The Hackett Sr High Hornets opened their 2019 football season last night against the Mansfield Tigers in a highly anticipated match-up. Fans across the board know that when these two teams meet on the gridiron, non-stop action of epic proportions is bound to follow. Although the outcome was not quite what Hackett was hoping for with a 40-8 loss to the Tigers, the Hornets put their blood and sweat into this game while pushing themselves to their absolute limit.
The Hackett defense definitely put it on the Tigers at the start of the game. The Hornets started out with their defense swarming the ball nonstop. Dylan Kats and Peyton Hester kept Mansfield running backs and receivers backpedaling in the first quarter with their swift feet and roadrunner like speed.
Avery Hester and Brier Goines were slammin’ and bamin’ the Tigers offense in an attempt to keep the high powered Mansfield offense at bay. And Ethan Slavens was on top of things as he recovered a Tiger fumble at the end of the first quarter.
Kicking the night away for the Hornets was Jesse Esparaza who has a leg that slices through kicks smoother than butter. After a few more tackling contributions from Weston Winters, Fischer Shipman, and Kats, the game went into halftime with a score of 21-0 Mansfield.
Wasting no time getting the second half of the game going, the Hornets defense was able to stuff out their second Mansfield drive of the night. In the third quarter, Hackett brought in backup quarterback Ethan Slavens who then fired a shot to Peyton Hester for a 16-yard run.
With just under eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, Winters acquired a 17-yard run that placed the Hornets just within spitting distance of the end zone. A Slavens to Shipman 28 yard touchdown found daylight for the Hornets, putting Hackett on the board. With the added contribution of the two-point conversion by Winters, the game was closed out with a final score of 40-8 Mansfield. A home non-conference game against Pocola will put the Hornets into action on September 6 at 7 p.m.
