Hawken holds off Howland in OT
Hawken holds off Howland in OT
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HOWLAND -- Howland's best season in 10 years came to an end on Friday night.
Trailing by 11 at halftime, the Tigers battled back in the second half by scoring three straight touchdowns. Howland had a chance to win it at the end of regulation, but missed a 25-yard field goal.
The Tigers then failed to score on their possession in overtime, falling to Gates Mills Hawken 36-29 in the opening round of the Division III, Region 9, playoffs at Lombardo Field.
"It's an emotional locker room. Obviously anybody who's a competitor or been in our locker room, you know it hurts. So it's hard to describe the feeling right now," Howland head coach Brian Jones said. "But my feeling is that I'm so proud of this team, and most importantly, the 13 seniors that helped rebuild where we're heading and where we're going. There's a lot of hurt guys in there, but they're going to lift their heads high because they have a lot to be proud of."
That senior class won three total games in their first three years combined. But this year, the Tigers rallied around that group to finish 8-3, which included Howland's first earned playoff appearance since 2016, excluding the 2020 playoffs in which all teams participated because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Tigers' seniors will leave behind a long-lasting legacy with how they turned the program around in their final season.
"They rebuilt this program from the ground up," Jones said. "There's a lot of things that didn't go right for three years, and in this day and age, you can pack up, pack it in and go do something else. But those guys, that group stuck together and had a mission, and they accomplished that mission. There's no question that they left a legacy behind on our program. I think those guys will have memories for years to come and they'll always talk about this 2026."
Against the Hawks, Howland had trouble trying to contain dynamic receiver Charlie Mallett, who seemed to make every play for Hawken whenever it needed one.
Mallett hauled in 15 receptions for more than 230 yards and a touchdown and also had the game-clinching interception on the final play of overtime. Hawks quarterback Tanner Brandt also threw for 346 yards and four touchdowns.
"We knew coming in that [Mallett] was a problem. So your gameplan is really centered around not letting him beat you. There's a couple times tonight where we let him beat us," Jones said. "He's a good football player, and good football players are going to get a lot of targets, especially him. He's got a great frame, 6-foot-4, 190, and he played like it tonight. We got to him, we just weren't able to tackle him. Credit to them, they found ways to get him the ball."
On Hawken's opening drive, Brandt hit Mallett over the top of the Tigers' defense for a 37-yard touchdown.
Howland responded on its ensuing drive with a 21-yard field goal by Frankie Santee, and after a Hawken three-and-out and a Tigers turnover on downs, the Hawks led 7-3 at the end of the opening period.
Both teams had trouble holding onto the ball to start the second quarter. A Mallett fumble was recovered by Howland. But three plays later, Tigers quarterback Darren Douglas was picked off by Hawken's Kevin Oster.
After forcing a turnover on downs, Howland took its first lead of the night when Anthony DeNiro raced 57 yards for a touchdown that gave the Tigers a 10-7 advantage.
Before halftime, the Hawks scored two more touchdowns -- the first came on an 8-yard pass from Brandt to Oster and the second was a 31-yard completion to Mallett, which gave Hawken a 21-10 lead at the intermission.
"We didn't have a lot of momentum in the first half," Jones said. "We had penalties that caused us to get off schedule a little bit."
In the second half, Howland rallied by scoring three straight touchdowns to retake the lead.
On the first, Douglas hit DeNiro for a 10-yard score, which was set up by a 73-yard catch and run by Nielsen to get the Tigers near the goal line.
Howland then ended the third quarter with a 55-yard touchdown to DeNiro on a screen pass from Douglas. That made it 22-21 for the Tigers after two failed two-point tries.
The Tigers extended their lead to 29-21 when Douglas found Nielsen again over the middle of the field from 28 yards out.
"We came out in the second half and were able to establish the run game, and that allowed everything else to open up," Jones said. "Our kids did a nice job at halftime, not coming in with their heads down. We knew we had 24 minutes left to play. We did a good job a few times this year of coming back in the second half and we regrouped and executed better in the second half."
Nielsen finished with 166 receiving yards and a touchdown, while DeNiro rushed for 183 yards and a touchdown and had 65 receiving yards and two touchdowns through the air.
"He ran so hard and he ran with a purpose tonight," Jones said of DeNiro. "Ran behind his pads and did a great job, even when there wasn't a lot there. He's a competitor, an ultra competitor. Like I said, we were able to get some better blocking for him in the second half. But all those guys, they're as good as it gets as a competitive high school football player and they showed why tonight."
After Hawken tied the game on a touchdown and two-point conversion with under four minutes to go, Howland drove all the way down to the 8-yard line with three seconds left. However, Frankie Santee's 25-yard attempt missed as time expired.
The Hawks scored on the first possession of the overtime period, and Howland responded by getting inside the 5-yard line. However, Douglas' pass on fourth down was intercepted in the end zone to end the game.
"We wanted to make sure that we had something drawn up that we could go execute," Jones said. "Obviously, that situation, it's a pressure situation. It's fourth down and your season, and they bring some pressure and we weren't able to execute the play, and sometimes that's how it goes."