Mills rushes for 190 yards and five touchdowns

OROVILLE – The Oroville Hornets wasted no time in defeating the Liberty Bell Mountain Lions in a one-sided home field game last Friday, finishing the night 61-12.

“The kids played really good the first half and I thought Liberty Bell boys tried hard; they’re just young and we have experience on them. Liberty Bell seemed to have played well against Brewster.” said Coach Tam Hutchinson about the lopsided score.

Oroville’s Caleb Mills ran for a 63-yard touchdown to start things off with just a few minutes off the clock in the first quarter. With a two point conversion pass from QB Nathan Hugus to Andrew Mieirs the game was 8-0 for the Hornets.

“Caleb ran the ball well,” said Hutchinson, who adds that his team has some things to work on before they are ready for Brewster this week.

Liberty Bell came back for a touchdown of their own with a two-yard run to put six on the scoreboard. However, Liberty Bell’s attempt at a two-point conversion didn’t have the success Oroville’s did, leaving the score 8-6 with 6:45 left in the quarter. This was the last time the Mountain Lions were to score in the first half.

Running Back Mills ran for 34 yards for the Hornet’s next touchdown, but the two-point conversion run by RB Jerry Milholland was unsuccessful. The score was now 14-6 with 5:57 left in the first quarter.

Hugus teamed up with RB Mieirs on another successful pass completion for 17 yards and a touchdown. Hugus ran in the two-point conversion and it was 22-6 with 3:35 to go in the first quarter, but the Hornets weren’t done yet.

With just one second left in the quarter Hugus completed a pass to Seth Miller for 18 yards and another touchdown. Andrew Mieirs attempted to follow up with the points after kick, but it was blocked by the Liberty Bell defense. The score stood at 26 to 6.

A few scant seconds into the second quarter and Mills ran for 25 yards putting another six points on the board. The TD was followed by a kick by Mieirs, but it went astray and the Hornets lead was 34-6.

It was again the Mills show with a run for 28 yards and his fourth touchdown. He then ran in the two-point conversion and the Hornets lead grew to 42-6.

Next it was Seth Miller’s turn, he ran in a 54-yard touchdown, followed by a two-point conversion pass from Hugus to Mieirs for a score of 50-6.

Mills had one more touchdown in him that night and ran 23 yards to score it. The two-point conversion on a pass from Hugus to Milholland was unsuccessful, but the lead was now 56-6.

Hugus ran in a 28 yard touchdown in the last 10 seconds of the second quarter. Kicker Mieirs got his groove back to end the half with a successful point after kick and Oroville headed to the locker rooms with a 63-6 lead.

In the second half, with more than a 40 point lead, the running clock rule kicked in. Oroville’s coach Tam Hutchinson gave some of the other players time on the gridiron while the clock continued to run.

“We had fun and got to play everybody in the second half working in the kids that don’t normally get a lot of playing time,” said the coach.

Liberty Bell was able to score for only the second time of the game on a 21-yard pass from quarterback Tanner White, but their two-point conversion fell flat, leaving the final score at 63-12.

The yardage stats tell the story, while Liberty Bell and Oroville were nearly even on the number of plays, 41 for LB and 44 for Oroville, the Mountain Lions only moved the ball 137 yards compared to the Hornets 455. Liberty Bell also only had three completions on seven pass attempts, compared to Oroville which went to the air more often, completing seven out of 13 attempts. Hugus completed passes that night for a total of 100 yards gained and two touchdowns

Much of LB’s ball movement came from penalties, with Oroville having seven which gave the Mountain Lions 65 yards. Liberty Bell had four penalties handing Oroville 30 yards.

The Mountain Lions had three fumbles in which they failed to recover the ball to Oroville’s two and while LB threw two interceptions the Hornets threw none that night.

Mills led the night rushing seven times for 190 yards averaging 21.1 yards per carry. Hugus rushed five times for 62 yards, averaging 12.4 per carry and Miller rushed three times for 62 yards, averaging 20.7 yards per carry. Godwin made 29 rushing yards, Kris Flowers, 13; Milholland, four and Delgado, three. Miller returned one punt for 33 yards and Spears returned two kickoffs for a total of 61 yards.

For the defense, Godwin had 6.5 tackles, Mills, 6; Hugus, 4.5; David Iniguez, 4; Stetson Spears, 3.5; Milholland, 2.5; Kris Flowers, Zane Scott, and Jaxon Blackler had two apiece; Miller, Matthew Malcolm and Michael Juarez, had 1.5 each and Aldo Perez, Paul Graf and Klinton Flowers, 1 each.

The Hornet’s next play on Friday, Sept. 16 against Brewster on the Bear’s home turf. Game time is 7 p.m.

Mills rushes for 190 yards and five touchdowns

The Hornet’s Zane Scott recovers a Liberty Bell fumble to turn the ball back over to the Hornets on in their own territory.