Bandys stays unbeaten in South Fork 2A
at 4-0, shares lead with North Lincoln
By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
CATAWBA – Bandys High overcame a somewhat sluggish start on Friday night but rolled past visiting East Lincoln 35-14 to keep its share of first place in South Fork 2A football.
TRACKING THE RECORD
Ethan Howard (32) is within striking distance of the currently recognized all-time career rushing record at Bandys High (4,047 by Chris Spade in two seasons).
Statistics kept by each high school are official and those maintained by reporters-editors like Chris Hobbs of HobbsDailyReport.com are unofficial unless a school’s athletic department signs off on considering the totals as official (not yet done).
More research is being conducted to assure official totals for Spade and Howard are documented and accurate.
Howard is now credited with more yardage than former Trojans great Chris Douglas (Duke), whose two-year total is official (by Bandys records) at 3,283.
There is a possibility the late Dennis ‘Dink’ Hollar – who played in the early 1970s — could have gained more yardage than even Spade, but no statistical reports or newspaper articles have ever been found that detailed Hollar’s game-by-game or career totals.
If anyone has any clippings or specific information on Hollar’s career, please contact Hobbs at HobbsDailyReport@gmail.com.
The Trojans (7-1, 4-0) share the top spot in the standings with North Lincoln (6-2, 4-0) — a 21-19 winner on Friday night at Maiden — after snapping a seven-game losing streak in the East Lincoln series.
The Mustangs, who gained 257 yards, fell to 4-4, 2-2.
Senior running back Ethan Howard rushed 24 times for 167 yards and one TD and grabbed a fumble on defense and returned it for a score on a night he moved past former Bandys star Chris Douglas on the Trojans’ all-time rushing list (see more details in Tracking The Record).
BANDYS 35
EAST LINCOLN 14
The game was scoreless until Howard literally grabbed the ball off the back of the Mustangs’ Cole Barber on a second down play at the East Lincoln 29 with about 8 ½ minutes left in the opening half.
The ball popped loose as Barber ran to his left with Howard approaching from Barber’s right. Howard said he grabbed the ball when he saw it roll out of Barber’s hands and onto Barber’s back at about his rib cage. Howard ran 27 yards for a TD and a lead for the Trojans.
“I was waiting for contact,” Howard said as he headed for the goal line, noting that he sensed a defender in his vicinity. “(He) dove … and after that it was all green grass.”
Bandys — normally at 100 or more rushing yards in first quarters of games — didn’t get clear of that against the Mustangs until there were four minutes left in the first half.
Up 7-0, the Trojans extended their lead to 14-0 with 9.5 seconds left in the half after capitalizing on a shanked punt by the Mustangs’ Paulie Menegay that went 18 yards, setting Bandys up at the East Lincoln 38.
Bandys quarterback Lake Hojnacki (15 carries for 70 yards) ran for 10 and 9 yards and Howard gained 2 for a first down at the East Lincoln 11. On the next play, Hojancki threw to Jacob Ellis for a TD, and Howard ran a two-point conversion that had the Trojans ahead 14-0 at the half.
Cleanly fielding an onside kick for possession at its 35 to start the second half, Bandys went on an 11-play drive to score for a 21-0 lead. Howard scored from the 4 with seven minutes, 21 seconds left in the third quarter.
After a three-and-out by the Mustangs, the Trojans went up 28-0 when Elijah Clarke ran 5 yards on a second-and-goal play for a TD.
Bandys recovered an onside kick next (Jackson Spicer), leading to a 3-yard TD run by Hojnacki and a 35-0 lead with 11:16 to play.
East Lincoln scored about 1 ½ minutes later on a 3-yard run by Barber, who tacked on the game’s final score on a 20-yard run with 1:27 to play.
Bandys finished with 334 yards rushing and 32 passing, but Howard said it took a while to get the Trojans’ option offense in the right gear.
“We were (both) coming out fighting, both wanting to win,” Howard said. “We were trading blows and then we started playing like we need to.
“When our offense is running liked it’s supposed to, it’s crisp. We needed to warm up and get everybody feeling it. We started a little slow.”
Bandys won its fourth straight game as it heads to a three-week stretch that will determine if it can win a conference title for the first time since 2009.
On Friday night, the Trojans go to West Lincoln (7-1, 3-1) for a 7:30 p.m. game. They follow that on Oct. 26 with a home game against Lake Norman Charter and, on Nov. 2, there’s a regular-season finale at North Lincoln.
“We have to go in and pound the ball and do what we do,” said Howard, who has 3,440 career rushing yards, 608 shy of breaking the currently recognized single-season school record held by Chris Spade (4,047).
Asked to best characterize the Trojans’ level of confidence after nine weeks of the season, Howard said: “It’s more of a quiet confidence… not arrogant … but everybody knows quietly that we’ve got something here.”
Notes
Bandys had three offensive linemen miss Friday’s game with injuries and had to use center Cole Howard and left tackle Wayne Carroll from the junior varsity team via the eight-quarter rule… East Lincoln had won its last six games at Bandys with the Trojans’ last win in the series at Butler Stadium coming in 2004 (28-7) … Howard has two defensive scores this season; he recovered a fumble in the end zone against Fred T. Foard … The Trojans went 5-7 last season and they’ve now had teams with seven or more wins in 22 of their 60 seasons of varsity football … Bandys has beaten West Lincoln in 17 straight games and won eight straight at West Lincoln since the Rebels won at home 28-24 in 1992… In games since 1980, Bandys is 26-4 against West Lincoln – West Lincoln won at Bandys in 1982, (3-0, OT), 1986 (24-23) and 1988 (8-7) and at West Lincoln in 1992.
BANDYS 35, EAST LINCOLN 14
E. Lincoln 0 0 0 14—14
Bandys 0 14 14 7—35
Scoring summary
Second quarter
B—Ethan Howard 27 fumble return (kick failed), 8:20
B—Jacob Ellis 11 pass from Lake Hojnacki (Howard run), 9.5
Third quarter
B—Howard 4 run (Joseph kick), 7:21
B—Elijah Clarke 5 run (Joseph kick), 2:45
Fourth quarter
B—Hojnacki 3 run (Joseph kick), 11:16
EL—Cole Barber 3 run (run failed), 9:36
EL—Barber 20 run (Barber run), 1:27
EL B
First downs 14 21
Rushes-yards 28-150 66-334
Passing 10-19-0 3-4-0
Passing yards 107 32
Total offense 257 366
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 4-1
Penalties-yards 9-88 9-95
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
East Lincoln: Chase Jones 7-33, Barber 15-71, Tavin Johnson 1-31, Gabe Duncan 1-0, Mikivi Phinx 1-minus 5, Austin Smith 1-minus 4, Paulie Menegay 1-24.
Bandys: Clarke 8-37, Hojnacki 15-70, Hunter Jones 3-8, Jacob Ellis 1-5, Howard 24-167, Josh Williams 6-15, Jackson Spicer 6-35, Team 3-minus 3.
PASSING
East Lincoln: Jones 10-19-0 107.
Bandys: Hojnacki 3-4-0 32.
RECEIVING
East Lincoln: Menegay 1-15, Barber 1-12, Phinx 3-28, Duncan 1-14, Preston Cox 1-0, A. Smtih 1-6, Jack Golightly 1-14, Trevor Firo 1-18.
Bandys: Howard 1-4, Jacob Ellis 1-11, Clarke 1-17.