The 1-0 Youth Cougars picked up right where they left off on a beautiful Saturday evening at the HFL Varsity Football field as the visiting Wayne Eagles came to town to attempt to hand the C-team their first loss of the season. The Cougars would get the ball first and waste no time driving 64 yards for the first score of the day. A hard pounding 7 yard up-the-gut run by Landon Hammond following a 34 yard reverse by Drew Angelo would give the young HFL squad their first 6 points of the day. Austyn Crego would then recover a fumble on the following Wayne possession and the Cougars would switch it up offensively by pounding it up the middle with Hammond first this time, and then scoring on a long Angelo run outside. Angelo's touchdown would put the Cougards up 12-0 at the end of the 1st Quarter. An immediate 4-and-out forced by the HFL Defense would give the Cougars another scoring opportunity deep in Wayne territory at the 35 yard line. A long 17 yard run by JP Gionforte would be eventually nullified by two consecutive penalties, but another long Angelo reverse followed by a Matt Meacham QB keeper would set the Cougars up 1st and goal at the Wayne 1 yard line. A quick hand-off up the middle to Angelo and the Cougars were up 18-0. Meacham would then tack on the extra point on a keeper around the right side to make the score 19-0 with very little time left in the half. A quick forced fumble and recovery by Liam Wise gave HFL yet another chance to up the score before halftime. An unfortunate fumble in the backfield, however, gave the ball right back to Wayne with under one minute to play in the first half. The Cougar Defense let down it’s guard for the first time this season and allowed a 74 yard TD run by Wayne with time running out in the half. Following a successful on-sides kick by Wayne, the Defense stiffened and allowed the Cougars to go into halftime with a comfortable 19-6 lead … but had the momentum shifted to the Wayne squad?

The Eagles took the second half kick-off from Meacham deep at their own 35 yard line and returned it out to mid-field to start the second half of play. In a few short downs, the Wayne momentum had catapulted the Eagles to a first-and-goal on the HFL 3 yard line following a 43 yard run and a fantastic TD saving hit by HFL’s Luke Weiler. Weiler’s hit would prove to be a momentum crusher as the Eagles fumbled the snap on the very next play and Wise came up with his second recovery of the game! The Cougars would take over on their own 5 yard line and methodically run the ball with Hammond hammering it up the middle and Conor Finn working the outside. Finn streaked right for a big 23 yard gain to put the Cougars on their own 45 yard line … 1st and 10. On the very next play, a simple run up the middle by Hammond turned into a 55 yard blur behind superb blocking by Crego, Giovanni D’Anna, Jonathan Nelson and Holden Kamm.  As if shot out of a cannon, Hammond and the Cougars got on the board with their final touchdown of the game to go up 25-6. A beautifully timed pass from Meacham added the extra point as Keaton Yates caught it in stride to put the exclamation point on the evening … HFL 26, Wayne 6. The Defense stepped up to pitch it’s 3rd shut-out half of the season and the HFL Youth Cougars C-Team won their first home game of 2015. They will take their 2-0 record on the road next Sunday to face-off against last year’s 8-0 Pal Mac Red Raiders in what should be a great contest!