High School Football: Cubs 64, Vikings 6
ARMA Take two key senior starters out of a high school lineup and the affected team usually is in for a rough time.
Friday night Humboldt Highs quarterback, Dagen Goodner, and David Watts, a force of immense proportions on the offensive and defensive lines, watched from the sidelines as the Cubs ran the ball at will against Northeast High … and were just as imposing on defense. Jackson Aikins, a junior and another starter who has made major contributions, also was sidelined with a ding.
The Cubs won easily, 64-6, scoring 61 or more points for the fifth straight game.
Isaiah Coronado started in place of Goodner and within five minutes Humboldt was up 16-0, with the promise of much of the same.
Conor Haviland scored his fifth touchdown of the first period with 1:05 left to put the Cubs up 36-0.
In less than three minutes of the second period, Haviland scored twice more, on runs of 30 and 32 yards, the first set up by a Reid Barnett interception, the second the result of Humboldt covering a kickoff after the first TD that Southeast players watched wiggle downfield untouched the unintended result of a successful on-sides kick.
With 9:17 left in the first half, Humboldt found itself up 50-0.
The score remained there until late in the half. Cooper Jaro broke loose, in his best imitation of Haviland, for what appeared to be a 58-yard touchdown run. Not so, huffed the ref as he picked up a yellow banner unceremoniously lying on the wet tuft.
That penalty and another put the Cubs in a deep hole at their 38.
Not to worry, allowed Tucker Hurst. He took in a pass from Gavin Page, a freshman and No. 3 on the quarterback depth chart, and rumbled 62 yards to give Humboldt a 56-0 lead, which held to halftime and ensured once again a mercy rule-imposed running clock in the second half.
Haviland, who scores touchdowns about as feverishly as squirrels bury nuts at the first sign of cold weather, had seven in the first half. He scored six in each of the that last two games. Seven is his high-water mark so far.
His touchdowns came on runs of 19, 29,11, 45, 38, 30 and 32 yards
The second half started much as the first, only with Cooper Jaro, about as shifty and fast as Haviland, the featured tailback.
He didnt disappoint. On a fourth-and-two, after Coronado had sprinted eight yards, Jaro took a handoff, found a crease on the right side, brushed past a linebacker and out-ran a defensive back to shuffle into the end zone, on a play that covered 43 yards.
The remainder of the second half was a mixture of Cub Coach Logan Wyrick dispatching reserves to yet another round of playing time at the varsity level.
