CENTRAL POINT, Ore – The Henley Hornets (2-0) thumped the Crater Comets (1-1) on Friday night with a 35-0 victory. Henley may have been the underdog coming into the matchup, but just three minutes into the game the Hornets quieted down the hostile crowd at Dutch Meyer Stadium.
Senior quarterback Shaw Stork connected with junior Luke Bennet for an 81-yard touchdown to begin festivities and give the Hornets a 7-0 lead after Owen Cheyne nailed the extra point. The senior would remain perfect on extra point kicks throughout the evening going 5/5.
The Henley defense looked strong when they forced a fumble on Crater’s first drive of the game. Each of the next two drives ended without points until Henley got the ball at their own 30. They engineered a six-play 70-yard drive and capped it off with junior Logan Whitlock’s first touchdown of the night.
Whitlock took advantage of some astounding blocking from the offensive line and turned it into a fantastic night. Whitlock would finish with three touchdowns and 199 yards on 16 carries. He is coming off an injury-plagued 2021 season when he broke his collarbone in week four.
“As soon as I broke my collarbone I just thought next year is my year,” said Whitlock. “Almost every single day I was in the gym lifting or I was on the field trying to get faster.”
“He had a great offseason and he is a great leader for our team,” remarked head coach Alex Stork. “The offensive line and perimeter blocking were a lot better and enabled him to break some big plays.”
Henley won the line of scrimmage on Friday night on both sides of the football. Henley’s defensive front got in the backfield consistently and earned eight tackles for loss. The offensive line allowed just three tackles for loss and each one was a sack on Shaw Stork.
“I thought our guys did a good job of establishing the line of scrimmage. Coach Matt Green, our offensive and defensive line coach made it a point of emphasis last week,” said Stork.
The Hornets took care of business exiting non-league play 2-0. Next week Henley is on the road once more against Ashland to open up Big Sky play.
“I feel great going into next week, 100%,” stated Whitlock.
HENLEY 14 7 14 0
CRATER 0 0 0 0
