Week 8, 2003

Hobart, IN: After a week off, the HSFL continued its seventh season on Sunday. Indications of the league's recent difficulties surfaced again this week, when Team 1, missing three of its players failed to even get a full team, forcing the game to become 4 on 4. Kenny Williams missed for the second straight week with personal issues. Shaun Wehle sat out, feeling the effects of a knee injury suffered in Week 6. Matt Lams missed his second straight game, this time with a somewhat suspect calf strain, suffered in a flag football game the night before. The Kratochvil brothers sat out the week for Team 2, and Brian Potts was unavailable as well.

The game started off very quickly, as both teams found it easier to score without the extra man on the field. Team 2 took a 4-3 lead, as neither team was prevented from scoring to that point. A fumble by Bob Glover gave Team 2 a chance to take a commanding lead heading to the half, but Josh Neace ran an interception back for a touchdown, and Team 1 stopped Team 2 on another drive to take a 6-5 lead into halftime.

Coming into the game, it looked like Team 1 would struggle to stop the famed Team 2 running game, and lose its third straight game of the season. Had it not been for the surprising performance of Chris Hott, that likely would have been the case. Hott provided a solid tackling presence to help slow the run game, but that wasn't his biggest impact. After suffering a dislocated finger while playing catch with Bob Glover earlier in the season, Hott was finally healthy this week, and he returned to his old form, intercepting three passes in the game, and running one back for a touchdown. Hott also had a huge game receiving. Chris is usually regarded as one of the worst receivers in the league, but he stepped it up in Week 8, catching two touchdown passes and making several other big plays to give Team 1 an offensive attack that was without a weak link. Bob Glover played his best offensive game of the season, throwing for nine touchdown passes and no interceptions. He also ran for another touchdown in addition to several other big gains. Glover continued his solid coverage defense, making up for the loss of Matt Lams by covering Justin Sawicki. Glover's passing success would not have been complete, however, without the return of Hall of Famer Tom Phelps. The most prolific offensive duo in league history was reunited again this week, as Phelps caught five touchdown passes and several key first downs in his return. Josh Neace showed that he has some gas left in the tank yet. For the second straight week, Neace had a solid offensive showing, catching two touchdown passes. Neace rounded out the balanced offensive attack for Team 1, as Glover spread the ball around to all three of the receivers with relative equality. Neace also had an interception and returned it for a third touchdown.

In a week in which Team 2 looked to have the advantage with the run game to win their third straight game, it was the pass game that did them in on both sides of the ball. They could not cover Tom Phelps for most of the game, and Chris Hott's contributions were too much of a blow to overcome. On offense, they gave the ball to John Berlin for the third straight game. Berlin threw for four touchdown passes, but also struggled mightily at times, throwing for three interceptions. He was ultimately benched for the third straight week, this time in favor of Jeff Renn late in the second half. Renn proved to be about the bright spot for Team 2's offense yet again. He carried the load on the ground as he always does, scoring four touchdowns to add to his league lead. Renn took over the quarterbacking duties late in the game, and did not fair much better than Berlin, throwing an interception while failing to throw a touchdown. Justin Sawicki had yet another quiet, but solid game in Week 8. He scored three touchdowns, and proved to be the only deep receiving threat that Team 2 had. Mike Arana got more playing time on offense this week, but responded with only one touchdown. He did have several plays for good yardage, however, and could perhaps be in line for a continued increase in playing time. On defense, he forced two fumbles and recovered one, but also missed more tackles than usual, contributing to a poor performace by Team 2. Coming off the best game of his career, Ryan Geib was a non-factor in Week 8. Geib was used sparingly on offense, catching only two passes, and with Team 1 running the ball only once all game, his presence on defense was minimized.