Hoover 27 - Green 21
September 12, 2025
Steve Doerschuk, Canton Repository
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GREEN — The Hoover Vikings, off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2016, played the Green Bulldogs in a Federal League opener Friday, Sept. 12.
Green, coming off a 42-7 rout of Tallmadge, was looking to even its record after two narrow losses to open the season, including a 28-21 loss to defending Division IV state champion Indian Valley.
Brian Baum’s Vikings used a strong first half to defeat Green 27-21 to stay unbeaten.
This is a pretty big news flash: The Hoover High School football team is 4-0.
None of the players in the Vikings’ 27-21 conquest of Green Friday was alive the last time that happened.
The Vikings arrived at 3-0 for the first time since 2016, Brian Baum’s second year as head coach.
The last time they were 4-0 was in 2003, with Butch Davis was head coach of the Browns.
The 2016 Vikings didn’t maintain the pace, slipping from 3-0 to losing consecutive Federal League games to GlenOak, McKinley, Perry and Lake.
The 2025 Vikings hope for something more along the lines of 2003, when the team won its first 11 games.
“We’re experienced. We’re aggressive. We have it rolling,” said senior Jack Andes, who scored all three of Hoover’s first-half touchdowns.
Green, a hard-luck 1-3, may have played more of a “team game” than Hoover.
The Bulldogs trailed 21-0 before almost coming all the way back, recovering a last-minute onside kick and making it as far as the Hoover 2.
“We’re going to have to learn how to win some of these close battles,” said head coach Mark Geis, whose team isn’t all that far from being 4-0 itself. “I’ve seen some growth out of these guys, some great leadership on the sideline. I saw a lot of growth and a lot of belief that we can come back.”
Baum is dealing with the good news, having 30 seniors on the roster, and the bad news that not all of them can play.
“We have to support one another,” Baum said. “I told them tonight, you guys have to come together and help each other.”
Senior quarterback John Collins tapped into the theme, saying:
“It was 21-6 at the end of the first half. We got too comfortable. We have to be more we over me. I think tonight we were a little selfish at times.”
Needing to fix a few things when the team is 4-0 isn’t the worst problem to have.
The win sets the stage for a battle of 4-0 Hoover and Louisville teams next Friday at Louisville. The Leopards haven’t been in the Federal League for a while, but the interlude in Hoover’s Federal League work conjures images of the great 1970s rivalry between head coaches Don Hertler Sr. and Paul Starkey.
A year after losing 21-19 to Green, Hoover shot to a 21-0 lead with a series of highlights from Collins and Andes.
Andes, who had four touchdown catches through three games, had two more as the Vikings took a 21-0 lead. One was a 25-yard catch. He mixed in a 25-yard scoring run.
Geis hoped to control the clock and score with the run, but an opening drive stalled inside the 35, and Hoover took over the game. It might have been an early blowout had Hunka not summoned a drive ending with a 30-yard TD pass to Evan Georgiou.
One of Hoover’s top players, linebacker Chase Lukens, was ejected while committing a personal foul midway through the third quarter.
Georgiou was down on the field after a ringing hit that came close to becoming a taunting penalty on a Hoover defender.
On the next play, Hunka scrambled and hit Caden Worner for a 25-yard touchdown, pulling Green to within 21-14 with 11 minutes left. The Vikings soon answered with a 65-yard touchdown catch and run over the middle from Collins to senior Brycen Beyer. A missed extra point came into play.
It was 27-21 after Hunka’s escape ability led to a touchdown with 1:22 left. Michael Stader recovered an onside kick and Kunka drove the Bulldogs to the 2 before a penalty stalled what seemed to be irreversible momentum.
“We need to get better and play four quarters of ball,” Baum said. “We did a lot of good things, but we kept giving up that ‘one play.’“
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Source: Canton Repository