First half, Madden 10. Second half, Madden 100 meter dash.

It was a tale of two halves Friday night at Dixie’s homecoming. 611 yards of total offense in the first two periods. Other than two turnovers, everyone scored on nearly posession. Finally after the intermission, teams either got tired, defensive coordinators got threatned, or the 5-hour energy bar wore out.

Following  turnovers on both team’s opening posession, Dixie’s John Matuato scored on a one-yard run midway through the first quarter. Hurricane countered very quickly as Jacob Pugh spun, scooted and sprinted his way on his first touch of the game, scoring a 25-yard TD to knot the game at 7-7.

Following a Dixie field goal by Austin Barker, and then a remarkable 93-yard scamper by Flyer QB Mike Sharp, Hurricane junior Jarom Healey checked in and then checked out the endzone. Three times in the second period, Healey found paydirt, scoring on runs of 31, 5 and 4 on a powerful display of speed and power as Hurricane erased a 10-point deficit and turned it into a 28-24 halftime lead.

Sharp had 198 yards rushing in the first half alone and the Flyers chalked up 375 yards, but Dixie had just three first downs in the final two periods. Hurricane scored one touchdown in each of the final two periods, one by junior Robert Reeve and the fourth TD by Healey.

With the win, Hurricane wins their Region 9 opener and moves to 3-1 on the year, winning the last three games. Dixie, still trying to establish themselves, drops to 1-3 and is in dire need of pulling off some W’s to keep alive in the Region 9 season and have any sniff at the playoffs.

Picture courtesty of the Spectrum