From the first kick off of the Homecoming game on Friday, October 17, the HHS Bears began the momentum that would in the end hand them the victory.
The first half began with good hits on each side of the field and almost a turnover after a kick from Christian Wojtecki bobbled out of the hands of Ridgefield’s second line return man. After that, the Bear’s defense continued to shut out the Ridgefield offense from the second the ball was snapped until the referee blew the whistle.
On the offensive side of the game, on the first play Ryan Vander Werf ran for 15 yards to pick up an immediate first down. Throughout the game Vander Werf continued to show off his speed; the next time he touched the ball he ran down field for a 69 yard gain. After a turnover on downs, the Ridgefield offense pounded the ball down the field for a touchdown, but did not get the extra point as it was blocked by the Bear’s defensive line.
In the second quarter, Ridgefield’s offense started its drive with a quick completion over the center of the field for a first down, but the next play resulted in an offsides penalty on the offense. After that, the Bear’s defense continued to shut down anything that the Ridgefield offense sent its way. On fourth down, Abdullah Elailla went back deep to return the punt, but it resulted in a touchback and the ball was spotted on the 20 yard line. Once the Bear’s offense got a hold of the ball, a quarterback option up the middle resulted in Vander Werf getting an 80-yard touchdown and showing off his speed as he was untouched by any of the Ridgefield defenders.
Later in the quarter, the Bear’s defense stopped all plays coming to their side of the field, which ended up with Ridgefield being forced to punt the ball again down the field to Elailla. After a quick run up the middle, Vander Werf completed a short screen pass to Rashawn Byfield leading to a huge gain as Bifield tiptoed the ball down the sideline into Ridgefield territory. Vander Werf then completed a pass over the middle to J.J. Occhipinti for another Bear’s touchdown. Later in the quarter, Ridgefield got another touchdown, leading to another blocked PAT attempt, leaving the score at 14-13 in the Bear’s favor at halftime.
In the second half, the Bear’s defense constantly stopped the opposing offense. The Ridgefield team was forced to settle for a field goal attempt that ended in a completion, leaving the score at 16-14, the second time the Bears were down in the game. The rest of the third quarter remained uneventful as neither team scored another point.
A few minutes into the fourth quarter, Hawthorne’s offense managed to put another touchdown on the board by running Vander Werf to the outside. The Bears then failed a two point conversion attempt to Ellailla, putting the score at 20-16 for another Bears lead.
Throughout the rest of the game, the score stayed the same, resulting in another win for the now, 3-3 Hawthorne High School Bears football team.