The Lafayette High School football team took their newly acquired number seven state ranking into Hawthorne this past Friday. Mayo has not been able to record a win over Hawthorne over the past three years, but changed that in 2005 winning a tough defensive battle 13-6 to remain unbeaten.

When these two teams meet, one certainty is that the Hornets are going to win. The other fact is that this Mayo defense is something special.

The strategy for Mayo was simple. Grab the lead, let the defense make a play, and turn the ball over to an outstanding offensive line to produce running room for Morgan Rutherford, who does not need much of a opening since he is making a habit of just simply running over folks these days.

The defense would be facing a team that had just one week earlier rolled up 298 yards on the ground, and 68 through the air against an undefeated Trenton team. On this night, Hawthorne would not get to the positive numbers with a minus six yards rushing, and gained their only passing yardage on their last possession with a 26 yard completion, which was also for their only first down of the game.

The lone touchdown was on a 50 yard return of a fumble in the opening quarter for the games’ first score after a Mayo 13 play drive took 4:48 off the clock before the fumble ended the drive at midfield. The drive accounted for four first downs. Eric McIntyre had busted for fifteen yards early, but had to comeback with another 10 yard run for the first down after a penalty that moved the ball to the Mayo three. Thomas Parker made a first down catch with a nice effort after the catch, while McIntyre and Rutherford were tough on the rush. The PAT was blocked by Ryan Slayton to give Hawthorne a 6-0 advantage at the 4:44 mark of the first quarter.

Mayo would even the score on their next possession with a 12 play, 82 yard drive that took 5:47 off the clock.

Mayo took a big chance to open the second quarter with Hempstead picking up a huge three yards on a fourth and inches at his own 27. From there, Mayo went to the airways looking for the big play. Naturally, that means freshman Jamaal Reid. Hornet sophomore quarterback Chad Hempstead took advantage of some key blocking picking up the blitz by Rutherford to find Reid twice for a total of 43 yards to the Hawthorne 27. Another penalty would back Mayo up, McIntyre would make a key catch out of the backfield for the needed first down yardage at the 11. This would be Rutherford territory where he is unstoppable and would only need two attempts to reach paydirt and even the score at 6 at the 7:21 mark of the first half.

The defenses would take control of the game at that point with senior middle linebacker Aaron Gresham forcing a key turnover to end the third quarter with a strip and fumble recovery at the Hawthorne 30. McIntyre and Rutherford would make a couple of nice 10 yard runs to setup a third and 10 completion to Gresham in the endzone. Following the Alberto Rosalio PAT, Mayo had their first lead of 13-6 with 9:30 to go in the game.

Gresham would continue to exert himself following Hawthorne’s lone pass completion for first down yardage to the Mayo 35. But a second down pop forcing a fumble, and a key sack by Gresham pushed Hawthorne back to the 40 and forced a punt.

Mayo would take over at their own 18 with 7:22 to go. Hawthorne would not see the ball again after the offensive line and some key blocking by Kyle Pearson lining up in the backfield enabled Rutherford and McIntyre to move the ball to the Hawthorne 26 using all the time with a 17 play drive that collected five first downs. The key first down of the drive was on a fourth and one play at midfield with 3:20 to go. Rutherford just simply ran over folks to pretty much ice the game at that point. We do not want to miss anybody on that offensive line, but the blocking by Darren Powe, Kyle Pearson, Rutherford, Brian Scott, Marty Crotts, Michael Wimberley and Shawn Jones certainly looked to control the game on that last drive.

Rutherford would finish the game with 132 rushing yards with a TD, while McIntyre would rush for 87 yards. Hempstead would do another nice job completing 8-12 passes for 99 yards with pass completions to Reid, McIntyre, Parker and Slayton.

Defensively, Mayo was dominate. Hawthorne ran a total of 18 plays for the game, with four plays the being the longest drive. The first series established the pace of the game with Hawthorne at their own 39. The series would end back at their 27 following an emotional sack by Garrett Bates. Gresham and Jones introduced themselves early, but it was a key sack by Bates for a loss of 13 yards that had the Hawthorne quarterback scrambling all night long. The problem was that the quarterback was being chased into Gresham territory. The results was Gresham getting recognized this week as an honorable mention for player of the week by the Gainesville Sun recording 16 tackles, three sacks and three tackles for losses.

The second series started at the Mayo 7 yard line following an interception return from the 40 yard line. It turned out to be key after the Hawthorne defender appeared to heading into the endzone, but Wimberley ran down the back from behind.

Gresham would team with Thomas Parker to drop the runningback for a seven yard loss to start the series and then forced a fourth down play with a sack at the six. He would also assist Jones and Powe in stacking the line for a crucial goal-line stance at the Mayo six.

Following the Mayo score, Ryan Slayton made a saving tackle on the return with Hawthorne starting at their own 31. Josue Licea and Pearson joined up in the opposing backfield for a three yard loss, while Gresham had another sack and teamed with Wimberley to shut down the drive back at the Hawthorne 18.

Once again, Slayton would save the day on a punt return at the Hawthorne 42 in the next exchange, but Jones and Powe started the march backwards before Gresham made the finale tackling the back in the backfield for a loss back to the 38.

Hawthorne would actually gain 5 yards on their first two possessions of the second half, but was unable to find any big plays thanks to the secondary coverage by Slayton, Parker and Reid. Slayton forced the punt on the second series with a nice tackle for a loss.

The next series ended quickly with the Gresham fumble recovery, and then kept Hawthorne in the negatives making the final tackle for a sack for a seven yard loss.



Mayo hosts Trenton

With the win in Hawthorne this past Friday night, the Hornets are 4-0 overall with a 2-0 district mark.

In no way does this sportswriter want to invite the Hornets to look ahead, but avoiding an upset, Mayo should be looking to October 21 in Monticello against a very good traditional power, Jefferson County, to capture their first district crown since 1998. Jefferson County opened up their district campaign with a stunning 38-0 win in Trenton who just happens to be the opponent for the Hornets this Friday night.

The Tigers started off the season with three very nice wins, but since entering a very tough district race, have dropped two convincing losses in a row to Hawthorne and Jefferson County.

Mayo will have to keep the outstanding Trenton athlete Brandon Mathis in check to have success in this game. It has already been proven that as Mathis goes, so does the Tigers. He is effective on special teams, and at the runningback position.

Mayo was able to pull this game out last year in Trenton by a score of 12-6. Rutherford was unable to play in that encounter, but looks ready to tame a Tiger in this one behind a dominate offensive line.