Despite injuries, Hun fends off D.C. school to maintain long win streak
PRINCETON » Head coach Todd Smith stood in the middle of a fired-up Hun football team on Natale Family Athletic Field and declared this “Step 1” of the Raiders’ quest toward a fourth consecutive MidAtlantic Prep League title.
League games don’t begin until next week, but the symbolic nature of Friday’s 20-8 win over Friendship Collegiate Academy could not be overstated.
Despite injuries sidelining key players including quarterback Pat Holly and two-way starters Malcolm Brunson and Ben Wild, Hun (4-0) refused to waver versus one of the top teams in Washington, D.C. and increased the state’s second-longest winning streak to 26 games dating back to 2014.
“This week it was a tough week of practice because you’re missing guys,” Smith said. “Not that they weren’t confident, but it was a lot of new faces in the huddle. We told them adversity is always going to show you what kind of person you really are. And today they stepped up and they pushed the adversity right away.”
Much of that process involved tailoring the offense to dual-threat junior Jackson Barletta, a New Providence High transfer this season who relished the opportunity to step in for Holly under center.
Barletta led the Raiders on three clockdraining drives in the first half for a 14-0 halftime lead. In those first 24 minutes, Barletta completed 5-of-5 pass attempts for 42 yards and ran for 35 yards on eight rushing attempts, including a two-point conversion on the first touchdown.
Hun hopes to have Holly, who is recovering well from a sprained ankle, back in time for next Saturday’s game against Blair.
“I was prepared going into this,” Barletta said. “Coach Smith obviously put us in the best position that we could to run the offense this week, plays that fit me better than of course Pat, who’s a pocket passer. He’s a hell of a player, so we had to change a lot of things up. They worked out pretty well.”
That relieved the load of tailbacks Josh Henderson and Ian Franzoni. Henderson had another productive workhorse outing, scampering for close to 200 yards and two touchdowns.
Hun’s ball-control offense set the tone at the beginning of the game with a 13-play, 72-yard, seven-minute scoring drive capped by Henderson’s 9-yard run up the middle.
“We wanted to control the line of scrimmage, control the clock, which I think we did a good job of,” Smith said. “The o-line played real physical today. I thought we did great stuff, and I thought Jackson Barletta did a great job just getting us out of the huddle and making big throws when he needed to.”
On fourth-and-goal at the 15-yard line with 1:39 to play in the second quarter, Hun played trips to the left side, which left receiver Joshua Szott with single coverage on the back side. Barletta tossed a perfect jump ball to Szott, who came down with an impressive one-handed grab in the end zone to make it a two-touchdown game.
“Awesome catch,” Barletta said. “I just threw it up, he’s a hell of a player, I let him make a play and he made it.”
Defensively, Hun held Friendship Collegiate without a first down in the first half. Late in the fourth quarter. interceptions by Szott and Grant Hansen helped seal the win.
“I thought the Hansen brothers (Blake and Grant) did a great job at corner,” Smith said. “Grant was thrust into a starting position today out of the blue, and he took advantage of that and played well. I thought Bobby Haskins did a great job at defensive end, and Jackson Henry held the middle down for us at middle linebacker and played really well.”
Still, Friendship Collegiate made sure Hun’s midseason litmus test wasn’t easy.
The Warriors took advantage of a Hun defensive personal foul on fourth down in the third quarter by notching a touchdown and two-point conversion five plays later to pull within six. Josiah Crute in particularly proved tough to wrestle down in Friendship Collegiate’s backfield.
But the Raiders had too much perseverance on this day. An eight-yard touchdown run where Henderson lunged his body forward to cross the goal line extended Hun’s lead to 12 with 5:43 left in the game. A fourth-down stop and two takeaways on defense fortified a truly rewarding win for Hun’s mighty program.
“We had to play as one group, one unit, and that’s what we did,” Barletta said. “That’s a hell of a team that we just played. To show that we came up, won the game through all the injuries that we had this week, it shows a lot for our team. And we’re looking forward to these next couple games.”