Midwood marches past Fort Hamilton

Midwood 24 Fort Hamilton 14

The 2-2 Midwood Hornets hosted the hopeful 0-4 Fort Hamilton Tigers who were finally starting their first-string quarterback Edin Ibric, after he had spent four weeks on the bench nursing a sprained right arm.

The Hornets got on the board first with a 25-yard pass to Elijaha Thorton to put Midwood up 6-0 in the first quarter. The Tigers then followed with a score of their own from the seven-yard line when Ibric found all of his receivers covered in the end zone and crossed the end zone to tie the game at 6-6 early in the second quarter.

After the Tigers tied the game, the Hornets owned the rest of the second quarter as Ja Kai McKay caught a 20-yard pass and quarterback Zade Edwards scored on a five-yard run to end the first half with a 18-6 Midwood lead.

To start the second half, the Tiger defense held the Hornets from scoring with two consecutive quarterback sacks made by linebacker David Harrell and nose guard Sanel Markisic. However, the Hornet defense proved to be just as tough, as Ceejay Newton did a “scoop and score” for a touchdown after Fort Hamilton’s punt was blocked at the 30-yard line for a 24-6 third quarter Midwood lead.

Midway in the fourth quarter, Jeremy McNamara made a fumble recovery for the Tigers on the Fort Hamilton 35-yard line to stop the Hornets’ next drive. The Tigers quickly assembled to get a late drive going as Ibric found a streaking Muyiwa Akinleye to beat double coverage down the sideline on a 65-yard pass play for the final score of 24-14.

After scoring his first touchdown of the season and with his team now at 0-5, Akinleye stated, “It was really tough to end the game like that. We have to learn to adjust our short-term memory and build for next week.”

Commenting on his return from injury, Tiger quarterback Ibric stated that given it was his first game back, along with a short week of practice, he’s still working on getting his rhythm back with his receivers.

As for the 65-yard pass play to give the Tigers a final double-digit outcome, Ibric said with a smile, “I just saw Muyiwa open downfield and let it fly.”