Pick-6: Hendersonville pulls away from Siegel

HENDERSONVILLE Hendersonville raced out to an early two touchdown lead over visiting Siegel thanks to touchdown passes by Brett Coker to Anthony Hughes and Jordan Amis. However, the Commandos needed a pair of late rushing touchdowns to put the Stars away. Here are the takeaways from Friday’s

Hendersonville High School player Brett Coker looks for an opening in the defense of Siegel High School in Hendersonville on Friday, Aug. 26.

Airing it out

Hendersonville (2-0) has historically been a running football team with its Wing-T offense, but Coker took to the air early and often. The junior signal caller completed 6 of his 14 first half passes including the game’s opening scores that put the Commandos on top midway through the first quarter.

Coker went down with leg cramps early in the third quarter, and was replaced by senior Dustin Ernst. Hendersonville coach Bruce Hatfield said afterwards that Coker will be fine for next week’s District 6-5A opener against Cane Ridge.

Taking it defensively

The Hendersonville defense limited Siegel (0-2) to only 128 yards of total offense. The Stars only had four drives in Commando territory as the Siegel ground game was held to 87 yards rushing on the night, and quarterback Brendan Crowell connected on only 4 of 14 passing.

In a rush

For the second consecutive week, senior running back Anthony Hughes tallied over 150 yards rushing for Hendersonville. Last week in a 31-7 win over McGavock, Hughes rushed for 174 yards and two rushing touchdowns. Against Siegel, Hughes rumbled for 153 yards and caught a 24-yard touchdown pass to open the contest.

Hendersonville High School player Derek Kincaid (32) tries to breakaway from the defense of Siegel High School in Hendersonville on Friday, Aug. 26.

Banged and bruised

Siegel (0-2) suffered more than a heartbreaking fourth quarter loss to Ravenwood last Friday night. Senior running back Rodney Murray had 175 yards rushing against the Raptors, but was worn down by various injuries throughout that contest, and only saw limited action against Hendersonville (2-0).

Murray only carried the ball twice for three yards before sitting the rest of the contest. Siegel coach Greg Wyant said, “He’s banged up and could barely go, and as a team we’re really banged up right now, but we need to move past it.”

Fourth quarter dilemma

Siegel has allowed 54 points in two games this season, but 27 of those have come in the fourth quarter.

Siegel saw a 19-10 fourth quarter lead against Ravenwood evaporate as the Raptors tacked on two touchdowns in a 23-19 win. The Stars trailed Hendersonville 17-9 late in the third after a Jacob Smith 25-yard field goal closed the gap to a single score before the Commandos tacked on two touchdown runs from Reggie Harris and Dalton Jones to seal the contest.

Kicking and screaming

Smith provided the offense for Siegel as the senior kicker booted field goals of 35, 42, and 25 yards to pace the Stars.