Hoover 18 - Uniontown Lake 17

October 18, 2024

Cliff Hickman, Canton Repository

NORTH CANTON — A less than ideal snap. A difficult to handle play for the holder. A kicker already in motion.

There were any number of excuses the North Canton Hoover High School football team could have made to not convert a potential game-winning 39-yard field goal as time expired on Friday.

Instead, kicker Paul Koskovich and his unit battled through the adversity, hung with the play and made the kick to set off a celebration as Hoover earned an unlikely win over Lake by a score of 18-17.

It was far from a sure thing, though. Even Koskovich was initially worried after the kick left his foot.

“I’m not going to lie,” Koskovich said. “I thought I missed it off my foot. I thought it was going to doink off the left upright and we were going to lose. I’ve had it happen before and I was having nightmares. I can’t tell you how good it felt to see it stay inside the upright.”

It was a career night for Koskovich. He was 4-for-4 on field goals in the victory. That included kicks of 35, 37, 39 and 39 yards. The snap being slightly off on the final attempt didn’t bother Koskovich.

“I never worried about that,” Koskovich said. “I trust my guys. Shane Matthews has been my holder my entire career and in my opinion, he is the best holder in the Federal League. I never doubted that he would have it in position for me.”

Matthews certainly looked the part of a top-tier holder on Friday by quickly pulling in the snap and getting it in position for Koskovich.

“It was behind me a little bit but it wasn’t bad at all,” Matthews said. “We all trust each other. It felt great that we were able to get this win tonight.”

The win helped Hoover take a major step toward hosting a home playoff game. The Vikings and Lake were neck-and-neck with each other in the latest computer rankings.

“What an effort Paul gave us tonight,” Hoover head coach Brian Baum said. “You also have to give a lot of credit to Shane Matthews for getting that snap down and putting Paul in a good position on that last attempt. Paul missed a field goal last week and was just beside himself all week in practice. He was really upset. You could tell he really wanted to make up for it and he did that tonight.”

It was a game full of adversity, including on the final drive. Starting quarterback John Collins went out for two plays as Hoover was trying to get Koskovich into field goal position. Jake Rembielak came off the bench on a second-and-9 play and ripped off an 8-yard run out of the Wildcat formation. Rembielak then picked up the first down to set Hoover up with a chance to win in the closing minute.

“That was a big sequence for us,” Baum said. “We practice that play just in case we run into that situation in a game and Jake was able to come in and handle the situation well for us. He got the big first down that we really needed.”

Special teams was the theme of the night for Hoover. The lone touchdown for the Vikings came on a 91-yard kickoff return by Jack Andes. That came just moments after a 24-yard Ty DeGeorge touchdown pass to Ethan Hunt gave Lake a 17-6 lead with 5:50 left in the third quarter.

“We knew this was going to be a tough game coming in,” Baum said. “We knew we were going to need a strong effort in all three phases of the game to have a chance to win and our special teams as a whole came up big tonight. It was every bit as difficult as we expected.”

Hoover went for a 2-point conversion pass attempt after the Andes touchdown but it was incomplete. A low snap by Lake on a punt on its next drive set Hoover up for a Koskovich field goal and a stop by the Hoover defense on fourth-and-3 with 5:57 to play ended up giving the Vikings the ball for what would be the final possession of the game.

“This was one of the biggest games of the season for us,” Matthews said. “We knew playoff positioning was on the line and we knew this was going to be a tough night. I think we showed up as a team.”

Hoover won despite star running back A.J. Dolph being limited to 15 yards rushing by Lake. The Vikings also spoiled a 159-yard rushing effort from Lake’s Charlie Christopher.

DeGeorge and Hunt were also an extremely effective duo for the Blue Streaks. Hunt caught nine passes for 97 yards and a touchdown. DeGeorge was 10-of-11 passing for 108 yards with no interceptions.

The victory sets Hoover up with a big showdown against rival Jackson in Week 10.

“It’s a big deal to us seniors,” Koskovich said. “That’s a game we always want to win and we are going to have a lot on the line. It’s nice we have some momentum going into that game. We’ve had a lot of success against Jackson as a class and we want to keep that going. We’re going to be highly motivated.”

Hoover improves to 6-3 overall and 3-2 in the Federal League. Lake falls to 5-4 overall and 1-4 in the Federal League.