Hubbard storms back to top Shepard

Updated: September 3, 2011 1:52AM

It took a month of practice and about six quarters of football, but Hubbard is finally looking like the team coach Elton Harris envisioned.

Down 13-0 late in the first half, the Greyhounds scored 35 consecutive points en route to a 35-19 nonconference victory over Shepard Friday night in Palos Heights.

Harris was livid on the Greyhounds sideline in the first half as the team struggled with penalties and substitutions; at one point he had to call a time out because there were only 10 players on the field. Harris said the team’s youth, which includes three freshmen starters, can get the better of them.

“They just got out of eighth grade,” he said.

The Astros (1-1) scored on a pair of field goals by Tommy Eyer and a 24-yard run by Cortez Miller to post an early lead.

Listless for most of the first half, the Hubbard offense awakened on a 92-yard TD pass from Quincy Skanes to Ricky Backstrom with 3:44 left in second quarter. Prior to that play, the Greyhounds had only 46 yards of offense.

“We were kind of flat,” Harris said. “We got to suck it up and play better football.”

In the second half, Hubbard (1-1) benefited from a failed fourth down attempt by Shepard that gave the Greyhounds possession at the Astros’ 31-yard-line. A pair of personal foul penalties on Shepard set up the first of two 3-yard TD runs by Anthony Johnson (20 carries, 98 yards).

Up by eight points in the fourth quarter, Hubbard went on a seven-play, 54-yard scoring drive that was capped by a 9-yard run by Skanes to put his team ahead 28-13 with 5:33 left in the game.

Skanes then put the game out of reach on a 5-yard scamper to put the Greyhounds ahead 35-13 with 2:12 left. The Astros scored with 26 seconds left on a 23-yard pass from Steve Martinez to Londell Lee.

Skanes completed three of his 11 passes for 116 yards; Hubbard did not attempt a pass in the second half.

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