The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
by Coach Will Bavery
The West Central Heat football team brought down the curtain on the 2005 campaign with a big offensive show as they scored 50 points in defeating the Weathersfield Geese 50 to 36.
Going into the game, the Heat knew that they would be without starting quarterback Adam Corzatt, who had suffered a season ending shoulder injury late in last week's game, and would have only limited use of starting halfback/linebacker Andy Chockley who was still nursing a leg injury suffered two weeks ago.
The Heat had prepared by bringing up freshman Drue Waterman to do the quarterbacking and using Darick Clark to handle the passing duties. The preparation worked well as Drue was flawless, and Darick did his consistent dependable performance. Darick picked up two touchdown runs and hit Ross Gullberg with a conversion pass. Abe Chockley added a conversion and a touchdown run as the Heat took a 22 to 8 halftime lead.
In the second half things really got wild and wooly. Back to back fumbles put the Heat in trouble. The second one was really damaging as it came following a painful ankle injury to Darick Clark that took him out of the game. For Darick to be out of action you knew the injury was big time as the one thing that was constant this year was Darick's courage and determination. With Darick out, our defense wavered and the Geese closed the score to 22-16.
Then up stepped another hero for the Heat. Tanner Hartman replaced Darick at halfback and put on a real running show. Tanner picked up 72 yards on 12 carries including an eight yard scoring run in which he broke a tackle to put the ball in the end zone. The Heat lead 28 to 16 going into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter the scoring really picked up as both teams added 20 points. Abe Chockley added two touchdown runs of 24 and 52 yards. Drue Waterman hit Aaron Landers with two conversion passes. After the Geese had pulled to within six points at 42 to 36 the icing was added to the game cake. Teams had been warned not to kick deep to our return men, but the warnings had not included our secret weapon of returns, Super Dan Crum. Dan picked up the Weathersfield onside kick and scampered 50 yards for the touchdown.
In our juggling of people to cover for our injuries, we ended up with some combinations and alignments which aided the Weathersfield attack, but overall we had some good things happen on the defensive side of the ball. Jayson Sams had an outstanding game on defense. Jayson is a junior, and has proved that he can be the solid foundation on which next years defense is built upon. Juniors Cameron Hartman, and Calvin Covert, both made some nice plays at linebacker. Cameron suffered a thumb injury, which took him out of the game in the fourth quarter, which probably helped Weathersfield in their scoring. Rayn Shaner turned in another solid effort on the defensive line. Andy Chockley made a valiant effort to help shore up our defense in the second half, but you could see that his leg injury was really hampering his effectiveness. Ross Gullberg made some big tackles in the first half, but he took some pretty good dings along the way and was slowed down in the second half.
On offense you cannot say enough about the performance of Drue Waterman. Drue was the first freshman starting quarterback I have ever started in 32 years of head coaching. He played like a senior. He handled every snap and handoff flawlessly. We used his passing for conversions, and all four of his passes were right on the money.
Abe Chockley had a big night running the ball with 35 carries for 282 yards. Darick Clark ran for 66 yards and Tanner Hartman picked up 72 yards. These totals point out the good job that the offensive line of Dan Crum, Brice Jack, Brad Buss, Josh Harkness, Chase Gray, Jacob Sanning, Ryan Shaner, and Aaron Landers was doing in their blocking. Coupled with the lead blocking of junior Cody Lane and the fact, that we return five underclass blockers, things look good for the future.
In looking back over the year I think we accomplished what we had set out to do. Our team was competitive with every opponent, and we were able to put points on the board against every opponent. Offensive football is a learned endeavor, and our team learned. Defensive football, while some aspects of it are learned, relies more on instinct and experience. Our defense wasn't as far along as our offense, but we were able to generate some experience at both the varsity and underclass level, and hopefully that will pay off in the future.
The Heat gave West Central some exciting football.
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Total
Weathersfield 0 8 8 20 36
West Central 6 16 6 22 50
Rushing WHS 326 WC 438
Passing WHS 0 WC 0
Total Offense WHS 326 WC 438
Ind. Rushing Clark 15 for 66, Chockley 35 for 282, Tanner Hartman 12 for 72, Brent Blender 1 for 3, Waterman 1 for 5