By Bobby Narang- Photos by Jenn-Anne Gledhill
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HAMPSHIRE – Just 23 miles away from Hampshire Middle School, the No. 23-ranked Northern Illinois Huskies were hosting Buffalo at Huskie Stadium in DeKalb at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
Two weeks after an historic win at then-No. 5 Notre Dame, the college football world turned its eyes toward watching the Huskies response to their first game since knocking off the Irish.
At the same time of the Huskies’ kickoff, a large group of football fans were intent on watching a younger group of highly motivated and talented players at the same kickoff time, when the 11U Hampshire Junior Whip-Purs 11U hosted the Tri-Cities Wolverines 11U Gold.
And despite sweltering conditions that caused temperatures to swell up to 91 degrees, the Whip-Purs and Wolverines battled strong, competed to the final whistle and were enthusiastic throughout the four-quarter battle.
The Whip-Purs thrilled the home crowd by scoring a touchdown in every quarter to record a 28-12 victory on their Homecoming Day.
“It’s a team effort,” Hampshire coach Brian Navarro said. “It all starts upfront with our line. Every day we practice blocking, tackling and stress hitting hard. I told my boys to set the tone by being physical tonight. It was a great win.”
Tri-Cities came into the game dealing with some last-minute adversity, losing their starting quarterback earlier in the morning. Thus, the Wolverines had to make some last-minute adjustments to their offense.
Even so, the visiting team was able to move the ball at times, finishing with 53 yards passing and 108 yards rushing. The Wolverines nearly had a chance to win the game, but were flagged on a punt attempt by the home team that helped extend their possession rather than giving the visiting team the ball late in the game. The Whip-Purs took advantage of getting the ball back, needing just four plays to pad their lead to 28-12.
Still, Tri-Cities coach Tim Kozlowski said his team battled tough conditions, plus losing their starting quarterback at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday along with trying to slow down a potent offensive attack by Hampshire.
“We found out our quarterback wasn’t able to go, so we had to scramble to find a game plan that worked,” Kozlowski said. “It was pretty chaotic but I thought they did a pretty good job considering the circumstances. They played hard.”
The Whip-Purs captured the victory by getting good blocking from their offensive line, a strong push from the defensive line, an electric passing game and tough running from their backs.
Small but speedy, Hampshire wide receiver Billy Jimson was one of the star players in the game. He caught five passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns. His ability to get open beyond the defense, to go with his great hands and quickness caused problems all game for the visiting team.
Jimson had receptions of 14, 12, 27, 28 and 24 yards, highlighted by his TD grabs of 27 and 24 yards to cap an amazing day. Hampshire quarterback James Lash, who was rushed into starting duty earlier this season because of an injury to the starting quarterback, showed off his passing skills and moxie with a solid effort. Lash completed six of his seven passes for 118 yards and three touchdowns, with five of his completions finding the waiting arms of Jimson. Lash added a 13-yard TD pass to Collin Wagner in the second quarter to extend their lead to 14-0 with 4:02 left remaining until halftime.
The Whip-Purs relied on the Lash-to-Jimson connection to put the game out of reach for the Wolverines. Late in the fourth, the Whip-Purs took advantage of a penalty on the visiting team on their punt to keep possession. Four plays later, on fourth and 15 at the Wolverines’ 24-yard line, Lash lofted a pass to Jimson, who caught the ball for a 24-yard touchdown.
Jimson started the scoring with is 27-yard grab on the opening drive for the home team, ending an eight-play drive. Lash scrambled to his right, stopped near the sidelines and tossed an arching pass to Jimson for the score for a 6-0 lead.
“Billy is a new player on our team,” Navarro said. “He came here from Mississippi. He’s a great kid, very well-spoken and just a natural athlete. He’s small and little but he listens and learns and studies the game of football. Billy is an absolute stud and we’re lucky to have him. He made so many big plays and great catches in today’s game.”
The Whip-Purs’ passing attack was set up by a strong running game, led by Dominic Winarski, Vanthanat Obmalay and Braden Peterson. Winarski was a beast in the victory, finding opening holes, breaking tackles and using his quickness to chew up yards to extend several drives and set up big plays in the passing game when the Wolverines loaded up in the box.
Winarski ran 15 times for 86 yards to spark the running game, including several short gains late in the fourth quarter to keep the visiting time from having the ball.
“It felt really good today, even though it was very hot, but we got everyone in line and did their jobs like we were supposed to,” Winarski said. “We ran up the middle a lot and it worked. It felt good to have big plays. We would have a big gain in the running game to set them up in the red zone and scored off our passing. It was great to see.”
Obmalay, who also plays linebacker and kicker, added six rushes for 23 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown run, to cap a busy day.
“This wins feels great, to win on Homecoming,” Obmalaysaid. “It feels good. We played good defense. We’ve been working for four years on our defense. I love how we did today.”
Meanwhile, Peterson, who had a 10-yard run, said the offense played outstanding on a muggy afternoon.
“I ran strong because we needed to win the game,” Peterson said.
Hampshire offensive lineman/defensive lineman Michael Campbell credited the win to inspired play by all three sides of the ball. The Whip-Purs held the visiting team scoreless in the first and third quarters.
“The defensive line did a good job and watched the ball and we shifted to the right side and had fun on defense,” Campbell said. “The offensive line blocked the way we were supposed to and worked hard and ended with a good push.”
Hampshire defensive end Myles Navarro agreed with his teammate.
“The other team mostly ran the ball on jet sweeps to the outside, so when it got later in the game, we knew they would give the ball later in the game by throwing to number 13, so we did a good job on him,” Miles Navarro said.
The Wolverines had several big plays of their own in the game, mainly by quarterback Austin Kozlowski. The speedy and smart quarterback overcame a heavy rush by the Whip-Purs, relying on his ability to read the defense and use his blazing speed to rush for 71 yards.
Kozlowski’s biggest play came on a 50-yard touchdown dart in the final seconds of the second quarters, which was set up by a great defensive stop by the Wolverines and a smart time-out by the coaching staff.
Kozlowski also threw for 53 yards in the defeat, but his best play came on his long TD run, when he darted along the far sidelines to just miss going out of bounds to shock the mostly pro-Hampshire crowd. He crossed the goal line with 27.9 seconds left until halftime.
“It was a jet sweep and Spencer (Brown) had a really good block and I cut up and they tried to dive for my legs, but it didn’t affect me and I just kept on running hard. We had a good day, but we have to work on some our blocking and cadences and getting stronger and developing more guys for the offensive line.”
Later in the game, Kozlowski added his second touchdown run to cap a 10-play drive. He busted loose for a 5-yard TD after carrying the ball six times on the drive that started with 8:15 left in the third quarter.
Wide receiver Spencer Brown had several memorable plays in the defeat, hauling in catches of 14 and 18 yards.
“The offense blocked good, but not on point and Austin had a nice run,” Brown said. “We scored two touchdowns on two really nice plays. I felt really good about the catch I had with three people around him and the one I caught in the red zone also felt really nice.”
Tri-Cities’ left tackle and nose guard Solomon Asiata was stellar on both sides of the ball for his team. His toughness and determination was evident in the game.
“Today’s game we got beat by the big passes, but we should improve, especially our offense,” Asiata said. “We had some very good plays, but we can’t get too discouraged.”
Although both teams did not have cheerleaders attend the game, the two teams were inspired by their fans and loud cheering to keep them in high spirits on a hot afternoon. The Hampshire Jr. Whip-Purs had contributions up and down the lineup. The team consists of Alexander Koutsogiannis, Braden Peterson, Drew Majcher, Billy Jimson, Aiden Culpepper, Isaac Lechuga, Nathaniel Blachuciak, Jaxson Schmidt, Alex Van Dyke, Caden Betts, Gavin Drobny, Tyler Guess, Oscar Reyna, Myles Parker, Christian Padjen, Vanthanat Obmalay, Dominic Winarski, Donovan Jesse Saavedra, Joseph Deaton, Myles Navarro, Michael Campbell, James Lash and Collin Wagner.
The 11U Gold Tri-Cities Wolverines roster includes Bryce Zwolinski, Logan Novak, Liam Sherry, Austin Kozlowski, Maverick Del Angel, Thomas Schaeffer, Peyton Parks, Tanner Robinson, Zachary Fares, Landon Sepulveda, Spencer Brown, Brody Carroll, Brody Bercheid, Liam Wilson, Kellen Balog, Everett Fleming, Ryan Sester, Charles Sevilla, Jaxson Spies, Lucas Lindstrom, Mason Foley, Solomon Asiata and Jaxson Parris.
