One play. That’s all Houston needed in its season opener. If any of the close plays went the Tigers’ way, they would have celebrated a victory. Instead, they were dealt a difficult defeat.
“I think we outplayed them,” HHS coach Billy O’Neil said following the 26-22 home loss Friday to Hollister. “I thought we got a good effort from the kids and did a lot of things right. But we had a lot of fundamental issues on both sides of the ball and special teams.”
Many of the numbers that often decide an outcome were in the Tigers’ favor.
Houston outgained Hollister 318-288 and had five more first downs. The Tigers also committed fewer penalties.
But the game-changing plays went in Hollister’s favor.
The first was a fourth-and-inches at the goal line midway through the third quarter. HHS quarterback Nathan Poynter attempted to sneak the ball over the left guard and was stuffed in the backfield A score would have tied the game at 20-all.
“There was miscommunication from the sidelines to the quarterback,” O’Neil said. “He ran the play he thought we called. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the call.”
HHS (0-1) still trailed by six early in the fourth when a fumbled punt gave Hollister possession at the Houston 9-yard line. The Tigers appeared to make a huge defensive stop on fourth down when they sacked Chandler Shook in the backfield, but a defensive chop block negated the play. On the next snap, Kobe Stewart took a sweep around the left edge and sprinted into the end zone to put Hollister ahead 26-14.
O’Neil, who said he had never seen the penalty called in a game, reviewed the play in slow motion on the game film. He said one of the Tigers’ blitzing linebackers tripped on a teammate’s foot and rolled into the knees of a Hollister running back.
“It was the correct call by the official,” O’Neil said, “but boy did it come at a bad time.”
HHS senior Ty Wilkins had 15 carries for 92 yards and a touchdown to lead the HHS ground attack. Fullback Stetson Welch added 66 yards and a pair of scores.
Poynter was 7-of-11 passing for 78 yards. Three different players –– Wilkins, Austin Schock and Scott Logan –– had two receptions apiece.
Shook ran for 138 yards and two rushing scores. He also returned a kickoff 91 yards for a score.
Hollister (1-0) ran the ball on 54 of its 56 offensive plays. One of its two passes was picked off by HHS junior Steven Logan near the end zone at the end of the first half.
After falling behind 6-0, the Tigers tied it on Wilkins’ 4-yard touchdown run.
Hollister led 20-6 late in the first half before Houston responded with a quick seven-play drive that ended with the first of two Stetson Welch touchdowns.
After the defensive chop block and ensuing score, Stetson Welch punched it in from three yards away with 7 minutes, 44 seconds left in the game. Poynter ran in the conversion for the final two points for either team.
BOX SCORE
| Hollister | 12 | 6 | 0 | 8 | – | 26 |
| Houston | 6 | 8 | 0 | 8 | – | 22 |
First Quarter
HOL – Shook 1 run (run failed), 5:14
HOU – Wilkins 4 run (kick failed), 0:19.
HOL – Shook 91 kickoff return (run failed), 0:06.
Second Quarter
HOL – Shook 2 run (Shook run), 3:09.
HOU – SWelch 1 run (Wilkins run), 1:14.
Fourth Quarter
HOL – Stewart 6 run (run failed), 9:42.
HOU – SWelch 3 run (Poynter run), 7:44.
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| HOL | HOU | |
| First downs | 12 | 17 |
| Total yards | 257 | 318 |
| Rushes-yards | 54-288 | 51-240 |
| Passing | 0 | 78 |
| Punt returns | 0 | 0 |
| Kickoff returns | 91 | 37 |
| Comp-att-int | 0-2-1 | 7-11-0 |
| Sacked-yards lost | 0-0 | 1-8 |
| Punts | 3-32.0 | 3-37.7 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-1 | 3-2 |
| Penalties-yards | 9-75 | 7-41 |
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Hollister, Shook 22-138, Franklin 12-46, Simonet 10-42, Shofner 5-38, Stewart 3-23. Houston, Wilkins 15-92, SWelch 13-66, Poynter 14-37, ScLogan 5-27, Cooper 4-18.
PASSING – Hollister, Shook 0-2-1 0. Houston, Poynter 7-11-0 78.
RECEIVING – Houston, ScLogan 2-27, Schock 2-26, Wilkins 2-17, Cooper 1-8.