H-L gets by Pleasant 14-7

BASCOM — Hopewell-Loudon's Brody Brickman hit the nail on the head when he said that it wasn't pretty, but Chieftains got the win nonetheless. "That's all that matters," the junior receiver/defensive back said after his late interception sealed the home victory for his squad, 14-7 over Marion Pleasant on Friday night."It was trips left…and I was shuffling and thought to myself [about the receiver he was covering] 'If he goes inside, I have him,'" Brickman continued.Pleasant did just that, and Brickman was right there to pounce with an interception when his team needed it. "That was like the first time they threw my way all game," he said.H-L was able to run the remaining 1:10 off the clock to walk away from the game with a 2-0 record.On the opening drive of the game, Hopewell-Loudon moved the chains a couple times before quarterback Jacoby Ellis was picked off by the Spartans' senior outside linebacker Adam Snowden.A delay of game penalty on Pleasant derailed its opening drive of the game, forcing a punt.Both teams traded punts after going three and out. Before H-L held the ball at the end of the first quarter with the score tied at 0.The Spartan defense sacked Ellis early in the game for a six-yard loss on H-L's next drive to force it to punt again.That's when Pleasant's Ryan Conway scored from 20 yards out with 8:55 left in the first half to get the Spartans on the scoreboard first. The PAT was good—giving Pleasant a 7-0 lead.The Chieftains rallied from there. Going on a scoring drive that took 2:06 off the clock. It was capped off by H-L's Jaysin Cramer scoring from one-yard out. The Chieftain's Kellen Frankart ran in the two-point conversion for two points to put the Scarlet & Gray up, 8-7.The teams swapped punts again with a holding penalty ruining the Spartans' chances on their next drive. While Ellis' pass on third down was broke up by Pleasant's Scowden to end H-L's chances.On Pleasant's punt, a Chieftain bobbled the punt and fumbled the ball away. A Spartan defender recovered to give the Red & Black great field position at midfield.Pleasant was able to gain a first down before QB Abram Norton's pass was intercepted.The two teams went into halftime with Hopewell-Loudon ahead, 8-7.The Chieftain defense was able to force a three-and-out on the Spartans opening drive of the second half.From there, H-L went on a long drive that ate five-and-a-half minutes of game clock—culminating in a one-yard TD by Frankart. Frankart failed to cross the goal line on the two-point attempt to keep the score at 14-7 with 3:44 left in the third quarter.Pleasant earned a first down before a false start penalty moved them back to a fourth-and-seven scenario at the H-L 28-yard line.The Spartans other QB, sophomore Weston Shafer, then kept the ball for a 10-yard pick up to keep the sticks moving. Shafer then kept it to the left for 12 yards to down to the Chieftain 6.Two plays later, a chop block penalty by Pleasant moved them back to a second-and-goal situation at the H-L 24.An incompletion by Shafer was followed-up by a completion to senior receiver Cole Bailey for 16 yards to back inside the ten-yard line for the Spartans.Shafer's pass on fourth-and-goal was deflected by senior safety Eli Benner to force the turnover-on-downs with 9:35 left in the game.The Pleasant defense hunkered down—forcing a three-and-out for the Scarlet & Gray and bringing on the punt team.The punt itself was fumbled by the Spartan returner and picked up by a H-L player on the punt coverage. The Chieftains still had the ball with a first-and-10 at midfield with 7:18 to go.Unfortunately, Hopewell-Loudon couldn't muster enough yardage for another first down, and their punt rolled into the end zone for a touchback.This was make-or-break time for Pleasant with 80 yards to go to try to tie the game with just 4:42 remaining in the contest.On third-and-three, Shafer kept it for a seven-yard run to get the first down. After an incompletion, Shafer was sacked by Chieftain senior defensive lineman Scott Turco to bring up third-and-14 for Pleasant.The Spartans' Shafer threw a pass to the right to Brody Ringer for a 14-yard reception that was just good enough to advance the chains.Three incompletions in a row for the Spartans forced a fourth-and-ten at the Pleasant 44. That's when Shafer found Ringer again for 17 yards to get into Chieftain territory.Two plays later, Shafer was picked off by Brickman to seal the victory for Hopewell-Loudon."It wasn't our best outing," Hopewell-Loudon coach Brian Colatruglio said. "We weren't very crisp on offense…as good as we played last week, especially in the passing game. We were not sharp tonight…I told the team. You play 10 games, you're not going to be you're absolute best all 10 games."The coach finished by saying he was proud of the defense, and that they'll need to improve before next Friday's game at Edison.