GATES MILLS–Both teams had plenty of splash plays throughout the game, but Harvey pulled away late to take a 68-28 victory over host Hawken on Friday at Cliff Walton Stadium.
Harvey’s Rick Coleman, Jr., had a big night as he threw for two scores, ran for two more, returned a fumble and a punt back for a touchdown, and picked off a pass.
“I just came out here and had fun,” Coleman said. “At the end of the day, you want to have fun, and my teammates told me to have fun and play how I play, and we came out with the victory.”
Hawken’s defense set the Hawks up with an early lead after Ben Elenin picked off a pass and Dom Johnson used his speed to convert the turnover into an early Hawken 7-0 lead.
Coleman responded with a purpose and took the ball up the left sideline for a mammoth 77-yard run that quickly tied up the game, 7-7, midway through the first quarter.
Quick and fast scoring was the key for both teams in the first 12 minutes.
Following the Red Raiders score, Johnson took the handoff right between the tackles for a 39-yard touchdown run, his second of the game, and that put Hawken up, 14-7.
The Red Raiders responded swiftly, as Blaise Collins had a nifty one-cut, and saw green grass and the end zone in front of him, tying the game with four minutes left in the opening quarter.
More touchdowns were exchanged as the first quarter winded down.
First, Johnson ran for a 76-yard score for Hawken and then Coleman threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to Tyshawn Vance to even up the score again at 21-21 at the end of the first quarter.
Coleman then juked defenders on his way to a 70-yard touchdown run. Shortly after, Coleman again made an impact, this time on special teams where he picked up a blocked field goal and took it 95 yards for the score that gave the Red Raiders a 35-21 lead at the break.
Coming out of the break, the Hawks marched down the field and scored on a diving catch from Johnson, as Chris Shea put it where only Johnson could get it. The score was 35-28 early in the second half.
Davon Badley got into the scoring action for the Red Raiders, scoring on a misdirection run. Shortly after, Hawken went three-and-out, and on the punt return for Harvey, Coleman found the gaps and went 60 yards for the score to push the Red Raider lead to 48-28.
Harvey added a 50-yard touchdown run from Vance and a 70-yard scoring run from Collins.
“I think our skill guys can be explosive at times, and obviously that starts up front,” said Harvey coach Mickey Mohner. “Our offensive line had a great game and defensively we made some big plays.”
Mother Nature briefly paused the game but that didn’t slow down the Red Raiders.
When play resued, Dre Smith ran for a 70-yard touchdown run to close out the scoring.
“We really want to be a run-first team and we have to establish the line of scrimmage and we were able to do that tonight and I think that really kept us going for the entire game,” Mohner said.
With the win, Harvey improved to 5-4 overall and 3-2 in the Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division while Hawken dropped to 5-4, 2-2. The Red Raiders close out the regular season at Lutheran West on Friday while the Hawks host Crestwood.
