LEHMAN TWP. — When Lake-Lehman convened at halftime, coach Jerry Gilsky did something for the first time in his eight-year coaching career. He berated his team in the locker room. Only one player — fullback Frank Kurtz — showed anger about trailing to a winless Hanover Area team.
So, guess who got the ball in the second half.
Kurtz carried his team to a come-from-behind 28-14 victory over Hanover Area on Friday night. Trailing by eight points, the Black Knights put together 22 unanswered fourth quarter points, largely off of the performance of their 235-pound back.
Kurtz finished with a monster night for the Black Knights. He carried the ball 23 times for 178 yards and a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns.
“He was nuts,” Gilsky said. “He was mad, angry, and showed the most emotion.
“We basically fed the monster — you can title that in your paper. We said, ‘give him the ball.’ He shows the most emotion. If he wants this and he’s that angry, give it to him. That’s basically what we did.”
Facing a 14-6 deficit at the turn of the final quarter, Kurtz evened the score all by himself. He pushed ahead on a second effort for a 10 yard touchdown at 11:19, followed up by a two-point conversion to square the game at 14 apiece.
His cohort in the backfield, Trey Borger, put the Black Knights ahead with 5:17 remaining in the game. Borger followed his blockers with his arm on their backs down field for a 23 yard touchdown to go ahead by seven points.
Hanover Area made a last-ditch effort to tie the game, but Lake-Lehman’s Liam O’Brien caught an interception at the Black Knights’ 15 and went 30 yards to seal the victory. Kurtz capped it off with a 1-yard touchdown in the final minute.
Lake-Lehman’s big fourth quarter brought resolution to an unbalanced game. The Black Knights struggled to convert on third down chances, and the Hawkeyes benefited from four solid special teams plays in the second quarter.
The Hawkeyes ended a scoreless contest in the second quarter by faking a field goal. Aaron Hummer connected with a wide-open offensive lineman Cameron Holeman for a 10-yard touchdown pass.
After the Hawkeyes pinned Lake-Lehman at the half-yard line on a punt, the Black Knights’ quarterback Nate O’Donnell sneaked it up the middle for a 99 yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
“We were seeing they were doing an overload and keying in our backs,” Gilsky said. “Let’s get a sneak here because they’re going to try to bail out our backs. And we got a 99 and a half yard effort from Nate. The effort also came from guys chasing guys down the field.”
After a mishit Lehman punt, Hanover Area used a no-huddle offense to score a touchdown seconds before the close of the game.
Lake-Lehman 28, Hanover Area 14
Hanover Area`0`14`0`0`—`14
Lake-Lehman`0`6`0`22`—`28
First quarter
No scoring
Second quarter
H — Cameron Holeman 10 pass from Aaron Hummer (Auugie George kick), 7:44
L — Nate O’Donnell 99 run (pass failed), 6:25
H — Joshua Jopling 3 run (George kick), :44
Third quarter
No scoring
Fourth quarter
L — Matt Kurtz 10 run (Kurtz run), 11:19
L — Trey Borger 23 run (Henry Selingo kick), 5:17
L — Kurtz 1 run (Selingo kick), :51
Team statistics`H`L
First downs`9`18
Rushes-yards`29-83`53-384
Passing yards`104`31
Total yards`187`415
Passing`10-21-1`3-6-0
Sacked-yards lost`1-8`3-18
Punts-avg.`7-38.1`4-18.75
Fumbles-lost`0-0`1-1
Penalties-yards`7-42`4-30
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — HAN, Jopling 18-81, Hummer 1-2, Joseph Curcio 2-(minus-2), Sean Coleman 7-2, David Fedorczyk. LL, Borger 16-98, Kurtz 23-178, Zach Kojadinovich 4-17, O’Donnell 10-91
PASSING — HAN, Hummer 10-21-1-104. LL, O’Donnell 3-6-0-31.
RECEIVING — HAN, Coleman 6-55, Jared Kishbaugh 1-30, Tanner Bednarski 2-9, Holeman 1-10. LL, Casey Kaminski 1-29, Borger 2-2
INTERCEPTIONS —LL, Liam O’Brien 1-30
