Hoover 34 - Louisville 10

September 8, 2023

Cliff Hickman, Canton Repository

LOUISVILLE — Kyler Miraglia found the perfect time to hit paydirt for the first time this season. The Hoover High School senior running back scored his first two rushing touchdowns of the season as the Vikings defeated Louisville 34-10 in the 101st meeting between the two storied programs.

Miraglia ran for 130 yards on 24 carries as Hoover used a well-rounded offensive effort to hold off the Leopards.

“That was good to see him get into the end zone,” Hoover head coach Brian Baum said with a laugh. “We know running backs can be greedy by nature when it comes to scoring when you get down close, but we have had a lot of luck throwing in those situations this season. It was nice to get him going and he’s such a team player that I was happy to see him have that success.”

They also were the first rushing touchdowns for Miraglia since he transferred to Hoover from Northwest.

“It felt great to have this kind of performance as a team,” Miraglia said. “My line had a great week of practice. They came out and executed for me in a big way tonight. We have a lot of trust in each other and I think that shows.”

Hoover quarterback Carson Dyrlund also had two passing touchdowns for the Vikings. Dyrlund threw an 18-yard score to Drake Cooper and a 40-yard strike to John Collins. Dyrlund was 14-of-20 passing for 179 yards and no interceptions.

“Carson did a great job of running our RPO offense tonight,” Baum said. “He took what the defense was giving him. He did a good job of directing traffic out there for us.”

The Hoover defense also played well. The Vikings limited Louisville to just 10 points. Zach Braucher recorded an interception for the Vikings and Harper Lofland made two sacks for Hoover. Lofland’s sacks came on back-to-back plays with Hoover trying to seal the game in the fourth quarter.

“I’ve been trying to find a way to have a big moment or come up with a big play for us and I finally got that breakthrough tonight,” Lofland said. “The whole line did a great job and we gave a great effort. We played with good energy and we fought until the end. I felt the defense played great.”

It was a frustrating evening for the Leopards. Louisville took a 3-0 lead to start the game on a 29-yard field goal by Carter Duskey. Hoover immediately grabbed the lead on an 89-yard kickoff return by Jack Andes on the ensuing play and went on to score 27 unanswered points to seize command.

“That return kind of summed up the game for us,” Louisville head coach Chris Kappas said. “We put together a good drive and immediately give up an explosive play. We had guys in the right positions and they broke four or five tackles to get in the end zone. We just had a lack of execution.”

Louisville never gave up despite the large deficit. Cooper Rice caught a 55-yard TD from Owen Burick with 1:42 to go in the third quarter to make it a 27-10 game and the defense was able to get some stops to get the Leopards the ball back. Louisville was able to get no closer though.

Burick was 13-of-28 passing for 118 yards with an interception.

“It just always seemed like it was something tonight,” Kappas said. “We get the receiver open and we miss the throw. We get the receiver open but the protection breaks down and we give up a sack. The ball gets to the receiver and we don’t catch it. … Our inexperience and youth shows up at times. We’re aren’t using it as an excuse and it isn’t acceptable to me. We expect perfection and we won’t get complacent and accept mediocrity. That’s the big thing we want to stress to the kids right now.”

Hoover – 7 – 13 – 7 – 7 — 34 

Louisville – 3 – 0 – 7 – 0 — 10 

L—FG Duskey 29 

H—Andes 89 kickoff return (Koskovich kick) 

H—Cooper 18 pass from Dyrlund (Koskovich kick) 

H—Collins 40 pass from Dyrlund (kick failed) 

H—Miraglia 10 run (Koskovich kick) 

L—Rice 55 pass from Burick (Duskey kick) 

H—Miraglia 8 run (Koskovich kick) 

TEAM STATS 

                     H        —          L 

First Downs — 19 — 9 

Rushes-Yards — 35-111 — 22-82 

Comp-Att-Int — 14-20-0 — 13-28-1 

Passing Yards — 179 — 118 

Fumbles-Lost — 2-0 — 0-0 

Penalties-Yards — 4-37 — 6-40 

Total Yards — 290 — 200 

Records — 3-1 — 1-3