Midgets jump on Shell Lake in season opener

SHELL LAKE, Wis. — Hurley gave Shell Lake a rude welcome to the 2014 football season, shelling the Lakers 52-0 Friday night.

Three Midgets – Nick Fink, Devin Czerneski and Adam Hendricks - had two touchdowns apiece as Hurley piled up 469 yards on the ground. The deep Midgets didn’t have much trouble with Shell Lake’s no-huddle offense, even on a humid night.

“They’re running no-huddle spread all over the place and we had that depth that we could roll through our defensive line to keep some pass rush on them and still shut down the running game (66 yards),” Hurley coach Scot Erickson said. “I’m pretty pleased with how our kids responded. They had to suck air to get their second wind. Nobody was crying about coming out tonight.”

“I just love the depth of this team. I love the interchangeable parts. I love the fact we can keep fresh bodies out there and have no production dropoff whether it’s on offense or defense.”

For the second straight year, Hurley opened with a shutout, with last season’s coming in a 34-0 victory over Boscobel at Wausau West. But this year’s ended better as no one was lost to injury. Jake Colassaco went down with a season-ending injury in the first half of the first game last year.

“It’s a good start for us,” Erickson said. “I think we got some of the things from our scrimmage ironed out, something we can build on coming into next week, playing a good rivalry game (at Ironwood). We saw some kids really step up their performance from the scrimmage to this after a good week of working with them.”

The Midgets forced a punt on Shell Lake’s first possession of the game, but the Lakers’ Dylan Sandwick intercepted a pass in the end zone to stop Hurley. It didn’t look so good at the time, but it was the only time Shell Lake stopped Hurley the entire game.

The Midgets stopped Shell Lake on downs and drove 75 yards in 6 plays, all on the ground. Nick Fink capped it with a two-yard touchdown run. Mitchell Maki’s two-point run made it 8-0.

Hurley sophomore Kris Bluse stripped James Crawford on the ensuing kickoff and Hendricks recovered it at the SL 45. James Sukanen threw it 35 yards to Jake Tenlen for a touchdown on the first play with 3:37 left in the first quarter. Maki’s run made it 16-0.

That gave Hurley 16 points in 21 seconds.

In the second quarter, Hurley went 80 yards in four plays on its first score. Czerneski ran 30 yards for a touchdown and Ronnie Nickel ran in the conversion. Hurley led 24-0.

Shell Lake got as far as the Hurley 10 on the next drive, but Hurley again held on downs.

Hurley went 90 yards in seven plays. Fink scored his second TD of the day, this time a rush from nine yards out. Tenlen had a 36-yard QB keeper during the drive. Maki’s extra point kick made it 31-0.

Maki intercepted a third-down pass, putting Hurley on the SL 48. On the second play of the drive, Czerneski went 34 yards to score his second of the day. Maki’s extra point made it 38-0.

That margin made sure there would be running clock in the second half. So did the start to the half.

On the second play after the break, Hendricks went 51 yards for a touchdown and Maki’s PAT made it 45-0 1:30 into the second half.

Hendricks scored his second touchdown with 6:55 left in the game to cap a six-play, 45-yard drive, running in from 12 yards out. Maki’s fourth PAT of the day made it 52-0.

Hurley’s pass coverage got a good test, as Sean Heckel caught nine passes for 160 yards and the Lakers threw 32 times.

“We kept the defense in there a long time to keep going on our pass coverage, which was pretty good at times. We never let them in,” Erickson said. “They got a couple over our heads, but I like the way the kids rallied to the football and never let them in.”

Maki led Hurley with 126 yards rushing on 7 carries.

Hurley 16 22 7 7 — 52

Shell Lake 0 0 0 0 — 0

First Quarter

Hur – Nick Fink 2 run (Mitchell Maki run), 3:58

Hur – Jake Tenlen 35 pass from James Sukanen (Maki run) , 3:37

Second Quarter

Hur – Devin Czerneski 30 run (Ronnie Nickel run), 10:28

Hur – Fink 9 run (Maki kick), 3:46

Hur – Czerneski 34 run (Maki kick), 1:27

Third Quarter

Hur – Adam Hendricks 51 run (Maki kick), 10:30

Fourth Quarter

Hur – Hendricks 12 run (Maki kick), 6:55

Hur SL

First downs 15 9

Rushes-yards 30-469 25-66

Comp-Att-Int 2-4-1 12-32-2

Passing 44 140

Total yards 513 206

Penalties-yards 3-25 3-40

Individual statistics

RUSHING — Hurley, Mitchell Maki 7-126, Devin Czerneski 5-92, Adam Hendricks 3-68, Jacob Saari 3-54, Jake Tenlen 2-51, Ronnie Nickel 5-42, Nick Fink 4-22, James Sukanen 1-14. Shell Lake, Zachary Melton 10-36, James Crawford 13-34, Sean Heckel 2-minus 4.

PASSING — Hurley, James Sukanen 2-3-44-1, Jake Tenlen, 0-1-0-0. Shell Lake, Zachary Melton, 12-32-140-2.

RECEIVING — Hurley, Jake Tenlen 1-35, Mitchell Mak 1-9. Shell Lake, Sean Heckel 9-160, Trevor Anderson 2-47, Dominic Hopke 1-2.