Andrean makes statement to stay undefeated in NCC
Class 3A No. 2 and Indiana Preps NWI No. 4 Andrean 28, Class 4A No. 6 and Indiana Preps NWI No. 3 Hobart 10
By Paul Honeycutt

HOBART – Through the first four weeks, Class 4A No. 6 and Indiana Preps NWI No. 3 Hobart had been wrecking shop offensively, averaging a ridiculous 55 points a game.

However, none of Hobart’s opponents are the 59ers.

3A No. 2 and NWI No. 4 Andrean’s physicality was on full display in its 28-10 Northwest Crossroads Conference win over Hobart on Friday night.

Outside of one explosive play on an 83-yard TD pass from one of the Region’s best dual-threat quarterbacks, Aleks Tatum, to Bryce Tolliver in the early part of the third quarter, Hobart was bottled up most of the night due to Andrean’s defensive effort, excellent punting and some offensive errors for the Brickies.

“We knew what we were walking into, that’s a very good football team,” said Andrean coach Chris Skinner. “I’m proud of the way the kids executed and it wasn’t perfect at all times, but we’re really really proud of the effort and physicality.”

Hobart was only able to muster 69 first-half yards offensively and recorded 267 for the game.

The Brickies (4-1, 2-1 NCC) drove all the way to the Andrean 6, but a fumble pinned the Bricks back, so they settled for an Evan Nugent 34-yard field goal to open the scoring.

Andrean (4-1, 3-0) fumbled on its next possession, but a couple Hobart miscues witha a fumble and a penalty forced it to a fourth-and-40 on the Brickies’ next drive.

Andrean took advantage of another Hobart miscue on a roughing the passer and a questionable pass interference call when 59ers junior QB Dylan Gore threw an 8-yard TD pass to Stetson Sullivan early in the second quarter.

A couple series later, senior running back Brady Stovall’s 40-yard run paired with a 40-yard bomb from Gore to Sullivan on a gorgeous play fake putting Andrean up 14-3 at 3:07 in the second quarter.

Skinner said Gore has been working on little things like that in particular in the last few weeks.

“We found some interesting tendencies in the first couple weeks of what he was doing and we’ve spent a lot of time kind of correcting those things to really make it as difficult as possible to read run and pass,” said Skinner.  “It may seem small, but we really have been working on the small details of that and that’s a credit to Dylan to watch film and his mechanics.”

Andrean junior punter Michael Klaich recorded three punts with the 5 and two of them were at the 1. He punted the ball inside the 10 on foir separate occasions.

“I don’t know much about kicking/punting, I’ll admit that, but credit to him because he was dropping it right where it needed to be,” said Skinner. “I don’t know what the average starting field position was, but you’re just putting our defense in a good spot there, so props to him because he deserves that shoutout.”

Andrean senior linebacker Ethan Reyna said that punting like that really helps the defense be able to do different things when it’s being put in a good position.

“Mike had an amazing night!” Reyna exclaimed. “The punts helped out and we are gonna hunt for the ball and try to win first down and third down.”

Sullivan grabbed his third score of the night from Gore on a 25-yarder after he made his defender miss and then he took it to the house.

“He is one of the smoothest route runners I’ve ever seen and obviously he puts a lot of time into what he does,” said Skinner. “He’s quick, he’s shifty, and he’s not the biggest kid, but, man, he can run crisp routes and at the high school level, that matters a lot.”

After that massive Hobart TD pass, Stovall and Reyna took over, eating up most of the fourth quarter clock, as Stovall notched a 9-yard TD run to seal the game.

Stovall rushed for 122 yards on 17 carries while Reyna ran for 85 yards on 10 rushes.

Gore passed for 132 yards and Sullivan caught six passes for 80 yards.

Tatum passed for 180 yards and Tolliver added 115 yards on four catches in the loss.



Andrean 28, Hobart 10

ANDREAN; 0 14 7 7 – 28

HOBART; 3 0 0 7 – 10

H – Evan Nugent 34 FG, 5:27 1st

A – Stetson Sullivan 8 pass from Dylan Gore (Jax Alvarez kick), 10:58 2nd

A – Sullivan 40 pass from Gore (Alvarez kick), 3:07 2nd

A – Sullivan 25 pass from Gore (Alvarez kick), 2:42 3rd

H – Bryce Tolliver 83 pass from Aleks Tatum (Nugent kick), 9:59 4th

A – Brady Stovall 9 run (Alvarez kick), 2:10 4th



Andrean;Hobart

First Downs;17;12

Total Yards;324;267

Rushes-Yards;30-192;31-87

Passing;132;180

Comp.-Att.-Int.;13-26-0;9-23-1

Penalties-Yards;6-55;5-60

Fumbles-Lost;2-1;3-1



INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – ANDREAN, Brady Stovall 17-122, Ethan Reyna 10-85, Javier McCoy 1-4, Dylan Gore 2-(-19). HOBART, Aiden Kasch 3-39, Aleks Tatum 18-30, Terry Earvin 2-20, Johnny Espinoza 7-(-1), Miles White 1-(-1).

PASSING – ANDREAN, Dylan Gore 13-26-132-3-0. HOBART, Aleks Tatum 9-23-180-1-1.

RECEIVING – ANDREAN, Stetson Sullivan 6-80, Tyler Vo 5-32, Vinnie Zsuppon 1-11, Gavin Helpingstine 1-9. HOBART, Bryce Tolliver 3-115, Kevin Hayes 1-38, Stephen Miller 2-24, Terry Earvin 2-3.