Ron Booth
HINTON — Some things never go out of style, like ’57 Chevys and Coca-Cola. Another thing that hasn’t gone out of style is the Velma-Alma Comets’ power running game. The Comets (9-2) ran the ball 54 times for 302 yards in a 31-21 win over the Hinton Comets (9-2) in the opening round of the Class A playoffs.
“This is a great win for our kids,” Velma-Alma Greg Gothard said. “We didn’t care about the scoreboard, we just wanted to hit them harder than they wanted to get hit.”
While there is a trend in high school football to go to a “spread” offense, Velma-Alma has stuck with a traditional I-formation offense that features a straight ahead approach. That approach was featured on the opening drive of Friday night’s game, as V-A put together a 12-play drive that covered 81 yards and featured 10 runs.
Doing the bulk of the work was Velma-Alma junior Trenten Files, who rushed for 198 yards on 32 carries. On the first drive of the game, Files carried the ball eight times for 60 yards, including the four-yard capper at the 6:19 mark in the first period. However, Velma-Alma struggled with extra points, as Cord Gothard missed to the right on the PAT kick to leave V-A with a 6-0 lead.
“I thought Trenten ran inspired,” Gothard said. “It was a great game of football for us.”
The Velma-Alma defense equaled the offense, holding Hinton to a three-and-out on its first possession. However, Velma-Alma’s next possession ended on the first play, as V-A quarterback Dillon Morgan fumbled the ball.
The V-A defense held strong once again, keeping Hinton from scoring on four plays from the V-A two-yard line.
Velma-Alma took over on downs at its own one and drove out to the nine before having to punt, but Hinton’s Doug Seurer fumbled the punt and V-A recovered.
With a fresh set of downs at its own 41, Velma-Alma went up 12-0 on a 28-yard run by Dillon Morgan with 9:16 left in the second period for a 12-0 edge.
“I was just looking for the end zone,” Morgan said of his touchdown run. “I was nervous the first couple of plays. After the first couple of plays, I was ready to go. Trenten Files ran hard and ‘Pony’ (Tanner Jenkins) and Sam (Mathews) blocked hard, the line blocked hard and we just ran real well.”
Hinton cracked the scoreboard with 4:46 left before half on a five-yard pass from Matt Fink to Josh McLemore. Craig Boiling booted the PAT to cut V-A’s lead to 12-7.
Velma-Alma was able to answer before the half expired to take a 18-7 edge at the intermission. Velma-Alma took eight plays and over three minutes off the clock with Files scoring on a four-yard run with 59 seconds left in the first half.
At halftime, both teams swapped possessions, and Hinton was able to trim V-A’s lead to 18-14 with 6:17 remaining in the half.
A bad punt set Hinton up at the V-A 47, and a personal foul moved Hinton into striking distance. After a 10-yard pass from Fink to Seurer, Seurer hit Fink on a reverse pass for a 24-yard score.
Velma-Alma responded with another lengthy, clock-eating drive. V-A went 70 yards on 11 plays and took 5:11 seconds off the clock by the time that Jenkins crossed the goal line on a three-yard run at the 1:06 mark in the third for a 24-14 cushion.
Facing fourth-and-12 after Jenkins sacked Fink at the Hinton 31, the HHS coaching staff opted to go for it, and an incomplete pass set the Velma-Alma up on prime real estate.
It took V-A only four plays to find pay dirt on a 24-yard pass from Morgan to Jenkins. Cord Gothard got the point after through the uprights for a 31-14 advantage.
Hinton capped the scoring with a four play drive, on a 25-yard pass from Fink to Dane Randall with 7:56 remaining.
After each team swapped possessions, Files sealed the win for Velma-Alma with an interception at V-A two-yard line, as Velma-Alma went into its victory formation to run out the clock.
V-A will travel to No. 1 Okeene at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. One obstacle that V-A will face going into the second round is replacing junior lineman Joey Hensley. Hensley to what is believed to be a torn ACL near the end of the first half, taking the Comets down to 14 active players.
“Losing Joey right before half was tough. I was proud of the kids with the way the came out,” Gothard said. “Earlier in the year when we lost (Dustin) Sloan, we just bucked up. When you lose 66 (Hensley), and don’t have anyone that has played is tough. Sean Wright came in and did a great job. I thought all the kids around him did a great job. That is how you replace a starter. Everybody else around him has to rise up and play harder, and I thought we did that.”
