Cardinals drop one to Redhawks, 27-6

By Christopher Shaban
Eagle Times Sports
CLAREMONT — Stevens and Hillsboro-Deering-Hopkinton had identical 5-3 records entering Friday night’s contest. Both teams were looking to move up in the standings for the upcoming playoffs.

In the cold fall night air, both teams had problems holding onto the football as the Cardinals ended up turning the pigskin over three times in crucial times of the game while the Redhawks capitalized to take a 27-6 win on senior night in the city.

Senior Colby Quiet led the visitors to a score with punishing runs that was highlighted by a 9-yard touchdown midway through the first quarter for a 7-0 lead. That score grew to 14-0 as Quiet bulldozed over would-be Cardinal tacklers and ran for a 56-yard score.

The Cardinals just couldn’t generate anything on the offensive side of the ball during the first half. The Redhawks found pay dirt again when Mike Oberheim scored to make it 20-0 at the half.

The Cardinal defense showed some toughness as they began to gang tackle Quiet, and Tucker Derosier had a big sack or the score could have been worse. Stevens’ Owen Taylor had a couple of big completions to Alex Taylor for 39 yards and later to Keaghan McAllister for 18 yards, but couldn’t find a rhythm.

On the Cardinals’ opening drive of the second half, while they were starting to move the ball, a fumble snuffed out that drive. But HDH turned the ball back as Alex Taylor snagged an Oberheim pass for an interception.

Stevens was stopped on a fourth down play early in the final quarter and HDH pushed the lead to 27-0 behind the third touchdown of the night by Quiet.

Stevens finally got on the scoreboard when McAllister, behind a wall of blockers, punched it in from 2 yards out to end the scoring on the night. Stevens fell to 5-4.

Stevens appears to be ending the season in the sixth spot for the playoffs, and will wait to see who they play when the pairings come out.