Updated: Saturday, October 31, 2009
Earlier, the Hoover Vikings went out and took care of business. It’s a prerequisite for high school football teams who aspire to be in the playoffs.
Hoover easily beat Jackson, 45-7, on Senior Night at North Canton Memorial Stadium. The Vikings did not receive a lot of computer points for beating the winless Polar Bears, but results elsewhere booked Hoover a postseason spot for the third straight year.
Box score/recap
It was a productive night all around for head coach Don Hertler Jr. and the Vikings, who finished the regular season 7-3.
“We probably played four solid, consistent quarters,” Hertler said. “We didn’t have a lot of mistakes.”
Hertler said this week he had not seen four good quarters from his team this season. The Vikings saved their best performance for Week 10.
Running back Erick Howard was very productive once again. Ohio’s reigning Mr. Football rushed for a game-high 205 yards on 31 carries and two touchdowns. He left to a standing ovation with five minutes left in the final home game of his career.
Quarterback Brett Tulodzieski threw a career-high three touchdown passes and finished 6-of-8 for 107 yards. Dan Nettleton caught two of Tulodzieski’s TD passes. Joey Housos hauled in the other.
Hoover’s special teams produced a score when J.C. Everett returned Stephen Dennissoff’s blocked punt 5 yards for a touchdown. The defense also came within seven minutes of pitching its first shutout of the season.
“I thought we had a solid game tonight,” Hertler said.
To the Bears’ credit, they made Howard work for his yards.
His longest run was 55 yards on the next-to-last play of the first half. On Howard’s other 30 carries he was held to an average of 5 yards.
Tulodzieski was able to take some of the load off Howard and enjoy a career night with the help of the players around him.
“I didn’t get touched one time,” Tulodzieski said. “My linemen came ready to play today. I had the best protection.
“Not only that, my wide receivers did everything else. All I did was throw a little screen, a little dump pass ... and they just finished it off.”
Backup quarterback Cooper Merrill scored Jackson’s only touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 5-yard run. Time ultimately wound out on the Bears’ first 0-10 season since 1963.
“This has to be a motivating factor for the seasons to come,” Jackson coach Beau Balderson said. “These guys were here for 10 weeks, and they could have packed it in a long time ago. And these seniors continued to fight, crawl and scratch every second they had a chance to.
“I’m proud of some of them who left this field with everything they had on it. These guys are going to leave a legacy where we’re going to start something new.”
