Bird on bird crime: Hawks grounded in opener

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

If there was any game film from last year’s matchup, it would have been torched a long time ago.
The last time the Holy Cross Collegiate Hawks took on the J.C. Charyk Hawks from Hanna, it was all kinds of ugly. The scorekeepers shut the scoreboard off once Hanna got up by 35 points. The final score ended up 77-13.
“Even if we had film of that last meeting, I don’t know how much of it we could have used or could stand to watch,” said HCC head coach Michael Annicchiarico.
In HCC’s home opener, kicking off the second season of football, HCC hosted a J.C. Charyk squad that more than tripled their roster size.
Despite coming in as underdogs, HCC was an interception away from making it a one-score game late, but fell in the end 36-24 Sept. 22 at Holy Cross Collegiate field.
“I heard about how bad they lost last year, but I also heard that they had a couple Grade 12s graduate, so I figured we had a pretty good chance,” said wide receiver Ryan Orford. “I thought we played good enough in the first half to give ourselves a chance in the second half, and we nearly pulled it off.”
With the game seemingly out of hand, Tanner Hollingsworth marched HCC down the field and was standing on the six-yard line, looking to make it a one score game. On the snap, he rolled right to throw, but for the second time that afternoon, his pass fell into the arms of corner back Riley Hoffman.
If the pass would have fallen into the hands of Jordan Kowbel, and HCC converts the kick, it would have made it a four-point game with less than 30 seconds on the game clock. Meaningless in the end, but it could have sent shockwaves around the Alberta 6 Man League, seeing HCC nearly knock off J.C. Charyk, who finished 6-2 last season.
For J.C., it was their second game of the year. The week prior, they smoked the Provost Public School Panthers 50-22. HCC’s home opener was cancelled after the Central High Sedgewick Public School Rams dropped out of the league, extending the Hawks training camp by another week.
“We took that extra week to run through a lot more sets, get guys some work in different positions and made the best of it,” said Annicchiarico. “I thought the work we put in showed up here today.”
HCC started slowly and trailed 15-0 after the first quarter, as their offence took a couple drives to warm up in the chilling weather.
Touchdown machine Jayden Hendricks ripped off a 66-yard touchdown run, high-stepping a pair of tackles along the left sideline. It was his first of two touchdowns on the afternoon.
HCC’s defence tightened up in the second half, only allowing 13 points. HCC elected to give up a safety deep in their own zone on third and long, preventing an easy J.C. Charyk score.
Hanna’s left-handed quarterback loved to scramble on second down, and was often chased down or forced to exit the pocket and any plausible down-the-field options.
“Coach (Josh) Jalbert has done a great job with our defence this year,” said Annicchiarico. “Last year, we were scared to hit guys at times, but we have more confidence now and all the work he has done with their fundamentals is really paying off.”
HCC will look to build off their impressive opener Oct. 5 when they take on the Heritage Christian Academy Hawks in Calgary. Their next home game will take place Oct. 12, when they host the defending provincial champion St. Joseph’s Collegiate Crusaders.