Hampshire survives McHenry with 17-16 win in overtime

MCHENRY – It’s way too early to declare Hampshire a second-half team.

But coach Shane Haak knows this: A lack of endurance certainly isn’t something that will do in the Whip-Purs this year. It’s something that turned the tide in a tight season-opener Friday.

Hampshire ran more than twice as many second-half plays than McHenry, then made two huge plays in overtime to squeak out a 17-16 win.

“We stayed the course,” Haak said. “We did some things to ourselves that put us in a hole, but I think we had the belief and mental toughness to overcome some of those things.”

Led by running backs Tymere Marshall (22 carries, 120 yards) and Arshawn Rupert (nine carries, 57 yards, all after halftime), Hampshire had possession 14 minutes, 28 seconds of the second half.

Down 10-7, Hampshire forced a three-and-out and then went 66 yards yards in 10 plays, ending in a 23-yard field goal that tied the game at 10.

If there is any frustration for Hampshire, it’s the fact this game may not have needed overtime if not for some key mistakes. The Whips had a 15-play drive on their next possession that was killed by a 3-yard loss on third-and-3 and ended with a blocked 45-yard field goal.

Then, on a nine-play drive late in the fourth quarter, McHenry’s Andrae Salaman recovered a fumble on the Warriors 37.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Haak said. “We put some pieces together, but there are a lot of things that we have to improve our execution on. And give McHenry a lot of credit, because I thought they played well.”

Luckily, McHenry’s offense stalled most of the second half, tallying only two first downs. That pushed the game into overtime.

On the very first play in overtime, Rupert scooted into the end zone practically untouched to make it 17-10.

The Warriors answered with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Dayton Warren to Jeff Schwab two plays later, forcing coach Jeff Schroeder to make a decision. He made the decision to go for two, but Conor McLean, who had a solid game defensively, was stopped cold in the backfield and taken down by Hampshire’s Glenn Manguerra.

“It’s 3 yards and we are a running offense,” Schroeder said of the decision to go for two. “Either you get it or you don’t, right? I know the kids wanted it. I think the other thing that went into it is that we had a blocked field goal and actually our kicker was a sophomore.

“It’s not going to be a walk in the park playing McHenry this year. I think we can play tough. I know we can play defense with about anybody. If we can get some consistency on offense, then I think things can go our way.”

Nolan Chovanec had 30 yards rushing and a touchdown for McHenry, while Schwab had 57 yards on the ground and picked off two passes defensively.

Hayden Strasburg had a touchdown run for Hampshire.