HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS: Hojnacki becomes good fit in Bandys’ powerful running game

After having minus 21 yards rushing last season in a different Bandys High offense, senior quarterback Lake Hojnacki (10) has a shot at rushing for 1,000 for the Trojans this season. He needs 54 more yards as Bandys plays at home Friday night in the opening round of the state 2AA playoffs against Franklin./MICHELLE THOMPSON PHOTOS

Senior has shot at 1,000 rushing yards, a rare feat for Trojans QBs

By CHRIS HOBBS

HobbsDailyReport.com

TUCK IT AND RUN
Senior quarterback Lake Hojnacki is in rare territory at Bandys High, needing 54 rushing yards to reach 1,000 for the season.
A look at the top rushing totals by Trojans QBs since 1995, with the average yards gained over the previous 23 seasons at 105.5 a year:
Player                        Yr          Att-Yds         TDs
Lake Hojnacki          2018       112-946          9
*Jay Tay Culliver     2017         47-612           9
Hunter Burkett         2016         99-487         3
Kyle Houser              2009         87-433         7
Bill Vaughan               1997           51-235         1
*–played multiple positions
SOURCE: HobbsDailyReport.com research and files

CATAWBA – When Lake Hojnacki jumped head-first into a changing role in a new offense as the starting quarterback at Bandys High this season, new head coach Tom Eanes wasn’t exactly sure what to expect.

Hojnacki, a 6-foot-2, 170-pound senior, had modest stats in a different offense as a junior (399 yards passing for four scores, five rushes for minus 21 yards), and Eanes — coming into run an option offense as he had in his previous job at Patton — had seen Hojnacki only on film.

“The first thing we do when we think we’re gonna apply for a job,” is watch game film, Eanes said of himself and son Drew, who also left Patton to be Bandys’ offensive coordinator. “We looked at as much as we could (of Bandys). All we ever heard was that Lake could throw the football but (observers) weren’t sure he could run our style of offense.”

Eanes has a crystal clear answer on that as Hojnacki again goes under center on Friday night (7:30 p.m.) when the third-seeded Trojans (10-1) play host to No. 14 Franklin (6-5) in a first-round state 2AA playoff game.

On a night when Bandys running back Ethan Howard needs 65 rushing yards to become the school’s all-time leading rusher, Hojnacki needs another 54 to reach 1,000 rushing yards this season.

There are no definitive records on whether a Trojans quarterback has ever rushed for 1K in a season – it’s doubtful – but this should provide enough context of how big that is:

• In the 24 seasons (1995 to now), the previous best single-season rushing total for a Bandys quarterback was Jay Tay Culliver’s 612 yards on 47 carries last season. But he played multiple positions so all of those yards did not come as a QB.
• Other than Culliver, the Trojans have had two quarterbacks approach 500 rushing yards in a season – Hunter Burkett got 487 two seasons ago and Kyle Houser had 433 yards as a senior in 2009.
• Bandys — while being so prolific in its passing game — has had a quarterback finish with minus rushing yards 10 times since 1995, including five straight seasons starting with Tyler Rowe in 2004.
• The Trojans reached the 2003 state 2AA title game with Zach Elliott rushing only 60 times for 2 yards, and the 2004 West 2AA title game with Rowe finishing the season at 25 carries for minus 54 yards.

This season, Hojnacki has rushed for 86 yards per game (8.4 yards per carry), scored eight rushing TDs and has four 100-yard rushing games, highlighted by 13 carries for 143 yards and a TD in a 30-29 win at North Lincoln that closed the regular season and gave the Trojans a South Fork 2A title.

He has also passed for 495 yards and thrown for five scores while triggering an offense that averages 380.7 yards per game rushing and 435.9 in total offense.

“I think he is growing every week,” Eanes said after the Trojans won 31-7 at Newton-Conover in late September with Hojnacki rushing nine times for 88 yards. “He (calls) audibles and he makes great reads. He really had a very good football game.”

Because Hojnacki is always an option with the ball in his hands and often finds a way to twist his way out of or break tackles after the first hit, defenses have had to play the Trojans’ run game honest.

Against North Lincoln, Hojnacki broke a second down run for 42 yards and a TD that erased a 14-7 deficit in the second quarter. He also started the game-winning drive with a 38-yard gain and had 49 rushing yards in an 89-yard drive to win the league championship.

Hojancki loves the option offense.

“It is basically like playground (football),” he said after the Newton-Conover game. “It’s great.

“Honestly it does (feel like backyard football)… the freedom in being able to make a check (at the line of scrimmage) and calling our own plays.

“It (requires) a little bit more talent to run it and a lot of it is execution with the offensive line, but the execution is just everybody doing our jobs, everybody doing their jobs right.”

Hojnacki studied the option offense before Eanes arrived in the summer and said it took him about two months to begin to feel comfortable running it.

With Howard setting a tone and Eanes keeping things low key – he constantly tells the Trojans to forget the last play and focus more on the next one – Hojnacki isn’t really feeling any pressure to do anything than just go play.

Howard’s hard running and Eanes’ even keel has helped Hojnacki emerge and have an impact in a way (running the ball) few, if any, Bandys quarterbacks ever have.

“(Howard) is a power horse,” Hojnacki said. “Even our DL (defensive line), nobody can stop him. He’s just a beast. It’s more heart than anything. He’s a beast… and so passionate about it…

“He (Eanes) is exposing a talent that we weren’t able to work with (before). This (running the ball) is definitely our strong suit.”

Bandys, 20-4 all-time in home state playoff games, would be at Butler Stadium again next Friday night if it beats Franklin. The teams in the opposite bracket are No. 11 Fred T. Foard (6-5) and No. 6 West Stokes (10-1).

Bandys has never played Foard in a postseason football game and beat West Stokes 37-0 in a first-round game at Bandys in 2004.

Notes

Former Trojans running back Chris Spade, who holds the school rushing record at 4,064 yards (2003-2004 in 29 games), is expected to attend Friday’s game. He lives in Mooresville and said he has not been to an event at Bandys since he graduated 14 years ago… Howard has 4,000 career yards on 571 carries with 38 rushing TDs and 21 games of 100 or more yards rushing… Howard plays in his 46^th game on Friday night and has 221 carries this season for 1,795 yards, 19 rushing TDs and nine 100-yard games… Howard is averaging 88.8 yards per game for his career while Spade averaged 140.1.