The Hermon Hawks gave their fans plenty to celebrate at Friday night’s homecoming game.
Hermon jumped out to an early lead over visiting Skowhegan and never let up on the way to a 38-14 win. Despite playing up a level against the Class B River Hawks, Class C Hermon demonstrated throughout the contest why they remain a perfect 5-0 so far this season.
Junior quarterback Ethan Curtis threw a long pass to junior wide receiver Owen Lang, who looked ready to put Hermon on the board quickly after a few nifty moves with the ball. But just as Lang was about to head into the endzone for a 38-yard score, a Skowhegan defender forced a fumble at the goal line.
Luckily for Hermon, junior wide receiver Conner McAlpine was there to pounce on the ball for a touchdown recovery.
And McAlpine wasn’t done there. He would get his team the ball back on the very next play.
On the ensuing kickoff, McAlpine raced down the field and beat the Skowhegan receivers to the kick, giving possession right back to Hermon deep in Skowhegan territory.
Curtis proceeded to throw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Lang, and Hermon went up 15-0 after a two-point conversion.
It was almost all Hermon from then on. Curtis connected with sophomore back Griffon Dunton for a 53-yard touchdown. Then back Sam Hopkins took another Curtis pass 68-yards in for another score.
Skowhegan’s Blake Kenyon showed the first sign of life for the River Hawks with a long kick return to the Hermon 23-yard-line, and quarterback Austin Lancaster then threw a touchdown to wide receiver Trevor Austin to get Skowhegan on the board.
But Hermon got right back to it, with Curtis throwing another touchdown pass to Dunton to head into half time with a 35-7 lead.
The Hawks added a field goal in the second half, and Skowhegan got one more touchdown on a long pass to Austin.
Hermon finished with a 38-14 win.
