Hoover 17 - Louisville 14

September 05, 2014

Hoover wills way past Louisville for milestone victory​

NORTH CANTON The game ball came his way.​

A drained Don Hertler Jr., though, looked right back at his players on a night he achieved a career milestone in an exciting 17-14 win over visiting Louisville in the 92nd edition of this storied rivalry.​

Hoover scored 10 unanswered fourth-quarter points, capped by sophomore Eric Sarbaugh’s 22-yard field goal with 1:44 to play, as it dominated play on both sides of the ball after intermission.​

That made Hoover 1-1, and it gave head coach Hertler his 200th win, on the hallowed field named for his father, who was Hoover’s head coach for so long before passing away last year.​

“I’ve never won a football game in my life,” Hertler said to his team after accepting a game ball in the locker room. “Only you guys win football games.”​

Hoover won this one because it wanted it so badly. How badly?​

Badly enough that Hertler started junior Cameron Mayle at quarterback over opening week starter Kyle Braucher, who moved to halfback and led all running backs with 61 yards, a touchdown and three receptions.​

It looked like a great move immediately. On Hoover’s first series, on second-and-7, Mayle rolled right and found Vinnie Serapiglia dragging across the field for an 18-yard touchdown and 7-0 lead.​

Mayle and Serapiglia were on target all night. They connected seven times for 82 yards, including two gains of 13 and 20 yards. ​

“Coming in with the game plan, I felt confident in our quarterback and my line getting protection to throw,” Serapiglia said. “I just did my part.”​

Braucher, who scored from a yard out to tie the game at 14-14 in the fourth, then did his part in his new role. He carried six straight times to the Leopards’ 6 on the drive that set up Sarbaugh’s chip shot.​

“We’ve been working on this in practice, we prepared for this game,” Mayle said after his 17-of-22 passing performance for 173 yards. “Vinnie, he’s a great receiver. I know if he gets the ball he’s going to make a great play. Kyle, he’s a great running back.​

“This is a huge win for us. My first varsity start — I loved it, it was a great experience, beating Louisville on our home field.”​

Louisville, which had not lost in the regular season since 2012, simply didn’t have much chance after fighting to a 7-7 halftime deadlock. Hoover ran 40 plays to the Leopards’ 15, with the final time of possession 29:09-18:51 in the Vikings’ favor.​

“The second half, we just couldn’t get in a rhythm because they held the ball,”

Louisville head coach John DeMarco said. “We had trouble getting back in the groove.”​

DeMarco said his Leopards had their chance early. In their five first-half possessions, they reached Hoover territory every time, yet managed just one score.​

That was a big one, however.​

DeMarco countered Hertler with his own quarterback move after Hoover scored first.

Facing a second-and-8 at Hoover’s 18, backup quarterback Jacob Adams came in and lofted an arcing toss in the corner of the end zone that 6-foot-3 Alec Jones grabbed for six points.​

But that was it in the first half. With under a minute in the half, a second-and-1 at Hoover’s 6 went unfulfilled after the Vikings’ Alex Shaffer stopped Connor Zwick for no gain on third down and Austin Terra’s 29-yard field goal sliced wide.​

That swung things Hoover’s way for good. Not even Zwick’s 67-yard pass to Josh Swanson and subsequent 10-yard touchdown toss to Kyle Woost in the third could jump-start Louisville.​

“We didn’t take advantage of it (the first half),” DeMarco said. “We left points on the field, right at the end of the half.”​

Hoover was glad about that.​

“We practiced great all week,” Serapiglia said. “We wanted it. We knew who we were up against.”​

Up against it, tied at half and losing in the fourth, “we finished,” Hertler said.​

“It was a huge win for our school, and this rivalry,” he added. “Now, we have to build on it.”