With the defense firing on all cylinders and the offense wreaking havoc with a stout ground game, the Houston High School football team routed Springfield Catholic 42-7 Friday night in Tiger Stadium.
“I thought we played very well in all aspects of the game,” said HHS head coach Eric Sloan. “We came out and executed right off the bat and good things happened.”
The Tigers’ Big Red D didn’t allow the Irish’s offense to score in the contest. Springfield Catholic’s only touchdown came on an interception return in the third quarter with the score at 42-0 and the turbo-clock running.
Meanwhile, the Tigers racked up 455 total yards on offense, including a whopping 383 rushing.
Catholic punted four times in the first half and three times in the second half, and Houston’s offense time and again took advantage of good field position and scored prolifically for three quarters.
The Tigers’ ground game struck twice in the first period, opening the scoring with a 4-yard touchdown run by junior quarterback DJ Riley and a successful extra point kick by sophomore Dillon Shelton at the 7:59 mark and increasing the margin to 13-0 after a 2-yard TD run by senior Jordan Arthur with 2:52 left.
With 9:19 remaining in the second quarter, HHS junior linebacker Mason Dodson intercepted a pass and the Tigers had the ball at the Catholic 14 yard line. Moments later, Riley scored on a 9-yard run and Arthur tacked on a 2-point conversion run to extend the advantage to 21-0.
With less than a minute to go in the first half, Houston had a first-and-goal situation at the Irish 10 after runs by sophomore Aaron “Tank” McCarthy, Riley and senior Bryson Jordan and a facemask penalty on the Irish. Jordan then busted through traffic for a touchdown and the Tigers led 27-0 at halftime.
Houston’s rushing attack kept up the pressure in the third quarter.
Riley got loose and ran for 61 yards early in the period, and on the next play senior Layne Seago scored on a 20-yard TD run. After Riley ran for another 2 points, the Tigers held a 35-0 lead and the turbo clock was running.
After Houston’s stingy Big Red D stifled the Irish again, the Tigers’ offense added another 7 points on a 31-yard run by Jordan and an extra point kick by Shelton.
Eleven different HHS players ran for yardage in the game.
Seago led the way with 95 yards on 9 carries, while Riley ran 6 times for 90 yards and Jordan had 60 yards on 5 tries.
Riley also completed 3-of-7 passes for 71 yards and finished with 161 total yards.
“I think the way he’s able to pull the ball and run has added another element to our offense,” Sloan said. “He’s capable of going to the house at any moment, so now you can’t just key on the running back because he’ll just pull it and take off.
“I knew what we were getting as far as an athlete in that position, but he’s handled it very well. The game hasn’t become too fast for him, and that was my fear since he hadn’t played the position since seventh grade.”
Houston’s defense limited the Irish to only 84 passing yards and minus 2 rushing yards, as 16 different Tigers recorded tackles.
A pair of senior linebackers led the way, as John Jordan had 8 tackles (including 4 solo) and Brayden Richardson had 7 (including 3 sacks). Three other linebackers had 4 tackles apiece, including seniors Colton Hecker and Maleki Morgan and sophomore Aaron “Tank” McCarthy.
“I thought it was a great defensive effort across the board,” Sloan said. “I thought we executed the game plan this week and just had lots of guys flying toward the football.”
Richardson also had a fumble recovery and a hit causing a fumble.
“He had a great night,” Sloan said. “It’s always fun to see kids step up and have big moments.”
Irish starting senior quarterback Clayton Stuhlsatz was knocked out of the contest on a big hit in the backfield by HHS junior guard Toby Head during a passing play near the end of the first quarter. Sophomore Hayden Holstein took over for Stuhlsatz and had little to no success the rest of the way.
“He was kind of the spark plug that made them go,” Sloan said, “and I think that took them out of their element a little bit.”
With the big second half lead, Sloan took advantage by allowing lots of underclassmen to get in some valuable playing time.
“It was fun to see a lot of kids get some experience and do some positive things,” Sloan said. “It wasn’t like they were getting fed to the wolves; they had some success out there and it was great to see.”
Next up for the Tigers (2-0) is the first South Central Association conference contest of the season next Friday at Salem (0-2).
“It feels really nice right now,” Sloan said. “Everybody’s having a good time and nobody’s too high or too low. The kids are buying in and enjoying each other’s success.
The Tigers’ collective friendship is creating excellent team chemistry, Sloan said.
“Things that benefit the team mean something to these kids,” he said. “It’s just awesome to have such a team mentality going on. It’s fun to soak it all in and watch some new guys do some really cool things on Friday nights.”
Houston has defeated Salem three straight times.
“I do think we’re capable of beating them,” Sloan said, “but it’s one of those things where if we overlook them we’re probably going to get in trouble. I’m excited about it, and it’s a good opportunity to keep the streak going. But we also know that’s the biggest school in the conference, and at any point they could do some good things.”
