The Crusaders returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and connected on two big touchdown passes against the Big Blue, who will be hoping to cut down on such game-changing plays on Friday when playing the Firebirds at Fairmont on Friday at 7 p.m.
RELATED: Middletown-Springboro preview
“We’re still a little bitter about last Saturday night,” Murphy said Wednesday morning. “We have good energy and a good attitude. It was disappointing to lose, but we’re looking forward to getting back on track against Fairmont.”
While Hamilton is trying to put behind it a disappointing loss, the Firebirds are trying to put behind them a watershed win. They can improve to 2-0 for the first time since 2004 after racking up their first win over Alter since that same season, holding off the Knights for a 13-12 win on Aug. 24.
“It’s been really tough,” Miller said about dealing with the aftermath of that momentous win in the two teams’ traditional season opener. “People keep wanting to talk about it. As long as the kids understand that they have business they need to attend to, we’ll be OK. It was nice to enjoy that, especially to go to school the next day and enjoy it, but there was so much hype. We need to move on. Not everyone else has, but we need to move on.”
Hamilton pulled out a 35-28 win over Fairmont last season on the way to finishing 5-5. Fairmont possessed the ball for almost twice as long as the Big Blue in that game, and Murphy expects the Firebirds to stick to that game plan behind their triple option-oriented offense.
Fairmont threw one pass against Alter, completing it for 1 yard, but three different players — junior quarterback Braden Miller, junior fullback-linebacker Jesse Deglow and senior halfback David Stamer — each gained more than 50 yards rushing. Senior running back Herbert Burroughs scored the game-winning touchdown on an 8-yard run with 25 seconds left in the third quarter.
“We know they’re going to play hard,” Murphy said. “They’ll get after it with their offensive line coming off the ball. They’re coming off a huge win, but I’m sure they’ll do a great job. They’re a disciplined football team.
“They’ll try to keep it out of our hands — run, run, run. It’s 3 yards and a cloud of dust. As far as the option goes, it’s similar to what we’ll see from Colerain and Lakota East. As far as playing hard, they’re very similar to Lakota East. They’re going to run the football and play hard. They’re kind of Lakota East-ish, I’d say.”
RELATED: Fairfield-Northmont preview
Hamilton’s big-play capability is what concerns Miller. The Big Blue offense is led by sophomore quarterback Khaliyal Sowell, whose two interceptions were among three HHS turnovers against Moeller. He also scored Hamilton’s only touchdown on a 6-yard run in the third quarter. Senior running back Maleek Jarrett gained 77 yards on 14 carries.
“We went down and watched it,” Miller said. “We knew they had some kids coming back, and they’re loaded athletically with their lines on both sides of the ball. They’ve got some big, physical kids. Their quarterback and running back are extremely good runners. Their quarterback can do a lot of things that can hurt you, and they have a couple of nice receivers who are physical.
“Moeller returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and had two big bombs. Those are very fixable things. It was a 7-7 ballgame in the second half, and it was impressive to watch them go right down the field on the Moeller defense.”
RELATED: Edgewood-Franklin preview
Miller expects that close shave with Alter will help keep his Firebirds focused.
“One thing is that game could’ve gone either way,” he said. “When they missed that last field goal with a minute-and-a-half to go, we knew we were fortunate to get out with a win. I think what we took away from it is we made a lot of mistakes that we need to correct, but we were able to fight through adversity. We did a good job. I think we’re a mentally tougher football team, and that’s something to build on.
“Overall, all of our kids performed pretty well. Nobody really surprised me.”
Fairmont and Hamilton both go into the game relatively healthy.
“No new injuries,” Murphy reported. “We’re healthy. Everything but our pride is intact.”
Friday’s game
What: Hamilton (0-1) at Fairmont (1-0), 7 p.m.
Where: Roush Stadium, 3775 Shroyer Road, Kettering
Last year: Hamilton won 35-28
About the Author