Hawks can’t handle A-C’s offense, fall in Section 5 opener

By mikedragosports Last updated Sep 16, 2023

2023 Berks football coverage presented by

Utilities Employees Credit Union

By Mike Mitchell Jr. — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent

Hamburg coach Matt Hoffert tried to send a message to his team all week long in preparation for its Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 5 opener Friday with visiting Annville-Cleona.

“I told the team all week, if we don’t play our best game, this team will beat you,” said the second-year coach.

Unfortunately for Hoffert and his young team, they did not play their best in the 28-7 loss to the Dutchmen (2-2). In fact, they may have played one of their worst games in Hoffert’s two-year tenure.

Hamburg came in averaging 401 yards per game on offense while scoring 44 points per game in their first three contests.

The Hawks (3-1) looked nothing like the team that ran a Madden-video-game-type offense the first three weeks. On the offensive side of the ball there were misfires to wide open receivers, dropped passes and missed blocking assignments up front.

Quarterback Tyler Shuey came in averaging 335 yards passing in his first three games as the Hawks’ quarterback. Annville-Cleona’s defensive backs blanketed the Hawks receivers for a good portion of the game, while misfires and drops hurt Hamburg when receivers were open.

Shuey was also under a great deal of duress from a scrappy Dutchmen defensive front. Shuey finished the night completing 17-of-37 passes for 194 yards with one touchdown and one interception. To make matters worse for the Hawks, they only managed 38 yards on the ground.

Things were even worse for the Hawks on the defensive side of the ball. Annville-Cleona runs a very disciplined Triple Option offense. They dominated the Hawks up front and rushed for 270 yards. Running backs Bryce Keller and Cael Harter combined for 187 rushing yards.

Quarterback Cameron Connelly added 70 yards on the ground. The potent rushing attack allowed the Dutchmen to control the ball and the clock. In the second half, Annville-Cleona possessed the ball for 18:39 to Hamburg’s 5:21.

The Dutchmen also hurt the Hawks through the air. Quarterback Cameron Connelly completed just three passes on five attempts, but they were all big yardage plays (32, 31, and 31 yards).

“That is a very, very well-coached team,” said Hoffert. “When you play an offense like that you have to be assignment-perfect on defense. It seemed like every time we needed a big stop tonight, we blew an assignment which led to a big play, or a key first down.

“They had the ball a lot tonight. Give them a ton of credit, but some of it was on us not doing what we were supposed to do on a consistent basis.”

The Hawks will look to bounce back and get their first league win vs. Kutztown next week.

“I tell the kids that every week our goal is to be 1-0,” said Hoffert. “We need to show up on Monday, correct mistakes, and commit to doing what we are supposed to do all the time, not most of the time.”

	1	2	3	4	Final
Annville-Cleona	0	14	7	7	28
Hamburg	0	7	0	0	7

Scoring summary

2	Annville-Cleona	Harter, 31 pass from Connelly (Elzek kick)	5:23
2	Annville-Cleona	Harter, 5 run (Elzek kick)	1:18
2	Hamburg	Werley, 18 pass from Shuey (Blatt kick)	0:18
3	Annville-Cleona	Connelly, 3 run (Elzek kick)	6:06
4	Annville-Cleona	Keller, 6 run (Elzek kick)	11:56

Team statistics

	Annville-Cleona	Hamburg
First downs	20	14
Rushes-yards	66-270	16-38
Passing yards	94	194
Total yards	364	232
Passes	3-5-0	17-37-1
Fumbles-lost	0-0	0-0
Punts-average	0-0	1-32
Penalties-yards	4-40	7-55

Individual statistics

RUSHING

Annville-Cleona: Harter 17-95, Keller 25-92, Connelly 19-70, Shay 5-13.

Hamburg: Shuey 9-22, Ernst 7-16.

PASSING

Annville-Cleona: Connelly 3-5-0–94.

Hamburg: Shuey 17-37-1–194.

RECEIVING

Annville-Cleona: Shay 2-63, Harter 1-31.

Hamburg: Werley 8-56, Correll 4-66, Semmel 3-29, Ernst 1-34, Oviedo 1-9.

INTERCEPTIONS

Annville-Cleona: Harter.