Strong start for Hawks
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- Photos courtesy of Jeremy Wiggs/jeremywiggs.com
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Friday night brought the usual excitement that accompanies any new football season, as Hardin Valley Academy kicked off the 2025 campaign at home against Karns High School.
Mother Nature, however, was a rude guest, not only delaying the start by an hour, but washing out the second half, which had to be played Saturday.
The Hawks took it all in stride, rolling up a 38-12 halftime lead and winning 45-25.
“I’m just proud of our guys,” Hawks’ coach, Tyler Wynn, said. “Our core values are resiliency, investment, selflessness, effort. Extremely excited and proud of these guys who have bought into what we are doing.”
The Beavers struck first, taking a 6-0 lead when quarterback Austin Slover hit Weston Ritter for a 21-yard score on the game’s opening drive.
HVA came right back to lead 8-6 when, after Becks Allen ran the kickoff back 65 yards to the KHS 20 and quarterback Riley Matz took it in from the six on the drive’s fifth play.
On the first play of the ensuing drive, the Beavers fumbled, and HVA was right back in business on Karns’s 33. On second down from the three, linebacker Samuel Mann took the quick snap and plowed in from the three. Mann then scored the two-point conversion, and HVA led 16-6 with 7:16 left in the first.
The Beavers cut it to 16-12, but then became their own worst enemies. An interception led to a 28-yard touchdown run by HVA’s Levi Amey and a 24-12 lead. On its next possession, KHS set up for a punt.
The snap went over the punter’s head and into the end zone. The Hawks’ defensive end Andrew Perkins fell on it, and with 6:18 left in the half, HVA led 31-12.
A 61-yard TD bomb from Matz to Brody Lamb with 3:18 left completed the dominant first half. Halftime brought – again – the rain and lighting, necessitating the second-half postponement.
“I would have stayed til two in the morning,” Wynn said. “When you get things rolling and get those juices flowing, I think that’s where we were.”
If the Beavers had any ideas of staging a comeback Saturday, the Hawks quickly squelched them. On first down on the opening drive from the KHS 49, Chance Sharp took the handoff, went left, broke tackles and went all the way to the end zone. Barely two minutes into the half, HVA led 45-12.
KHS scored twice in the second half, but it was too little, too late. “We know we’re better, but we got a long ways to go,” Wynn said. “I’d like to see a little bit better in the second half.”
The Hawks ran for 210 yards, spread among a bevy of backs. Matz threw for 71 yards and a touchdown in the first half.
“We’ve worked hard all off-season,” Matz said. “It’s gonna show all season long.”
