TURNER — After Tim Albert’s interception on the second play of the game, the Leavitt Hornets went on to score on their next five possessions en route to a 48-7 win over the Yarmouth Clippers on Friday.
A big part of Leavitt’s attack was its run-heavy, no-huddle offense that racked up 494 rushing yards, 269 of which came in the first half.
“We have been running that in practice a little bit and I think it was just a good time to bring it out and show that we can do that,” Leavitt running back Bradley Moreau said. “I think our offensive line did really well today. They were changing their coverage and then we were able to change up and complete what we needed to do.”
Leavitt was able to hold the Clippers to punts on their first two drives to start the game. After Albert’s interception, the Hornets came back on offense with ferocity.
Leavitt benefited from good field position off the Yarmouth punt and started on the Clippers’ 47. The Hornets ran the ball five straight times, two of which were from Moreau, who gained 30 yards on the drive. The Hornets capped the drive with an Albert draw up the middle for a 3-yard touchdown. The drive took fewer than two minutes, and coach Mike Hathaway was just waiting for the right time to deploy his fast offense.
“There were a few games we wanted to use it but the score didn’t allow us to,” Hathaway said. “That’s something we’ve been working on a lot. We’ve done it in the past but we did it a little bit last week against Morse and then we thought about doing it tonight. Once we saw how they lined up it was just a way to keep them in that alignment.”
After another Yarmouth three-and-out, Leavitt again put the foot on the gas on another quick, 45-yard drive that consisted of five runs and a 10-yard Moreau rushing touchdown.
On the ensuing Clippers drive, quarterback Noah Eckersley-Ray threw an interception to Allen Peabody on the Hornets’ 30-yard line. With the Hornets facing their worst field position of the game, Albert carried a drive that started with four straight runs. After an intentional grounding penalty, Albert completed a 15-yard screen pass to Bryce Hudson. Two plays later, Albert ran on fourth-and-two for seven yards to keep the drive alive. On the next three plays, Albert ran for 12 yards and then finished with a 15-yard touchdown run to the left side to make it 20-0.
“Bradley had a good game running and I thought Tim had a good game running the reads as well,” Hathaway said. “So when your quarterback and tailback are running the side like that, it allows some other things to open up. When you can run the ball down hill like that there’s nothing else like it.”
Albert flashed his arm on the next series. After a 33-yard run from Moreau, Albert completed two straight passes for eight yards, the second a touchdown to Damion Calder to make it 28-0 just before halftime.
Leavitt went to its bench for the second half, but still held Yarmouth to just one touchdown, which came with five minutes remaining in the contest. Leavitt’s Mark Hermon scored on a 91-yard touchdown run directly after to cap off the Hornets’ emphatic win.
“We need to play each playoff game as it comes and not get ahead of ourselves,” Moreau said. “It’s one game and there’s a bunch of seniors that, if we lose, might never play football again in their lives, so that means a lot to them.”
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