Sabers edged by Hanover

BY MATT RAYMOND, Times-Shamrock Writer

Two questions surrounded the Hanover Area Hawkeyes coming into the season: How dominant is the highly touted line, and will a new running back fill a nearly 2,300-yard void?

On Friday night, the Hawks answered both questions with a thrilling 15-12 win over Susquehanna at Gayewski Memorial Stadium.

A face-mask penalty on a fourth-down stop that would have sealed the victory gave Susquehanna a chance to win, but the massive Hanover line converged on bruising running back Jessie Pruitt at the 3-yard line as time expired.

As for the running back situation, Parrish Bennett stepped up to carry the load, carrying the ball 20 times for 85 yards and two touchdowns, including the go-ahead score with just4:23remaining.

“The kids could have easily folded with that personal foul face mask, but they didn’t,”Hanovercoach Ron Hummer said. “They took it as a challenge and the defense really stepped up.”

Hanoverwas the first to score when Bennett punched it in from five yards out, a run set up by Tony Dennis’ blocked punt. Susquehanna then put up 12 second-half points.

With just over eight minutes remaining,Hanovermarched 60 yards on nine plays, highlighted by 34 rushing yards from Bennett, including an 8-yard touchdown.

Susquehanna   0    0    6   6 – 12

Hanover           7    0    0   8 – 15

Team Statistics

                               SUS     HAN

First Downs             11         11

Rushing-Yards    42-142   29-99

Comp-Att-Int       8-14-1   4-13-0

Passing Yards         144        94

Total Yards             286       193

Fumbles-Lost          3-1        2-1

Penalties-Yards      8-61      2-16

Individual Statistics

Rushing: SUS – Pruitt 11-52; Murnock 11-46; Price 10-40; Stanley 8-2.

Passing: SUS – Stanley 8-15-1, 144, TD.

Receiving: SUS – Pruitt 2-73; Darrow 1-34, Murnock 3-19; Cowperthwait 1-15 TD; Marino 1-2.