It was a big night for Springer QB Wayne Pugh and running back, John Saunders who teamed up to hand Hanover their lunch in a contest that was anyone’s until the last few minutes of play. But in the end, Saunders carried Highland Springs to a 19-10 win. 

“I’m a big believer in running the ball,” said Highland Springs coach Loren Johnson.  “When you do that, it helps you out in a lot of ways.  We’re going to put emphasis on it.  And when we put emphasis on it, we know people are going to try to stop us.” 

“They played harder than us the whole night,” said disappointed Hanover head coach, Joshua Just “We had opportunities; we didn’t take advantage of them.  Those young men (the Springers) did.” 

In customary fashion, the determined Hanover defense held up well for the first half, permitting only one TD from a Pugh one-yard run, and denying the extra point.  Hanover’s offense replied with a scoring drive of their own ending in a 1 yard Dean Cheatham touchdown run and going into the locker room with a 7-6 lead.

But, as the second half unfolded, it became evident who wanted this win most.  “I just told them they just gave you their best shot,” Johnson said, “but you’ve got to go out and give a better one.  When we’ve got people on the ropes, you gotta be like Ali, you gotta knock ‘em out.  So when it comes to running the ball, we can do that if we execute.  (Hanover) is a good football team over there, so we knew it was going to be tough.  And it surprised me that we ran the ball so well in the second half.  However, that’s what we set out to do; and when you set out to do things, you accomplish them with a lot of hard work.”

Highland Springs, without anything fancy, continued to mercilessly penetrate the Hanover defense and move the chains.  Running in lieu of his injured teammates, Saunders was unstoppable, lugging the pig for small and large ground gains all evening; and racking up 217 yards in 29 carries.  This included a 36-yard bolt upfield that set up Pugh’s third and final TD of the evening.  In contrast, the Springer defense effectually diminished Cheatham’s rushing attempts holding him to 26 yards in 13 carries.

Johnson found plenty to be thankful for when he closed the night’s game out in prayer; and plenty of smiles and praise for his Springers as he told them, “Good game.”

After seeing his team forfeit games and fall to 0-3 after the use of an ineligible player, the win was big for Johnson. “It’s probably the best thing I’ve felt in the last three or four years,” he said. “Because when you go through a lot of hard challenges; when you go through some hard times; then you bounce back.  Everybody does what they set out to do when you first started.  All in all, I was very satisfied with what we did this evening.” 
 
On the other side of the field Coach Just was not pleased with the performance of the Hawks. “We did terrible, absolutely terrible,” he said. “We didn’t play with any heart; we didn’t play with any pride.”

Was the rain delay a contributing factor?  “No,” he replied.  “The delay didn’t affect us at all.  [Highland Springs] had the same issues we did.  We both had to play this game on Monday.  They played harder than we did.  They wanted the game more; we didn’t want it.  Period.”

Rachel Moore’s 34-yard field goal in the fourth quarter closed the distance; but even Hanover’s normally staunch defense was not enough to regain control of the game.  One of the key opportunities came late in the game with Hanover within striking distance.

Trailing Highland Springs 12-10 in the final minutes, any spark of a comeback was extinguished on a botched recovery of a failed Springer punt. On fourth-and-long, Springers’ Clarence Hill watched the ball spin off the top of his toe. The ball was picked up by a Hanover player but them fumbled and the pigskin squibbled upfield through lunging Hanover arms, only to be trapped at midfield by a steady-handed Springer, JaQuan Burchette, who went 5-59 in receptions for the evening. The recovery set up the final touchdown for Pugh. 

Following the game, Just was visibly upset with how his team performed in the high profile matchup against the Springers. “They wanted it more than we did,” Just said. “They beat us up tonight.  They ran it right down our throat.  Especially with the adversity they were facing, they came right after us.  They stopped everything we had offensively.  They did a great job.  They didn’t do anything special.  They ran right over top of us.  They played tougher than we did.  They played with more heart than we did.  Period.”

After back to back losses, Hanover will now look to regroup and see where they stand before hosting Armstrong this Friday. “Well we’ll have to evaluate that,” Just said. “We’ll find out.  We’ve got a short week; we’ll have to figure out where to come out next week.  They better get ready to go.  It’s not going to get any easier.”