GATES MILLS — In a game full of momentum swings, Hawken delivered the final punch.
Trailing 48-40 with just three minutes left, the Hawks marched down the field behind senior quarterback Donovan Moorhead, who hit classmate Tommy Wright for a 14-yard touchdown. On the decisive play, Moorhead went right back to Wright for the two-point conversion, sealing a 49-48 comeback win over visiting Geneva on Friday night.
“The mindset was, ‘You score, you win,’” Moorhead said. “(Tommy) beat his man off the line, I saw him wide open, and I just had to put it on him.”
The thriller was a back-and-forth battle from the opening whistle.
Hawken struck first when Kene Obi broke free for a 39-yard touchdown run. Geneva answered immediately as Ricky DiPetta scored from 24 yards out, then added a six-yard run late in the first quarter to give the Eagles a 14-7 lead.
The Hawks responded early in the second when Alex Laschinger scooped up a fumble and returned it 70 yards for a touchdown. With a two-point conversion, Hawken edged ahead, 15-14. Geneva regained control before halftime as DiPetta completed his first-half hat trick with a seven-yard touchdown run, making it 20-15 at the break.
The shootout picked up in the third quarter. Geneva’s Caden Proy opened with a 34-yard dash to the end zone, but Moorhead quickly answered with a 12-yard strike to Wright. Just minutes later, Bryce Peet turned on the jets for a 57-yard touchdown run, pushing the Eagles’ lead back to 33-21.
Hawken wouldn’t go away. Moorhead found Charlie Mallett on a goal-line fade to cut it to 33-28, but DiPetta’s fourth touchdown — a 45-yard sprint — once again put Geneva in front by two scores. Moorhead answered with a 10-yard toss to Obi, and the Hawks recovered the ensuing onside kick, only to be stopped on fourth down.
That stop didn’t last long. Rocco Vitantonio pounced on a fumble at the Geneva 20, setting up an 18-yard touchdown pass from Moorhead to Colby Bautista. Joey Skoczen’s extra point gave Hawken its first lead since the second quarter, 41-40.
Geneva fired back with one more big play. Proy broke free for a 49-yard score and connected with Owen Davis on the two-point conversion, giving the Eagles a 48-41 lead with three minutes remaining.
That set the stage for Moorhead and Wright’s late-game heroics.
“First off, I salute Coach Shymske and Geneva, that’s a great team. I salute our guys, too,” Hawken head coach Mark Iammarino said. “I told them that to be able to keep coming back, especially after they score, it could have been easy to fold the tent because Geneva is grinding it out and running the ball, it’s tough to deal with.”
Despite trailing by two scores multiple times, Hawken’s roster of just 30 players showed its toughness.
“It shows the grit we have,” Wright said. “We only have 30 guys, and I feel like these last two games are just us showing what we can do.”
Moorhead put up staggering numbers, completing 42-of-65 passes for 466 yards and six touchdowns. Mallett hauled in 16 catches for 163 yards and a score, while Wright added 10 receptions for 107 yards and two touchdowns.
For Geneva, Peet ran for 192 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries. Proy added 155 yards and two scores on 12 attempts, while DiPetta found the end zone four times on nine carries for 99 yards.
Geneva head coach Don Shymske was left frustrated after the loss.
“We should be able to win a game with 48 points. But we had too many mistakes, too many turnovers,” he said. “If we hold onto the ball a few more times, we win the game. It’s unfortunate, but it’s the way of the land right now, and we’ve got to pick ourselves up and try to learn from it.”
He pointed to turnovers and breakdowns in coverage as the biggest concerns.
“We can’t turn the ball over, and defensively we have to make sure we’re able to defend in space,” Shymske said. “We got lost in the sauce a little bit out there tonight, and there’s a lot that we need to learn on defense. Hawken’s a great team, but in the same respect, we just made too many mistakes.”
Both teams return to Chagrin Valley Conference crossover play next Friday, with Geneva hosting Perry and Hawken traveling to Madison.
