Hoover 21 - Canton Central Catholic 16

October 12, 2012

​Iero-to-Feinberg lifts Hoover past Central Catholic

Cliff Hickman, Canton Repository

​​

PERRY TWP.  Three second-quarter touchdown passes from Hoover quarterback Dom Iero to wide receiver Austin Feinberg were too much for upset-minded Central Catholic to overcome.

​The Iero-to-Feinberg connection enabled the Vikings to hold on for a 21-16 win at Central Catholic Stadium.

​Feinberg caught touchdown passes of 12, 20 and 45 yards from Iero, as the two seniors continue to show their excellent chemistry. Iero has 19 TD passes on the season, with 11 going to Feinberg.

​“We’ve been playing together since elementary school,” Feinberg said. “We are best of friends. It’s awesome playing with him (Iero). He’s always looking for me, so we have a nice connection.” 

​Iero threw for 194 yards, with Feinberg gaining 111 of the yards on six catches.

​The Hoover defense also played a big part in the win. The Vikings had three interceptions, a fumble recovery, a blocked punt and a stop on fourth-and-goal from their 1-yard line in the fourth quarter.

​“We had trouble stopping them from moving the ball, but the turnovers were big,” Hoover head coach Don Hertler Jr. said. “Our defense did what they had to do when they had to do it tonight.”

​The blocked punt by Alex Binnie set Hoover up on the Central 18 and led to the Vikings first touchdown.

​“The block punt play is a big thing for us,” Binnie said. “We have a different block punt play every week for different things. It’s all about team. If one person doesn’t do their job then it’s not going to work out. Everybody executed their job getting mismatches and I came off free to make the play because of my teammates.”

​Binnie also had an interception in the first quarter for Hoover.

​The fourth-and-1 stop was made by junior Nick Graham. Although Central stopped senior Sam Woods in the end zone on the next play for a safety, the Crusaders were not able to score again in the final six minutes.

An interception by Hoover senior Xavier Hogan with 50 seconds left in the game ended Central’s chances of an upset.

​Prior to that, though, Central had nearly erased a 21-0 deficit, with Connor Campbell and Cory Stuffelbeam each scoring on 4-yard runs.

​“Give them credit,” Hertler said. “They are tough kids. They can talk about their injuries but the 11 they put out there are awfully darn good and awfully darn tough. They do things the right way. They are a class group and my hats off to their effort.”

​While pleased with a strong effort — including 100 yards rushing on 18 carries by John Colangelo — the Crusaders were not completely happy with the way the evening ended.

​“We played really hard and made some big plays here tonight,” Central head coach Lowell Klinefleter said. “We just didn’t make enough of them. We had to step up and make some plays in some crucial times and didn’t. I was proud of our kids play, but we don’t want to be close. We want the whole thing.”

​In addition to Binnie’s interception, Hoover’s Jake Garfield and Xavier Hogan also picked off crsusader passes.