Hodge, Hylton give Liberty opponents quite a dilemma

Hodge, Hylton give Liberty opponents quite a dilemma

By Dan Stillwell
Register-Herald Sports Writer
Beware, Liberty opponents.

The Raiders can drop the H-bomb on you.

Twice.

Senior tailback Josh Hodge had his second consecutive 200-yard-plus game as the Raiders downed Summers County 42-20 Friday night.

The senior ran for 236 yards — including 191 in the first half — and three touchdowns (9, 7, and 10 yards) against the Bobcats.

Last week he ran for 217 yards on just seven runs from scrimmage in a 42-0 victory over Westside. He had touchdown runs of 65 and 66 yards, plus he returned a fumble 98 yards for a score.

That’s 453 yards, or 226.5 per game. Not many area high school backs run for 2,000 in a season, but the speedy Hodge has a definite shot.

The teams that try to spread their defenses to contain Hodge will also have to deal with junior halfback Nick Hylton.

Hylton gained 54 yards in the first half, then ran off another 108 when the Bobcats tried to contain Hodge.

A powerful runner, he was often dragging a couple of Summers players as he bulled through the line.

His touchdown run of 10 yards gave him three scores for the young season. He ran for 84 yards last week, including scores of 18 and 9 yards.

If the right one doesn’t get you then the left one will.

n Talk about efficiency.

James Monroe quarterback Taylor Robertson threw just two passes in a 42-7 victory over Shady Spring, both to Ernie Tincher.

One was for 23 yards, the other 81. Both were touchdowns.

Last week Robertson threw two aerials in a 56-0 whipping of Narrows, Va. One was incomplete, but the other was a 50-yard TD pass to Tincher.

That’s four passes, three catches, 154 yards and 18 points.

The Mavericks certainly know how to lull pass defenses to sleep.

Of course, their feature back, Jason Jackson, hasn’t done too badly for himself. He has 276 yards and six touchdowns.

n Meadow Bridge quarterback Wes Wyandt didn’t have a lot of numbers in the Wildcats’ 43-6 opening-game win over PikeView. He completed one pass for 11 yards and ran for another 11.

Wyandt made up for it Friday night in a 28-22 win at Tug Valley. While most of his stats weren’t available, the three that matter most were: touchdown runs of 3, 4 and 17 yards.

Odds are he’ll call his own number more in the future.

Wildcats running back Eric Halstead, who scored three touchdowns against PikeView, had just one against Tug Valley — a 12-yard run in the fourth quarter that won the game.

n Independence senior quarterback Mark Cuthbert fired the area’s longest TD pass of the season, a 90-yarder to Josh Nelson in the Patriots’ 21-20 squeaker over Sherman Friday.

Cuthbert threw for 151 yards and two scores in Indy’s 18-15 opening loss to Midland Trail. He passed for 122 yards against Sherman.

n Mount Hope running back Jamel Shelton is off to a fine start with 290 yards and three touchdowns in wins over Sherman and Oak Hill.

n Liberty kicker Erik Bower missed his first PAT try against Westside, but is a perfect 10-of-10 since.