The season has not gone the way the Hazen Highlanders football team has wanted. Despite a winning record of 3-2, the Highlanders left a lot more to be desired after falling to Inglemoor on Oct. 3 at Renton Memorial Stadium, 14-10.
Hazen has yet to beat a team with a winning record this season and Inglemoor came in with a 3-1 record with their own loss coming against Liberty (44-7). Last season Hazen shut out the Vikings 20-0, but this year was a different story and apart from a Major Bloodsaw 55-yard touchdown run, the Highlanders were anemic on offense.
“It’s just kind of who we are right now. We’ve been that way for four weeks. We keep trying to improve. We are our own worst enemy and that kind of just rears its head again tonight,” Head Coach Chris Bennett said.
On their first drive of the game, Hazen showed promise as they drove the length of the field and were greeted with a first and goal from the three yard line. However, a common theme of the night was a failure to score in the red zone for the Highlanders.
“You gotta execute. You’re going to get a little different looks, but you gotta stick with your rules up front. You gotta see guys that walk up. It’s not easy but everyone has to deal with it. We are at that point. You just gotta get a body on a body and move forward and we just didn’t do that,” Bennett said.
The Highlanders still left with points: a 23-yard field goal from Aiden Farewell to take a 3-0 lead.
Running back Major Bloodsaw keeps his eyes down field as he runs for the Highlanders’ lone touchdown. Ben Ray / The Reporter
The 3-0 lead was all the scoring as the defenses started to settle in through the end of the first quarter. Big plays seemed hard to come by, with Hazen’s Wing-T offense running into a gauntlet of a defensive line, and the Hazen defense had a handle on the Viking offense.
“We just need to win on first down better. When we lose on first down and are in second and long situations, that is not a great recipe for us. We are a little bit limited in some areas, but not to where we can’t win games. We gotta do better on offense just executing as a team,” Bennett said.
All that changed when Major Bloodsaw got a little room to run down the left sideline on a power run. Bloodsaw has a unique size and speed combination as he rumbled his way 55 yards, breaking two tackles on the way.
“He’s just an explosive kid and can make some plays outside the playbook. He’s still learning as well. The more comfortable he gets week to week the better he is going to be. It is definitely nice to have him out there,” Bennett said.
All the momentum was with the Highlanders midway through the first half. Hazen led 10-0 and their defense was firing. But on a third down and long, Inglemoor’s quarterback Hudson Cowan threw a prayer to Zach Eubanks, who was double covered. It looked like Tyson Glenn-Thomas intercepted the pass, but Eubanks ripped the ball out of Glenn-Thomas’ hands. Three plays later, Inglemoor’s Cowan rushed from three yards out for the first Viking score of the game.
The two sides went to halftime with Hazen clinging to the three point lead, 10-7.
Tyson Glenn Thomas runs through a tackle for Hazen High School. Ben Ray / The Reporter
Hazen’s defense held strong while the offense was still stuck in a slumber. Inglemoor’s defensive line was causing problems all night for the Hazen offense.
“Whether it’s fumbling the football, missing blocking schemes, penalties, it’s been that way for five weeks. This one hurts because it’s a league game and we expect to be better than that,” Bennett said.
After a fumbled snap, Inglemoor drove 65 yards and took the lead in the middle of the third quarter. Cowan took the snap, rolled left and found Georgio Varvarigos from the 11-yard line.
The last Hazen chance came with 3:05 left in the fourth quarter. Bloodsaw got his team to the three yard line. But back to back negative plays backed up the Highlanders to the five yard line. On fourth and goal, the Vikings’ defensive line blew up the play and sacked quarterback Braylon Glaefke.
Inglemoor was able to successfully convert their first set of downs,. Bennett used all of his timeouts and the Vikings stole a win right under the nose of Hazen on their homecoming night.
The Highlanders next take on Redmond a team that has just one win all season, and Bennett just wants to see his offense get moving in the right direction
“We just gotta execute on offense. We haven’t put a solid drive together in what seems like forever. … It needs to be more machine-like where we are just moving the chains and then get a big run,” Bennett said.
