Hutto’s
defense has come a long way since last year’s Liberty Hill game. On
that night, the Hippos got gashed by the Panthers’ Slot-T offense for 51
points and 531 rushing yards at 8.2 yards per pop.
But
in Friday’s rematch in Liberty Hill, it was a different story. Hutto
held the Panthers’ offense to just one touchdown and contained their
rushing attack to 211 yards at five yards per carry in a 42-14 at
Panther Stadium.
“Our
defense has matured a bunch,” said Hutto head coach Brad LaPlante. “But
we reflected last year even before we played them, some of these kids
have never played the Wing-T, Slot-T kind of teams because even youth
football for them, they’ve gone up against spreads. So not only do they
have that style of offense, Liberty Hill runs it one of the best in the
state… (This time) they knew what they were up against. They didn’t know
last year.”
This
performance came on the heels of Liberty Hill opening the season with
442 rushing yards and three runners hitting the century mark in a
dominant victory over defending District 5A-13 DII champion Leander
Glenn. Add in the fact that Hutto’s defense also forced five turnovers
and stymied a solid West Mesquite squad last week, and it’s clear this
Hippo defense isn’t messing around.
“Our defensive line controlling the line of scrimmage was huge and our backers filled really well tonight,” LaPlante said
The
offense, meanwhile, churned out 575 yards at 9.6 yards per play. Senior
running back Mekhi Kimble rumbled for 202 yards and three scores on 16
carries and senior wide receiver Dajon Harrison added an 88-yard
touchdown run to give the Hippos 352 yards on the ground.
“Our
offensive line going against the defensive line every day in practice,
they’re getting better every single day, so now they’re starting to gain
confidence against other opponents,” LaPlante said. “You saw the
confidence with the offensive line, and then Mekhi just wiggles, he
finds the holes, he makes good reads and he always makes something out
of nothing, or something bigger than what it should be because he always
keeps his feet moving.”
Hutto
kept Liberty Hill in it until halftime with four turnovers. One of
those was a fumble forced by senior cornerback Matthew Montes that got
recovered and returned for a touchdown by senior defensive lineman
Hadley Weems to make it 14-14. But the Hippos cleaned it up in the
second half and ran away with the win.
“That’s
just our kids. We play the next play. We had a pregame speech all about
power,” LaPlante said. “Well, power is we’re always going to forget if
it’s good or bad and go on to the next thing at hand. So our guys did a
great job at that.”