Archbishop Hannan falls to Cohen

Archbishop Hannan’s Hawks got off to another slow start falling behind early and couldn’t recover losing to the Cohen Green Hornets 22-7 Saturday night at Hammond High School.

Hannan (1-6) struggled defensively early as it has in most of its games this season.

Cohen (4-3) employed a crisp passing game in the first quarter with senior signal caller George Williams connecting on two touchdown passes to junior receiver Denzell Bashful. Williams first TD pass covered nine yards with 6:13 left in the opening quarter coming on the Green Hornets second possession. Cohen picked up three first downs going 78 yards on five plays. After misfiring on his first pass attempt, Williams hit three consecutive passes on the scoring drive. He hit junior Halston Hayes for 39 and 24 yards before hooking up with Bashful for the nine-yard score. The Green Hornets went for a two-point conversion with Williams converting on a keeper as he went around right end to make it 8-0.

Williams said he just hit his open receivers.

“Denzell (Bashful) ran some good routes. I was just getting the ball to him. He has good speed,” Williams said.

Williams hurt Hannan through the air, and was also Cohen’s leading rusher with 54 yards on 10 carries.

Cohen coach Tommie Dyer said Williams did a good job spreading the field.

“He is a natural passer. He is a good leader,” Dyer said.

Dyer credited Hannan with not quitting in the game. “Hannan kept coming. We knew they wouldn’t quit. We told our players that they had to continue fighting,” Dyer added.

Following Cohen’s first score, Hannan put together a drive, taking over at its 33-yard line. Hawks’ senior tailback Adam Lewis ripped off a 22-yard run on first down. He followed that up with a 10-yard scamper to move the ball down to the Cohen 35 yard line.

Lewis, the Hawks’ leading scorer, was off to a good start but his night would end abruptly when he suffered a concussion late in the first quarter.

Hannan junior quarterback Andrew Arceneaux, who finished 6-of-17 for 75 yards with two interceptions, misfired on three straight passes after Lewis’ two runs. Facing fourth-and-15 from the 40 following a procedure penalty, Arceneaux was stopped on a seven-yard gain, turning the ball over on downs to the Green Hornets.

With the ball resting at the Cohen 33, Williams aired it out linking up with Bashful again on a 67-yard scoring pass and catch play. Bashful’s athletic ability and height proved too much for the Hawks’ secondary reaching the end zone with 4:08 left in the first quarter. Williams again called his own number skirting in for another successful two-point conversion to make it 16-0.

Cohen’s Bashful playing both ways also intercepted two passes for the Green Hornets.

On Hannan’s next drive from their 32, the Hawks featured the quick hitting efforts of Lewis. He carried the ball two times picking up nine and four yards for a first down. Following an incompletion, Hannan went back to Lewis on the next two plays. He gained four and two yards to set up fourth-and-four with just over two minutes left in the first quarter. Setting up in punt formation from Cohen’s 45, the Hawks’ executed a fake punt. Senior fullback Gino Gioe, who is the up back, took a direct snap and hit senior Kyle Nunez over the middle for an apparent first down inside the Cohen 25 yard line, but the play was nullified when the officials called a penalty for illegal touching. Nunez, playing on the offensive line, was wearing No. 70, making him an ineligible receiver.

Hannan second-year coach George Templet explained why the penalty was assessed.

“You have to have an eligible number to catch a pass. That was our fault because he (Nunez) was a player that we had to shuffle around in the first quarter to play on the offensive line. We lost sight of that when we ran the fake. Nunez is the one we go to on the fake,” Templet said.

Following the penalty, Cohen took over at the Hannan 35-yard line with 2:08 left in the opening quarter. The Green Hornets, which committed 14 penalties for 112 yards, were flagged on three consecutive plays, being called for a block in the back and two false start penalties. On the first play of the second quarter, looking at third-and-nine, Williams broke free on a 35-yard TD run outracing the Hawks’ defense to the end zone with 11:37 left in the first half. Williams converted on another two-point conversion on a keeper up the middle to push the margin to 22-0.

Templet said his club was able to make some second half adjustments to do a better job controlling the Cohen passing game. Cohen’s Williams was held to one completion in four attempts for 16 yards and was intercepted in the second half.

Following its touchdown, Cohen stopped Hannan on a three-and-out on its next possession. The Green Hornets took over following the punt at their 16-yard line. After a holding call, and a rush for no gain on second down from the nine, Williams fumbled the ball in the end zone, which was alertly recovered by the Hawks’ Logan Booksh for a touchdown to cut the lead to 22-6 with 8:28 left in the half. Hannan senior place kicker Michael Tiziani tacked on the extra point.

Hannan received the second half kickoff starting at its 41. With Lewis out of the lineup, the Hawks featured Gioe, who gained 73 yards on 16 carries. He carried the ball six times gaining 32 yards.

Facing fourth-and-a-short one on the Cohen 24 yard line, Arceneaux was stopped on a quarterback sneak with 7:30 left in the third quarter turning the ball over on downs.

Gioe said with Adam Lewis out he had to do what he could in the running game.

“Our blocking up front was pretty good. I tried to hit the hole fast, and then make quick cuts,” Gioe.

Gioe said he and his teammates played hard, but the turnovers continue to kill them.

“We are tired of losing,” Gioe said. “We want to play well against Lusher (next opponent) for our fans. Our defense played pretty well after giving up the early passing yardage. The defense got our only score.

The teams held each other scoreless in the second half. Hannan’s defense stepped up in the second half. Senior defensive back Josh Bertucci had an interception for the Hawks and also knocked down a pass.

Senior weak side linebacker Lee Laughlin said the defense started filling gaps and did a better job in the second half. “The offense was able to get some drives so the defense didn’t have to be on the field so much. We were rested,” Laughlin said.

Cohen gained 278 yards of total offense, 176 passing and 102 yards on the ground with nine first downs. Hannan also picked up nine first downs generating 174 yards of offense, including 75 passing and 99 yards rushing. Some of the Hawks’ rushing yardage was negated by quarterback sacks. Hannan is hosting the Lusher Charter School Lions tomorrow night. It is the Hawks’ senior night. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Tornado Alley at Hammond High School.

Hannan edged Lusher 28-27 in last year’s game to give Templet his first victory as the Hawks’ head coach.

Last week, Lusher (5-1) dropped its first game of the season losing to False River Academy 28-8.

Senior William Hughes is the Lions’ quarterback, hitting on 22-of-42 passes for 303 yards with two TDs and one interception. Sophomore Andrew LaGarde is the top rusher with 540 yards on 51 carries and 10 TDs. LaGarde is also the Lions’ top tackler from his linebacker position with 31 tackles. He has one interception return for a TD. Sophomore linebacker Scott McCarty has 20 stops.

Templet said he hopes his club can get healed up quickly with the short turnaround playing tomorrow night. Templet said Lusher is headed in the right direction under coach Lewis Landrum. “They are well coached. They have a couple good athletes on offense. We’ll have to have a good defensive effort to stop them,” Templet said.