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September 30, 2005 > Sports > Hanszen tops Lovett 13-6 for first win

Hanszen tops Lovett 13-6 for first win

By Stephen Whitfield | Thresher Editorial Staff

The Hanszen Powderpuff team got its first win of the season Sept. 18, beating Lovett 13-6.

The first half saw the teams locked in a defensive struggle. Hanszen (1-1) netted just 38 offensive yards, and both of its first downs came on the final possession of the half. Almost all of Lovett’s (1-2) 48 offensive yards came on a 15-play drive that lasted most of the second quarter. On that drive, Lovett advanced to Hanszen’s 28 yard line before junior halfback Tessa Barron was stopped for a six-yard loss and sophomore quarterback Tess Elmore threw an interception.

Two drives later, Hanszen had its best chance to score in the half when senior quarterback Loren Darrington completed an 11-yard pass to freshman halfback Lauren Schaefer to put the ball on Lovett’s 44-yard-line with less than 30 seconds remaining. After three consecutive incomplete passes, Darrington ran for 22 yards to end the half with both teams scoreless.

A 20-yard-run by sophomore Rachel Greff put Hanszen near midfield on its opening drive of the second half. Darrington blazed past several Lovett defenders for a 51-yard touchdown to break the scoreless tie. On its subsequent drive, Lovett advanced to its own 46 after a Hanszen holding penalty, but Elmore threw her second interception as the third quarter ended, preserving Hanszen’s 7-0 lead.

Lovett had another scoring chance early in the fourth quarter, starting its first drive from its own 40. But on third-and-7, Elmore threw an interception to freshman defensive back Parry VanLandingham, giving Hanszen the ball at Lovett’s 43. Two plays and three yards later, Schaefer ran for what appeared to be a 40-yard touchdown, but the play was ruled dead at the 3-yard-line due to a referee’s inadvertent whistle. But Schaefer scored the touchdown three plays later to give Hanszen a 13-0 lead with two minutes remaining.

On a third-and-10 play from its own 35, Lovett freshman Dana Helbling caught a 27-yard pass from Elmore. The next play saw Hanszen commit a pass interference penalty that gave Lovett first-and-10 from the Hanszen 23. But Hanszen senior defensive back Jane Rochmes intercepted Elmore’s pass in the end zone. Lovett later scored on a 21-yard touchdown run by Elmore with 30 seconds remaining, but Hanszen ran out the clock to preserve the 13-6 victory.

Playing a sophomore and three freshmen at receiver, Lovett was hurt by numerous miscues in the passing game. Lovett head coach Anish Patel said he did not expect to see so many dropped passes.

“[The dropped passes] surprised me because our receivers had done a pretty good job [in the first two games of the season]” Patel, a senior, said. “It was just uncanny of them to drop passes like they did [against Hanszen].”

Elmore, who became the starter at quarterback after junior Rachel Green broke her foot before the season began, completed 7 of 23 passes for 95 yards. Sophomore receiver Claudia Sokolowski, one of Lovett’s top receivers last season, caught only one pass for 10 yards.

Hanszen, likewise, could not mount a consistent offensive attack, relying more on big plays from both the offense and the defense to win the game. Darrington went just 1-12 passing for 11 yards. Darrington and Schaefer combined to run for 113 yards, but 89 of those yards came on two rushes.

Hanszen coach Eric McGuire said the team’s speed and big-play capability will be helpful during the rest of the season.

“Half the plays we got lots of yardage off of were plays that didn’t work out, where either our quarterback or running backs turned it up the field,” McGuire, a senior, said. “It’ll be important, but it’s nothing we’re really practicing. We have girls with so much speed, [and] it’s nice to have that to fall back on.”

Tomorrow, Hanszen plays Sid Richardson (2-0), which barely escaped an improved Jones (1-1) team 12-6. Lovett will face Brown (0-2) tomorrow. Wiess (2-0) won 9-0 against Will Rice (0-2), and Martel (2-0) shut out Brown 18-0. Next week’s game of the week will feature Wiess, a finalist in Powderpuff last year, against upstart Jones.

Freshman Flag Football

Lovett narrowly escaped Brown 13-12 in the only freshman flag game played so far this season.

Women’s Basketball

Wiess won by forfeit over Martel Tuesday. In the only game played Tuesday, Sid mercy-ruled Will Rice 45-20.

End of article

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