Hoover 35 - Massillon Jackson 14
October 24, 2025
Josh Weir, Canton Repository
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NORTH CANTON — The Battle for the Rail trophy is back in North Canton. And Brian Baum doesn’t have to take any more grief from his oldest son, BT.
“I told the players, ‘I’m just glad we won the Rail back because I’m tired of my 11-year-old giving me a hard time about it,'” the Hoover High School football coach said. “It’s back where it belongs, in our weight room.”
The Vikings did the heavy lifting in the second half and pulled away from rival Jackson for a 35-14 win at Memorial Stadium on Friday, Oct. 24.
Hoover scored touchdowns in all three phases and got 229 yards from scrimmage from star Jack Andes as it finished the regular season at 8-2 overall and 4-2 in the Federal League. The Vikings will host a first-round playoff game in Division II, Region 7 next week.
Jackson falls for the second straight week after last week’s 40-9 home loss to Canton McKinley and finishes the regular season at 5-5, 3-3. The Polar Bears will host a first-round playoff game next week in Division I, Region 1.
Andes was spectacular as usual, running 14 times for 126 yards and a touchdown — a 50-yarder with 4:21 left to put the exclamation point on this game.
He had a 9-yard run on a fake punt to sustain a third-quarter drive that resulted in his 27-yard TD catch, which ended with him dragging multiple defenders into the end zone.
Andes finished with six receptions for 103 yards and the one score.
“He’s just a ballplayer,” Baum said with a shake of his head. “Between him, John Collins, Carter Lukens, Chase Lukens, this senior class, these guys are just ballplayers. They did an outstanding job tonight. They wanted to win the rail back.”
Hoover, which lost 23-20 at Jackson last year, now holds a 66-29 advantage in the series against the Polar Bears.
Collins completed 14 of 21 passes for 186 yards, one TD and no interceptions. He ran for a 2-yard touchdown on the final play of the first half to get Hoover on the board. Jackson’s Max Cowles blocked the PAT kick to preserve a 7-6 Jackson lead.
That lead was gone 13 seconds into the second half.
Senior Brycen Beyer took the second-half kickoff back 95 yards up the right sideline for a touchdown. Collins scored on a 2-point conversion run and Hoover led 14-7.
“We knew we had to make a big play, and it was that kickoff,” Beyer said. “It always starts with special teams. Special teams wins us games. We harp on that a lot.”
Beyer did the same thing against Louisville in Week 5, taking the second-half kick 88 yards to break a tie in in an eventual 31-13 Hoover win.
Friday night, Baum and his staff figured Jackson would kick away from Andes, so they set up the return for Beyer.
“When we came out of the locker room, we were saying, ‘We’re going to score here,'” Baum said. “We were really confident we were going to get that wedge, and we got it.”
Hoover’s defense allowed a touchdown on the opening drive of the night and then controlled the game from there.
Carter Lukens returned an interception 40 yards for a score in the second half as Hoover pulled away.
That was one of three Hoover interceptions, with Nathan Sikora and Carson Morris getting the others.
Hoover looked a little disjointed offensively in the first half with costly penalties killing drives.
“We just stopped shooting ourselves in the foot,” Baum said. “We knew we were doing some good things offensively and we kind of had to settle in defensively and see what they were doing. You can’t emulate what their running back does. You have to see and get a feel for it.”
That running back, the shifty Corey Jacobs, ran six times for 41 yards on that opening drive, setting up a 23-yard Rocco Norch TD catch from Lucas Ecrement.
Jacobs finished with 82 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries to surpass 1,000 yards for the season.
Ecrement completed 10 of 23 passes for 120 yards, one TD and the three picks.
“They played well and we didn’t. They made plays and we didn’t,” Jackson coach Jay Rohr said. “… Our defense fought tooth and nail and those guys continue to battle week in and week out. That was probably our best performance and the scoreboard doesn’t show it because you give up a fake punt, a kickoff return and pick-six.”
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Source: Canton Repository