Hoover 42 - Boardman 20

​Hoover creates Federal League logjam with win over Boardman

Todd Porter, Canton Repository​

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NORTH CANTON  Superheroes took over the field at halftime at Memorial Stadium. Boardman High School’s marching band put on quite a show, complete with Batman, Robin, Spiderman and Superman.

​Too bad they were out of eligibility. Boardman’s football team needed the help.

​Hoover played perhaps its best game in three years and put a 42-20 shiner on Boardman.

​Hoover’s dominating win was Boardman’s first league loss, creating a wide open Federal League race.

​McKinley leads the league at 3-1. GlenOak, Perry and Boardman are each 2-1. Hoover is 2-2 in the league.

​“I think for a half of football, we were as sharp as you can be offensively,” Hoover head coach Don Hertler Jr. said. “We were creating turnovers on defense, and we took advantage of them. … Anything is still possible. We have our goals still in front of us.”

​The Vikings were dominant in the first half, but then things got crazy in the final two minutes. Hoover scored three times in the final 2:09, including 14 points in the last 30 seconds to take a 42-7 halftime lead.

​Quarterback Dom Iero scored four rushing touchdowns before halftime and he threw two others. Iero finished with 255 yards passing and completed 11 of 14 passes. Iero also ran for 87 yards on 15 carries.

​“That’s probably the best game I ever played,” Iero said. “I have to give a shoutout to my offensive line who blocked, and the wideouts who made me look good. We wanted to keep their linebackers from ruining our passing game. It was a great team effort.”

​Hoover needed all of four plays to stun Boardman and take a 7-0 lead. That four-play drive covered 63 yards and took 53 seconds. Iero completed passes of 27, 11 and 15 yards. On first and goal from the 10, he stepped up into a seam and scored for a 7-0 lead.

​Three plays after Hoover scored, Boardman fumbled and Dylan Sanderson recovered for the Vikings at the Spartans 21.

​Iero was back it. He hit Alex Binnie for 9 yards. Then Iero kept it on the next two plays and scored from the 4 on a draw for a 13-0 Hoover lead.

​“When you get off to a start like that, the other team’s morale takes a hit,” Iero said.

​“That quarterback is a heckuva high school quarterback,” Boardman head coach Mark D’Eramo said. “He’s going to be a great baseball player at Akron. He’s just competitive.”

​Boardman answered with a score on a drive that was mostly Turel Thompson. He scored from the 4.

​But Iero still was throwing darts at the bull’s-eye. He hit Luke Grandjean on the first play for a 62-yard TD pass. Then Iero connected with Binnie for the conversion and a 21-7 lead with 5:35 left in the first quarter still.

​Boardman had a chance to cut it to 21-14. Quarterback John Babos carried for 55 yards to the Hoover 1, but lost the ball on a jarring hit by Jake Garfield, and Nick Graham recovered for the Vikings in the end zone. Babos and Thompson, however, missed the second quarter with injuries. Babos returned in the second half. Thompson appeared to have concussion-like symptoms after taking a big hit.

​“That was a great play. It was huge,” Hertler said. “Jake Garfield didn’t give up on the  play. That’s two weeks in a row we didn’t give up on a play.”

​The Spartans had four turnovers before halftime. After another fumble, the Vikings took over at the Boardman 39. Boardman finished with five turnovers.

​A nifty 21-yard run by Iero put Hoover at the 10. Two plays later, he ran it in for a 28-7 lead with 2:09 to play before halftime.

​Boardman had a three-and-out and Iero went back to the air. He threw a perfect 56-yard pass to Austin Feinberg, setting up Iero’s 5-yard TD to Binnie for a  35-7 lead.

​Another Boardman turnover just before halftime set up the Vikings for an easy score. Iero scored from the 8 with two second left. Iero had 91 yards rushing at halftime and 245 passing. Hoover finished with 414 total yards.

​“No doubt that’s the best game we’ve played in three years,” Iero said. “That’s how we’ve got to play. You put together a full team game, offensively and defensively. That will key the rest of the season.”