Published: October 11, 2008 03:21 am         

Bearcats light up Hilltoppers

DANVILLE — Friday night lights took on an additional meaning as the Schlarman Hilltoppers started and ended their 58th annual homecoming game with a fireworks display.

All of the fireworks in the game however would come from the Milford Bearcats, who turned four Hilltopper turnovers into points and blew open a close game in the second quarter to claim a 43-7 victory.

The win moves the Bearcats to 3-4 overall and 2-3 in the Vermilion Valley conference and keeps alive their hopes for their first winning season since 1996.

“Our defense played well and scored and when the defense scores that’s a big momentum swing,” said Bearcats coach Nate Albaugh. “On offense, we were able to throw which we need to do in each game and we moved the ball when we needed to on the ground as well.”

It was a tough night for the Hilltoppers, who were playing without injured starting quarterback Heath Goodwin.

“We were playing a lot of freshman tonight and when you have to do that, you can expect to take some lumps,” said Hilltoppers coach Jay Willaman. “Blake Watson was thrown in at quarterback at the last minute and did an admirable job. Milford is a good football team but we helped them out a lot with the turnovers.”

The Hilltoppers would claim the game’s first turnover when Vinnie Miller intercepted a Trevor Lucht pass at the Schlarman five-yard line.

Following a Hilltopper three and out and a seven-yard punt the Bearcats took over at the Schlarman 39-yard line. Jordan Scherf scampered for 30 yards on the third play of the drive and Kyle Evans scored on the next play from three yards out to put the Bearcats on the board.

“Kyle was going to be a wide out but when I saw how quick his feet were we moved him to back,” Albaugh said. “He has just taken off and is an outstanding player that as a coach you wish you could have a million guys like him.”

The Hilltoppers ran the ball 10 times in the first quarter and only passed twice, but opened the second quarter with a nice gain on a pass from Watson to Steve Kutz.

Watson went back to pass on the next play and fumbled which was picked up and ran in 37 yards for a score by Beau Fitzgerald which, following a two-point conversion, made the score 15-0.

Following an exchange of punts, the Hilltoppers took over at their own 22-yard line but fumbled on the first play.

Lucht hit Ryan Kunce for 15 yards then connected with Kunce again for an 8-yard scoring strike to make the score 22-0.

It would be essentially an instant replay as the Hilltoppers took over at about the same place on the field and again fumbled on their first play from scrimmage.

Lucht hit Anthony Stebbins on the Bearcats’ first play and the score was quickly 29-0.

“We have some good receivers on this team,” Albaugh said. Ryan Kunce isn’t a secret at this point of the season but Scherf and Firtzgerald are also good and I was very happy for Anthony to get a score.

“It took a week or two to see what Trevor Lucht was capable of but he is playing well in spite of not being 100 percent and is a leader on the team.”

Kunce would return a Watson interception 55 yards with 40 seconds left in the half, sending the Bearcats to the intermission up 36-0.

Lucht would connect with Kunce on a 25-yard pass, setting up Evans second touchdown of the game a nine-yard dash that put the Bearcats up 43-0 midway through the third.

The game would remain scoreless for Schlarman until early in the fourth quarter when Mallory Lamkin had one of the highlights of the year for the Hilltoppers, dashing 90 yards for a touchdown and the final points of the game.

“I thought our defense played well for a quarter plus but the turnovers got us down, Willaman said. We will regroup and come back to play next Friday.”

Next up for Schlarman (1-6, 1-4 VVC) is a road game against undefeated Salt Fork.

For the Bearcats, the game was another step forward in a competitive season.

“We have competed with everyone this year,” Albaugh said. “We have had two one-point losses that were heartbreaking, but you deal with it and move on and tonight we played good football. When you face a team that is struggling you have to take advantage of opportunities and we did.”

“We played well,” Lucht said. Now we have to get ready for next week.”

Next up for the Bearcats is a home game against Oakwood/Armstrong-Potomac.