WEARE – It’s been a few years since John Stark won its homecoming football game. The Generals were determined to end that streak.
John Stark scored two touchdowns in less than four minutes to open the game, sophomore Drew Tower ran for six touchdowns and 200 yards, the offensive line allowed the Generals to run for nine touchdowns and 486 yards as a team, and the defense had three takeaways in the fourth quarter as the Generals defeated the Hillsboro-Deering/Hopkinton Redhawks in a 61-33 shootout on Saturday night.
This victory not only is the first homecoming win that the three seniors on the roster have ever experienced, it lifts John Stark’s record to 2-4, the most wins the Generals have had since the 2019 season.
The Generals picked up their first win of the season last weekend, 42-12, over Hollis-Brookline.
“We just want to keep building off of what we’re doing,” John Stark head coach Ray Kershaw said. “When I took over the program (last year) I said, ‘We’re going to get there, but we need to have a good, solid foundation. It takes time. It’s frustrating that it takes time, but we’ll get there.’”
It didn’t take much time for the Generals to get on the board, forcing the Redhawks to go three-and-out on their first season, and Tower scored a 55 yard touchdown on John Stark’s first play from scrimmage.
The Redhawks (1-5) fumbled on their first play from scrimmage on the next drive, which sophomore Joey Dykstra recovered. Five plays later, Tower was in the end zone again. His 11 yard scoring run gave John Stark a 14-0 lead with 8:36 still on the clock.
HDH junior quarterback Noah Carter (11-for-23, 225 yards) started connecting with Manny Velazquez (31 yards on two catches, three rush TD), Devin Barrett (60 yards on four receptions), Mason Nichols (70 yards and a TD on two catches, rush TD) and Max Bishop (40 yard reception).
The two teams traded touchdowns, but Velazquez recovered a fumble at the end of a long Stark run to give the Redhawks the ball, and a 13 yard touchdown run by Nichols and the two-point conversion gave HDH a 27-26 halftime lead.
But Tower scored touchdown No. 4 on the first drive of the second half and the Generals commanded the trenches, with the offensive line of seniors Abe Twomey and Dan Gagne, juniors Rory Magoon, Mike Jezierski and Stephen Johnston, and sophomores Alex Descoteau and Cole Hubbard paving the way for a strong running game from juniors Byron Parrish (115 yards, TD on 12 carries), Donnie White (67 yards, TD on four carries) and Deltyn Williams (67 yards, TD on 13 ca rries).
“John Stark was hitting on all cylinders and were tough to stop,” HDH head coach Jay Wood said. “Redhawks gave it all they could.”
“The lines did exceptionally well, the offensive line, they did great,” Kershaw said. “The defensive line, same thing. They had a couple (runs) sneak through, but overall it was great. We made adjustments during halftime to fix our defense and it worked.”
Parrish and sophomore Tim Lacharite both intercepted throws by Carter, and Dykstra recovered another fumble in the fourth to secure the victory.
With a homecoming victory in the books, Stark now turns its attention to next Saturday, when the Generals host Sanborn. HDH hosts Lebanon on Saturday.
“Last year we had one win. Now we hav e two,” Kershaw said. “We’re doing better, we’re headin g in the right direction.”