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Football: Hubbard takes down Richards
It was a matchup of two teams that, in recent years, have been plagued with second-round hexes, and in the end, it was Richards that was unable to break its spell.
Hubbard punched its ticket to the quarterfinals of the Class 6A state playoffs with a 29-13 victory Saturday at Korhonen Field in Oak Lawn. It was the third year in a row the Bulldogs have suffered a second-round exit.
Senior quarterback Quincy Skanes did most of the damage for the Greyhounds (9-2), who exorcised their own Round 2 woes with the win. Skanes toted the pigskin 18 times for 116 yards, rushing for three touchdowns on the night.
“When we came out today, we had executed all week about our run plays,” Skanes said. “We really just wanted to be focused on offense and really sound on defense.”
The Greyhounds came into Saturday’s clash having been ousted in the second round four of the last five years, and had not reached the quarterfinals since 2005. They benefitted from a pair of Richards fumbles, including one inside the Hubbard 10 yard line.
“Offensively, we were doing what we wanted, but we were shooting ourselves in the foot with the turnovers,” Richards coach Tony Sheehan said. “That killed us all year. Like I said last week, we can’t turn the ball over and win, especially against good teams. And that’s what happened.”
Skanes got the scoring started, galloping for a 39 yard touchdown on a QB keeper on the game’s first possession. Anthony Johnson added a four yard run and Skanes tacked on a 1 yarder to give the Greyhounds a 19-0 halftime lead.
Marcus Smith (21 carries 170 yards) scored from 2 yards out to put the Bulldogs (6-5) on the board. Hubbard responded with Skanes’ third touchdown. Javier Guzman added a 33 yard field goal for the Greyhounds, who move on to face top seeded Lemont next week.
“It feels good. I’ve been starting since I was a freshman and I’ve never made it to the quarterfinals,” Skanes said. “So hopefully I got to get my team to get this one out of their head, and we’ve got another game. And we’ve got to keep on moving forward one game at a time.”
Tommy Mister’s 9 yard TD on a quarterback scramble capped the scoring for Richards.
“We did a lot of good things, and we did some bad things, and we’ve got to take this as a learning experience,” Sheehan said. “We’ve got a lot of young kids, so hopefully we take this and work hard in the offseason and get after it next year.”
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