Back under the familiar Friday Night Lights for the first time in a little less than a year, the Hercules Titans gave their fans a lot to cheer about and mowed down the visiting Tamalpais Red Tailed Hawks in a commanding 38-17 victory.
“It feels great [to get this first win under our belt],” said Head Coach Gerald Montgomery. “This is the first time we’ve won in Week One in eleven years.”
The Titans gave their fans a steady dose of optimism going forward. Defensively, the Hercules secondary was incredibly solid, breaking up its fair share of passes. It came with its a couple of defensive penalties, but that is an area of their game which will likely improve as the season progresses.
Offensively, the Hercules run game was dominant. The Titans were constantly able to pound the ball inside for yards and much of their offense came from the ground.
“Knowing how hard we worked and knowing what they [Tamalpais] did to us last year, we just wanted to come and get some revenge on them,” said senior Prominence Akubuo-Onwuemeka. “We’ve been looking forward to this throughout the summer.”
Hercules got off to a shaky start, allowing the Tamalpais offense to pick apart the Hercules secondary and strike first on a 32-yard touchdown pass with 8:44 left in the first quarter. After converting the extra point, Tamalpais lead 7-0.
Then, the Hercules offensive locomotive woke up.
After driving down the field, junior Darius Miller was able to punch in a touchdown on a four-yard run with 2:57 left in the 1st. The PAT was blocked, but Hercules was on the board.
Following a defensive stop in the next possession, the Tamalpais special teams unit punted right into the hands of junior Dieontae Malan, who shred through the Tamalpais’s defenders to cruise in for a 50-yard touchdown return with 1:04 left in the 1st. Following the Hercules PAT, they lead 13-7.
Tamalpais took a shot back with a 27-yard field goal with 10:44 remaining in the 2nd, but it didn’t take long to strike back. With 8:36 left in the second quarter, Malan once took matters into his own hands and used the ground attack for a 54-yard rushing touchdown. Hercules went for two, putting them up 21-10.
Hercules took two more shots at the Tamalpais defense before the end of the half to strengthen their lead. Senior Son Phan made it into the end zone by catching a 22-yard pass from Malan with 2:22 left in the half, and junior Thomas Wright snuck his way into the end zone on a 9-yard rush with 19.9 seconds left in the half, bringing the Hercules lead to 35-10.
In the second half, the Hercules defense was able to maintain their strong lead, only giving up a lone touchdown to the Tamalpais offense. On the offensive side of the ball, Akubo-Onwumeka contributed with a strong 30-yard field goal, bringing the Titans to the final score of 38-17.
Hercules will play the San Rafael Bulldawgs next week in San Rafael. The Bulldawgs are currently 0-1 and are coming off of a brutal 38-0 loss at the hands of the Armijo Indians.
“We just gotta keep this momentum going,” said Akubuo-Onwuemeka.