Grasping at air
Hawks convert turnovers in lopsided win.

Any momentum the Hickman football team brought back from its Arkansas trip was stolen away with the ball on the second play from scrimmage last night at Hickman Field.

In a preview of things to come, Hazelwood Central’s Karlton Kaid jumped in front of a Nick Timberlake pass intended for Byron Bundy, setting the Hawks up in Hickman territory. Just as quickly, DeVion Moore was thrashing through the Hickman defense for a long touchdown run.

Hanging close with third-ranked Hazelwood Central was going to be a tough enough task for Jason Wright’s young Hickman squad, but three more first-quarter turnovers made it impossible. The Hawks converted all of them into touchdowns in a 38-0 rout.

"You just can’t turn the ball over," Wright said. "I’m accountable for our performance, but the bottom line is we can’t dig a hole like we did tonight."

The Kewpies (0-3) had two chances to learn that lesson already this season. They fell behind 26-0 at halftime in the season opener against East St. Louis, Ill., and were trailing 21-0 in the first half last week in Bentonville, Ark.

The miscues came earlier and with greater frequency last night.

Running back Rob Heath fumbled a handoff on the second play of Hickman’s second series, and Ronnell Banks fell on it at the 21-yard line. Moore needed only one play to run it in from there and put Hazelwood Central (3-0) up 14-0 with 9:30 left in the first quarter.

The Kewpies seemed to get something going on the next series, as Timberlake connected with Bundy and Derrick Smith for gains of 24 and 20 yards, respectively. They faced second-and-12 from the Hawks’ 16 when Timberlake rolled to his right and threw a pass toward Bundy near the sideline.

Lamonte Long jumped in front of the pass and returned it to the Hazelwood Central 39.

"I really wasn’t prepared for that," said Timberlake, making his first start after taking over for the injured Doug Luetjen in the second quarter a week ago. "That was something I had to really adjust to. It took me a while to do that. It took me three interceptions to adjust to it."

The Hawks needed three plays after Long’s return to score again. Iowa-bound quarterback Marvin McNutt capped the drive with a 1-yard leaner as Central took a 21-0 advantage.

It was again Moore, a transfer from Georgia and potential Division I recruit, who did the bulk of the work on the touchdown march. He carried twice for gains of 13 and 47 yards, running right through the arms of Hickman defenders lucky just to get close him.

"DeVion’s a great running back, and I think he showed that on Astroturf, he’s really good," Hawks Coach John Pukala said. "Our offensive line really did a good job."

A tripping penalty negated a first down on Hickman’s next series, and the drive stalled at the Kewpies’ 38. Stephen Peel booted a 34-yard punt that Maurice Scott ran back 72 yards for a score.

Trailing 28-0 heading into the second quarter, the Kewpies had no choice but to give up their desired approach of leaning on Heath. He had only 15 carries after running 27 times against Bentonville, and though he picked up a hard-fought 65 yards, it was not nearly enough to keep up with the high-flying Hawks.

Another interception by Long set up Moore’s third touchdown, a 19-yard scamper. The senior running back finished with 168 yards on 10 carries despite playing only one series in the second half.

His dominance meant that McNutt needed to attempt a mere five passes. He completed three for 55 yards before heading to the sidelines for most of the second half with the clock running because of the 35-point mercy rule.

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Reach Steve Walentik at (573) 815-1788 or swalentik@tribmail.com.

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