By Ryan Atkinson
Globe Sports Writer
JOPLIN, Mo. —
Don’t think that a 42-14 season-opening win over the McAuley Warriors didn’t mean the world for the Pleasant Hope Pirates.
“It’s huge,” Pleasant Hope coach Scott Reeves said. “The monkey is off our back.”
The primate Reeves referred to was a nagging 33-game losing streak that stretched back to 2006. It was snapped Friday at Fred G. Hughes Stadium thanks to a dominating senior-led offensive line — nicknamed the Hogs — that paved the way to 357 rushing yards.
“They’re seniors and they’ve been through hell,” Reeves said, choking up. “They’ve all started since they were freshmen and sophomores and I’ve pushed them and pushed them ... if it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t have won this game. Those guys are the heart and soul of our team.”
Benefiting most from that line was sophomore Collin Sigrest, who rushed 18 times for 144 yards and a touchdown. David Abrudan, a bruising 290-pound senior, rushed 11 times for 91 yards and two scores while freshman Jacob Gettle had 81 yards and two scores.
In all, the Pirates averaged 6.7 yards per carry.
“Our line of scrimmage had to be the key and they pushed us wherever they wanted us and opened up holes,” McAuley coach Chuck Williams said. “We decided we just wanted to hit instead of wrap up and tackle and we didn’t do a very good job.”
The Warriors had just 25 yards of offense in the first half, coughed up two turnovers and saw a punt ricochet off their own player and out of the end zone for a safety — yet they still trailed just 15-6 at halftime.
But Pleasant Hope forced two more turnovers on McAuley’s first two possessions of the second half and turned both into three-play touchdown drives to take control.
“We talked about that at halftime, how we have to come out and run the football and take care of the football,” Reeves said. “We gave them a couple scores on some fumbles and throwing it into the end zone .... but we really talked about finishing the game and our kids responded.”
The Pirates built a 15-0 lead with the safety and touchdown runs from Gettle and Abrudan before McAuley found the end zone with a bit of luck.
A Mitch Wear pass was intercepted by Pleasant Hope at the 3-yard line, but the ball was fumbled into the end zone, where freshman Cole Lowry pounced on it to cut the Pirate lead to 15-6.
The Warriors opened the second half with the ball and marched inside the Pirate 40 thanks to Wear’s 24-yard pass to Ben Street, but Gettle intercepted Wear and returned 43 yards, setting up a short scoring drive.
A fumble on McAuley’s next possession led to another touchdown and the Pirates were rolling.
“Pleasant Hope came out and wanted to win and we didn’t,” Williams said. “They were one of the first ones to call us last year when we were scheduling, because of our record. They thought they had a chance, came out fought and played harder than we did and they wanted it more than we did.”
The Warriors finished with just 9 yards on the ground, but Wear, making his first start, found some success through the air. He finished 11-of-24 for 158 yards and a touchdown — a dandy scramble and 34-yard heave to freshman Greg Carney — but he was picked off three times.
“We did a little bit right, but not very much,” Williams said. “Hopefully we can look at film and see ourselves and see what we did wrong and improve on it.”
