Hampshire’s second-half avalanche of rushing excellence propelled the Whip-Purs (1-1) to a commanding 42-14 victory over the host Tigers (0-2) on Friday night at Crystal Lake Central. 

With the score tied at 7 at halftime, Whip-Purs coach Shane Haak looked to juniors Tymere Marshall and Jacob Ostrowski to handle the heavy lifting.

The pair traded carrying responsibilities, and Ostrowski capped the half’s opening drive with a 7-yard touchdown run to break the tie. On the Whips’ subsequent possession, Ostrowski again scored, this time on a 1-yard rush.

“It feels great to come together as a team and catch a dub,” Ostrowski said as the Whips snapped a nine-game losing streak.

The Whips also received second half scores on Carter Hintz’s pick-6 and rushing touchdowns from Marshall and Knox Homola.  

Hampshire coach Shane Haak was pleased with his team’s improvement in the second half. “I thought we did a better job focusing on just one play at a time, one series at a time, and executing what we’re able to do, and I think that allowed us to get a few more points on the board,” he said. 

In his first varsity start, Tigers quarterback Evan McMahon completed seven passes for 65 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown reception to Kiran Pokharel in the 2nd quarter. McMahon also rushed for the Tigers’ other score, a 9-yard touchdown in the 3rd quarter. 

He had high praises for his teammates in his postgame interview.

“It’s all about the line. Those two scores, they really dug deep, and they really showed what linemen have an effect on during the game. We had a screen for my passing touchdown to Kiran, and all our linemen had great blocking and did exactly what they were supposed to,” he said. 

Central first-year coach Matt MacCrindle saw some positives early in the game from his group.

“We made some steps forward this week. Had a good first half, played tight, had some things go our way, and then we just got ground down a little bit,” he said.

The Tigers defense held the Whips to just a single half score, and it was on the quickest drive of the night. Following Chris Whetstone’s 38-yard punt return, Marshall wasted no time to begin the game’s scoring with a 20-yard TD. Marshall (15 carries, 2 TDs, 173 yards) built on his 166 yard, one-touchdown performance in Week 1.

“Everything went well,” Marshall commented. “Our defense played their game, my offense played their game and moved the ball physically, and we powered up.”