HAMILTON TWP. — Although Hamilton West did manage to score for the first time in four years, it was just more of the recent same for the Steinert High football team against its cross-township rival on Thursday.
In a game played in front of the usual large Thanksgiving Day crowd on the Hornets’ field, the numbers completely tell the story of Steinert’s dominance as it pulled away for a 28-3 victory over Hamilton.
It was the fourth time in a row Steinert beat Hamilton as the Spartans completed an excellent break-out 8-3 season. During that span, Steinert has now outscored Hamilton by a staggering margin of 94-3.
The game statistics were equally revealing. Hamilton was held to less than 100 total yards by the swarming Steinert defense.
Before departing the game early in the fourth quarter, star Hamilton running back Brian Boswell was limited to 59 yards on 14 carries. Hamilton was equally ineffective through the air as it completed just seven of 22 passes for 25 yards.
Although it did take a while for Steinert to get going, it was able to burn the Hornets with both its passing and running game.
Steinert’s sophomore quarterback John Logorda had an excellent day with 11 completions in 16 attempts and 193 passing yards. One of those passes was a 67-yard hook up with Dom DeFrancis that opened the scoring in the second quarter.
Speedy Steinert senior running back Isaac Pate also finished up in in style with 129 rushing yards and two touchdowns. His stellar final career stats were a very impressive 3,323 yards and 32 touchdowns.
Prior to the 67th game in this series, there was the thought this might be a competitive contest because both teams had winning records for the first time since 2012. For a while this proved to the case as Hamilton’s strong defense held its own and kept the Hornets in the game until the second half.
Following a scoreless first quarter, Steinert got on the board on the game-winning 67-yard pass from Logorda to DeFrancis. A touchdown pass of this length might suggest it was on a bomb, but it was actually on a very short quick pass over the middle that was set up by play action. DeFrancis did the rest by out running the Hamilton secondary for his third TD reception of the year.
“We just put that play in last week or this week,” said DeFrancis. “I’m not sure if it was a corner back or linebacker, but somebody bit (on the play action) and left me wide open. John threw a perfect pass to me and I just ran as fast as I could. It was a great play design.”
DeFrancis also excelled on defense with several pass breakups while raising his tackle total to nearly 100 on the year. For his efforts, he was named the winner of the Rich Fornaro game MVP award.
Hamilton finally scored against Steinert for the first time in nearly 14 quarters when Grady Shaffer kicked a 35-yard field goal with 31 seconds remaining in the first half.
Truth be told, the main the reason the Hornets were able to score is because they took over at the Steinert 19 yard line after Daniel Figueroa partially blocked a punt. But with great field position what Hamilton really needed was a touchdown. Instead, three plays netted only one yard and it was forced to settle for what proved to be a meaningless three points.
The second half was no contest, starting with a short drive by Steinert to open the third quarter following a 34-yard kickoff return by Matt James. Bruising Gabe Pena Bak then put his team ahead, 14-3, when he scored untouched on a 1-yard run.
Logorda continued to throw the ball with accuracy in the fourth quarter, which turned into the Pate show with touchdown runs of 12 and 17 yards.
“In the first half we kind of shot ourselves in the foot,” said Steinert coach Thaddeus Richards. “We added that play (the pass to DeFrancis) this week. Hamilton has a strong aggressive defense and it worked because the linebacker bit. That play got us going and into our rhythm.”
While Steinert’s offense didn’t kick it into high gear until the second half, its defense was in fine form from start to finish. In addition to DeFrancis, cornerback Isaiah Pate and linebacker Anthony Moreen were among the many Spartan defensive standouts.
Hamilton finished the year with a record of 5-5. As for Steinert, it won eight games and with a lot of key players returning the fun might have just begun.
“We will have a lot players back,” agreed DeFrancis. “Next year we want to do even better.”
Steinert (8-3) 0 7 7 14 — 28
Hamilton (5-5) 0 3 0 0 — 3
Second Quarter
S- DeFrancis 67 pass from Logorda (James kick)
HW- Shaffer 35 field goal
Third Quarter
S- Pena Bak 1 run (James kick)
Fourth Quarter
S- Isaac Pate 12 run (James kick)
S- Isaac Pate 17 run (James kick)
