HERMON- The Medomak Valley Panthers got three touchdowns and 242 yards rushing combined from Hayden Staples and Levi Ward Friday night, and would spoil the homecoming for the Hermon Hawks with an 18-7 Class C high school football win at Pottle Field.
Medomak (3-2) struck first on their second possession led by Staples. The junior running back had runs of 27 and 23 yards on the first scoring drive, capping it off with a 10 yard touchdown scamper to make it 6-0 Panthers with 3:56 left first quarter. The visitors would extend their lead three minutes into the second when Ward would find the endzone from five yards out, and with the second straight missed two-point conversion it was 12-0. Hermon (1-1) hit the scoreboard for the only time on the evening, set up by a pass down the right sideline by quarterback Johnny Kokoska to wide receiver Chase Flanders who went up and challenged the defensive back for a 46 yard reception. The Hawks were facing a fourth and long at the Panthers 25 when Kokoska couldn’t find anyone to throw to and kept it and gained only seven yards, but got hit late out of bounds to give the hosts a first and goal and kept the drive alive. On third and goal at the 15, Kokoska was able to find freshman wide receiver Bud Coulter in the left corner of the endzone. Coulter made a nice diving catch and got his foot in, and with the extra point it was 12-7 at halftime.
The Hermon offense couldn’t muster much else in the second half, and after Staples got banged up early in the third quarter it was Ward who took over most of the touches out of the backfield and led the Panthers to victory. Ward had 113 yards out of his 132 on the night in the second half alone, including a short one yard scoring run with 6:59 left to play. Garrett Hutchins sealed it about a minute later, going up and wrestling the ball away from Flanders on a pass thrown by Kokoska for an interception. Hermon head coach Kyle Gallant said, “We said it all week to the kids, coaching staff, on the coaches show that this game was gonna be won in the trenches, we knew what Medomak was gonna come do. They were gonna line up two tight ends, run four plays, and just sit there and say stop it. And we didn’t. We had glimpses of it, but then there would be a third down and four or five and we couldn’t. We just gotta get back to work, it’s our Week 2. We just gotta get tougher, I’ve said that before, and that’s what we have to do”.
Staples finished with 110 yards on 20 carries and the one touchdown, while Ward had 23 attempts for 132 yards and two scores in the Medomak win. Quarterback Wyatt Simmons ran the Panthers offense, but didn’t attempt a pass on the night. Kokoska was 4-11 passing for 62 yards with one touchdown and one interception in the loss for Hermon. Flanders had the one big catch for 46 yards, while Coulter had the lone catch and lone TD for his team. The Hawks run game was kept in check as Gary Glidden had just 31 yards on 12 carries. Medomak outgained the hosts 242-105 in total yardage. MVHS is back in action at Nokomis next Saturday, while Hermon is at home again when they welcome in MCI next Friday night.
MED (3-2) 6 6 0 6- 18
HER (1-1) 0 7 0 0- 7
