GAINESVILLE — A young North Hall football team grew up Friday night.
The Trojans dominated a favored West Hall team in the second half and pulled away in the fourth quarter for a shocking, but impressive, 24-10 win at The Brickyard.
The effort was not lost on North Hall coach David Bishop.
“We’ve been telling the guys that if they keep believing in what we’re doing, good things will happen,” Bishop said. “We saw that tonight. To come out and play like they did tonight against a team like that. I don’t know what to say, really.”
Juniors and sophomores that saw plenty of action last season in a transition year are now posied to begin making their mark for the Trojans. Friday's victory may be the turning point Bishop and his staff have been waiting for.
The North Hall defense, which was shredded by Jefferson last week, held a powerful West Hall ground game to minus-5 yards rushing and beat them at their own game -- turnovers.
West Hall had forced 10 fumbles in its first two games, both blowout wins. But it was three key turnovers of their own that would be the Spartans undoing.
Two muffed punts and a bad snap led to 21 North Hall points. Conversely, the Spartans had turned seven turnovers into 49 points in their first two games.
“Our defense was lights out,” Bishop said. “We did a few different things than they probably saw on film and that slowed them down and confused them some.”
Junior Kyle Bacus was the difference for the Trojans churning out 129 yards and scoring on runs of 3, 1, and 4-yards. The Trojans piled up 208 yards on the ground against a defense that had yielded just over 200 total yards over its first two games and did not commit a turnover recovering the only two fumbles they had.
“Kyle has been working hard and getting better. A tremendous effort,” Bishop said. “We knew we couldn’t make mistakes against them and win. A great effort by the entire offense.”
The first 18 minutes of the game was a punting duel between West Hall’s Anthony Lotti and North Hall’s Nathan Kinney. The two kickers punted four times apiece but Kinney’s final punt of the half was muffed by the Spartans with the Trojans recovering at the West Hall 15.
That sparked a frenetic final six minutes of the second quarter.
The Spartans defense would not bend forcing a 29-yard field goal attempt by Chris Dennis. But the Spartans’ Tristan Hester broke through to block the kick and Tyquan Statham scooped up the ball and raced 74-yards for a touchdown to give West Hall a 7-0 lead with 5:36 left in the half.
The Trojans responded right back with their best drive of the half. Bacus exploded for a 63-yard run down to the West Hall 14. Bacus moved them to the 3 on an 11-yard blast and then scored on a 3-yard run to tie the game at 7-7 with 3:25 left in the half.
West Hall followed with its only real drive of the game behind Jacob Satterfield. The junior quarterback connected with Statham for a gain into North Hall territory with just under two minutes and then got completions to Will Dague and Kwon Williams. The drive would stall at the North Hall 12, whoever, and Israel Lopez drilled a 29-yard field with 14 seconds left in the half to give the Spartans a 10-7 halftime lead.
West Hall again would aid the Trojans. After forcing a North Hall punt on its first possession of the third quarter, West Hall’s Williams could not handle a high snap on the next play and North Hall’s Kinney recovered at the Spartans 21. But again the West Hall defense stiffened and held North Hall to a 32-yard field goal by Dennis to tie the game at 10 with 3:31 left in the quarter.
The Trojans kept the momentum going stopping the Spartans on their next possession. Jackson Madonna and Sam Jackson caught the West Hall defense playing for the run and connected on a 39-yard pass play to the Spartans 25 on the next play. Bacus then took over again with 20 yards on the ground, capping the drive with a 1-yard plunge to give North Hall the lead for good at 17-10 with 10:16 left in the game.
The Trojans put the finishing touches on the victory when the Spartans mishandled a second punt that was recovered at the West Hall 4 with just under four minutes left in the game. Bacus tallied his third score of the game on the next play for a 24-10 lead with 3:54 left to seal the win.
Satterfield finished 9-of-18 for 89 yards passing and Hykeem Bennett snagged five catches for 48 yards for the Spartans, who had just 84 total yards.
West Hall has had trouble in the second half so far in the young season. The Spartans have been outscored 27-7 after halftime.
SCORING SUMMARY
West Hall....0....10....0....0 -- 10
North Hall....0.....7....3....14 --24
Second Quarter
WH -- Statham 80 blocked FG return (Lopez kick) 7-0, 5:36
NH -- Bachus 3 run (C. Dennis kick) 7-7, 3:25
WH -- Lopez 29 FG 10-7, 0:14
Third Quarter
NH -- Dennis 32 FG 10-10, 3:31
Fourth Quarter
NH -- Bacus 1 run (Dennis kick) 17-10, 10:16
NH -- Bacus 4 run (Dennis kick) 24-10, 3:54
