Hall scores 26 points in second half, beats IVC

SPRING VALLEY – Nothing went right for Hall-Putnam County team early in its nonconference game against Illinois Valley Central on Friday.

A new look on defense didn’t pan out for the Red Devils and their bread-and-butter running plays up the middle weren’t working.

Hall found itself down 16 points after the first quarter against the winless Grey Ghosts.

But the Red Devils switched back to their base defense, started running to the outside while mixing in the passing attack and scored 26 points in the second quarter on the way to a 32-24 homecoming victory.

“I was happy after we got down 16-0; the kids didn’t hang their heads,” Hall coach Randy Tieman said. “They could have quit at that point, but they rattled off 32 straight and put us in a position to win. The defense came out well in the second half.”

The Red Devils began the game in a three-man front on defense, but the Grey Ghosts managed to score on their first two drives.

IVC overcame four penalties on its first drive to score on a 17-yard run by Mason Marchand.

After Hall went three-and-out, the Grey Ghosts went 72 yards on nine plays, overcoming three penalties on the drive, and scored on a 40-yard screen pass from Bryce Ratcliff to Griffin Goines with 2:45 left in the first quarter.

Hall allowed 130 yards and two touchdowns on IVC’s first two drives, but gave up 191 yards and one TD – on a 50-yard pass from Ratcliff to Ryan Adler with 1:30 left in the third quarter – in the final three quarters.

“We switched to a 4-3 instead of a 3-4,” Hall lineman Joel Koch said. “We added another lineman, which allowed us ends to come outside. That’s what we’ve been doing all year. We switched up for this game [to the 3-4]. We just had to go back to our basics.”

The Red Devils got their offense going on their second drive after managing just three yards on their first possession.

Hall drove 68 yards on 11 plays, capping the drive with a 1-yard TD run by Braden Curran.

The key play of the drive came when quarterback Gianni Guerrini hit Curran for a 51-yard pass to the IVC 5-yard line on second-and-20.

Following the score, Hall’s DeAnthony Weatherspoon kicked it short down the sideline, and Curran recovered, giving the Red Devils possession at the IVC 37.

Five plays later, Aiden Redcliff scored on a 3-yard run.

“That brought us up,” Curran said about the kick recovery and quick TD. “That was a great kick by DeAnthony. We worked on that in practice, and he executed perfectly. It was a huge turn [in momentum].”

The Red Devils kept the momentum going on IVC’s ensuing possession when Tristan Redcliff intercepted a pass and returned it 57 yards for a touchdown to give Hall the lead for good at 19-16 with 4:27 left in the first half.

Hall added one more score in the first half when Guerrini tossed a 28-yard TD pass to Curran streaking down the middle with 11 seconds left in the second quarter on fourth-and-10.

“It came from upstairs that the middle was wide open, so we hit a couple there,” Tieman said. “We called the play with Braden running straight up the middle out of the backfield and it was open. There was nobody there, and we picked up that touchdown.”

The Red Devils extended their lead to 32-16 when Joseph Bacidore scored on a 1-yard run with 3:35 left in the third. IVC responded quickly with the 50-yard TD pass 2:05 later.

Hall stopped IVC on fourth down on the Grey Ghosts’ last two drives of the game.

Koch had two sacks on IVC’s first drive of the fourth quarter and recorded a sack on fourth-and-20 with 2 1/2 minutes left.

“I finally got a holding call and they finally stopped holding,” Koch said about his three fourth-quarter sacks. “I started hitting the kid instead of trying to go around him and being faster because he was a lot smaller than I am. I started using my weight and power instead of just my speed.”

The Red Devils finished with 289 total yards (175 rushing, 114 passing). Curran rushed for 118 yards and a TD and caught two passes for 79 yards and a TD. Guerrini completed 4 of 9 passes for 114 yards and a TD, and ran for 25 yards.