the other team’s message board.
But Hoggard High School football Coach Scott Braswell had to feel his Vikings were on pretty solid ground on Friday night as he and his 4-0 football team welcomed the Q Foundation, an independent and private school that deals with children with special needs, for the Vikings’ final non-conference game before action begins in the Mid-Eastern 4A Conference next week.
After all, the tiny (21 players dressed on Friday) school, which had won its first game by a 30-12 score over Atkins, had dropped its last three games by a composite score of 135-0.
And even though his team was not as focused as he would have liked, it turned out Braswell was right on the money.
Senior running back Sheldon Cooper rushed for 121 yards on just 13 carries and scored twice and sophomore running back Keevin Thompson chipped in with 110 yards on eight carries with two scores as Hoggard rebounded from a slow start to defeat Q Foundation 49-0.
Hoggard heads up College Road next week with a 5-0 record to open conference play against 4-1 Laney in a game Braswell knows will be much more difficult.
Braswell explained why he chooses to schedule a private school that will provide little competition heading into conference play.
“I coached the head coach from Q Foundation when I was at West Charlotte and I appreciate what they are trying to do so we schedule them to help their program,” said Braswell of the alternative school from Charlotte. “It doesn’t do us much good competitively and we weren’t as sharp as we wanted to be, but they definitely have some good athletes, especially on defense.
“We weren’t as focused tonight. We just have to bring a little more focus and a little more intensity to practice this week and get ready for Laney.”
Hoggard served notice as to what would later transpire when they forced a punt on the Falcons’ first possession before marching 41 yards on two plays to jump on top at 7-0.
Cooper gained 16 yards on the first play and senior quarterback Christian Poveromo laid a perfect ball into the arms of a streaking Ryan Edmonds who was running a corner route, and he dove into the end zone. James Puckett, one of three outstanding kickers on the Vikings’ roster, made it 7-0.
Poveromo, who came into the game 53-for-76 (70%) for 742 yards and seven touchdowns, threw his first interception of the year to quash another Hoggard drive, but linebacker Trenton Dumas blocked a Falcons’ punt to set the Vikings up on the Q Foundation 27-yard line.
A bad snap cost Hoggard seven yards but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty gave them new life with a first-and 10 at the Falcons’ 19. Thompson needed one play to make it 13-0 and Puckett connected to make it 14-0 just 1:16 into the second quarter.
That second 12-minute period proved to be the undoing for the Falcons as Hoggard traveled 56 yards on 12 plays with Cooper ending the drive with a one-yard run on the Viking’s next possession, Randall Emerson scored on a 10-yard end-around to make it 28-0, and Cooper scored on a six-yard run to make it 35-0.
The first score of the three-touchdown outburst was set up by an interception by Hoggard’s Tailepeaua Apisa, the second score was put in place after a 58-yard punt return by Edmonds, and the third came after Apisa’s second interception that put the Vikings in business at the Falcons’ 21-yard line.
Thompson outran the defense on a 79-yard touchdown scamper with 2:35 remaining in the third quarter, and Demonte Smith mercifully ended the scoring with a four-yard run with 2:35 left in the game after a 23-yard punt return by Edmonds.
Q Foundation 0- 0-0-0= 0
Hoggard 7-28-7-7=49
First Quarter
Hoggard – Ryan Edmonds 25 pass from Christian Poveromo (James Puckett kick), 9:52
Second Quarter
Hoggard – Keevin Thompson 19 run (James Puckett kick), 10:44
Hoggard – Sheldon Cooper 1 run (James Puckett kick), 2:15
Hoggard – Randall Emerson 10 run (James Puckett kick), 1:37
Hoggard – Sheldon Cooper 6 run (James Puckett kick), 0:09.5
Third Quarter
Hoggard – Keevin Thompson 79 run (Landon Mays kick), 2:35
Fourth Quarter
Hoggard – Demonte Smith 4 run (Landon Mays kick), 9:18
Team Statistics Topsail Q Foundation
First Downs 13 11
Rushing 34-283 17-69
Passing 4-10-36 10-20-96
Fumbles/Lost 0/0 3/2
Punts 1-34 5-103 (20.6)
