JOHNSTOWN — After dropping its home opener to Fonda-Fultonville last week, the Johnstown football team got back on the winning track Friday.
The Sir Bills notched a 31-14 victory over Hudson in a Class C South Division contest at Knox Field.
“We needed to rebound with a win this week,” Johnstown coach Paul Furman said. “This was a big one for us.”
Josh Hoyt led the Sir Bills’ offense with 181 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries. He also had two catches for 22 yards and a touchdown.
The bulk of Johnstown’s yards came on the ground as they piled up 300 yards and four touchdowns on 29 carries. The Sir Bills gained 152 yards on 11 carries in the first half and 158 yards on 18 second-half carries.
After turning the ball over six times in last week’s loss to Fonda-Fultonville, Johnstown turned the ball over twice against the Bluehawks.
“We still made some mistakes that we need to clean up,” Furman said. “We wanted to get everybody on the field tonight, but we weren’t able to do that with the mistakes we had at the end. That’s the responsibility of the starters and we need to clean it up a bit, especially in the fourth quarter.”
After both teams failed to put points on the board on their first possession, Johnstown opened the scoring with a seven-play, 82-yard drive.
Andrew Lake scored on a 27-yard run for the first points of the game, making it 6-0 with 2:08 left in the first quarter.
Lake ended Hudson’s next drive when he pounced on a bad snap to give the Sir Bills the ball at their own 49-yard line.
Seven plays later, Hoyt scored on a 6-yard run to make it 12-0 with 11:01 left in the first half.
Another turnover ended Hudson’s next drive as Johnstown’s Braden Jones intercepted a Kristyain Clarke pass.
Hudson got the ball back three plays later on an interception.
The Bluehawks capitalized eight plays later when Clarke threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Travis Williams to make it 12-6. Clarke added the conversion run as Hudson pulled to within 12-8 with 1:08 left in the first half.
Hoyt took the ensuing kickoff 59 yards to the Hudson 16-yard line with 53.2 seconds left in the first half.
Six plays and two penalties later, Jack Miller threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Hoyt to give the Sir Bills an 18-8 lead at the break.
“Finishing the first half the way we did was huge,” Furman said. “We were able to take some momentum into the half and carry it over into the second half.”
Hudson got the ball to start the second half and used an 18-play, 63-yard drive to take nearly nine minutes off the clock. A 25-yard touchdown pass from Clarke to DeAndre Smith closed the drive to make it 18-14 with 1:59 left in the third quarter. Clarke was 5-for-10 for 136 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Clarke also rushed for 76 yards on 17 carries.
As it did in the second quarter, the Sir Bills answered before the quarter ended.
Hoyt scored on a 4-yard run to make it 24-14 with 31.4 seconds left.
Hudson muffed the ensuing kickoff and Jordan Fox recovered the ball for Johnstown at the Hudson 30-yard line.
Two players later, Miller scored on a 10-yard run to make it 30-14. Jones added the extra point to make it 31-14 with four seconds left in the third quarter.
Neither side was able to put points on the board in the fourth quarter as the Sir Bills held on for their second win in three games.
“We’re glad to be 2-1, but we’re better than what we’ve shown so far,” Furman said. “We just need to keep working and clean up our mistakes.”
Johnstown (2-1 overall, 2-1 Class C South) is scheduled to travel to Cobleskill-Richmondville next Friday for a 7 p.m. game.
“Next week is going to be a big test for us,” Furman said. “Cobleskill-Richmondville is a good team. They’re well-coached and they play hard.”
Hudson (0-4 overall, 0-3 Class C South) is slated to host Taconic Hills next Friday at 7 p.m.
- Hudson 0 8 6 0 — 14
- Johnstown 6 12 13 0 — 31
- J — Lake 27 run (kick failed)
- J — Hoyt 7 run (pass failed)
- H — Williams 30 pass from K. Clarke (K. Clarke run)
- J — Hoyt 19 pass from Miller (kick blocked)
- H — 45 pass from K. Clarke (run failed)
- J — Hoyt 4 run (run failed)
- J — Miller 10 run (Jones kick)
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