EVASIVE ACTION: Hun School football player Joshua Henderson eludes a tackler in a game earlier this season. Last Saturday against visiting Blair Academy, sophomore star Henderson rushed for 170 yards and two touchdowns as the Raiders rolled to a 35-0 win. Hun, now 4-0 and riding a 17-game winning streak, plays at the Hill School (Pa.) on October 15. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

After traveling to Hartford, Conn. and Washington, D.C. for its last two games, the Hun School football team was thrilled to be hosting Blair Academy last Saturday.

While Hun sophomore running back/defensive back Joshua Henderson and his teammates were happy to be at home even if they were greeted by a steady rain through the afternoon, he believes that the Raiders benefitted from their time together on the road as they defeated Capital Magnet Prep School (Conn.) 55-13 on September 24 and Friendship Christian Academy (D.C.) 20-14 on October 1.

“It is good to be at Hun with all of our fans and our home crowd,” said Henderson.

“We all made a family out of each other on the trips, those types of games are the ones that you want to win the most. You go into other people’s places that you are not usually going to and come out with a win both times. It is really a special feeling.”

Henderson gave the home fans something to cheer about, scoring on a 25-yard touchdown run to give Hun a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter in the Mid-Atlantic Prep League (MAPL) opener for both teams.

“I think we should have come out faster,” said 6’0, 205-pound Henderson.

“I think the first touchdown really gave us a feeling that we belong here and that we were a much better team than we were playing.”

After Hun quarterback Patrick Holly connected on touchdown passes to Tucker Strycharz and Kevin Johnson to give the Raiders a 21-0 lead, Henderson found the end zone again, racing 22 yards to the flag with 3:03 left in the half.

“The second touchdown was all blocking. I used my speed and got to the corner,” recalled Henderson.

The Raiders never looked back from there, cruising to a 35-0 victory, improving to 4-0 and extending their winning streak to 17.

Serving as an understudy last fall to star senior running back Imamu Mayfield helped Henderson learn how to better use his talents.

“Last year, I had a smaller role, I started on defense and Imamu really taught me a lot as well,” said Henderson, who is still starting on defense, making two interceptions in the win over Blair.

“He taught me that everything is going to come to you. You have got to be patient and just work your hardest in the offseason and work your hardest in the season; listen to coach and get involved.”

Following in the footsteps of his mentor, Henderson is looking to assume more of a leadership role this fall.

“This year I see myself as a young leader on the team,” said Henderson. “I kind of direct a lot of plays. I am glad to be a part of it.”

Henderson is glad to be running behind an offensive line that features such behemoths as Fred Hansard (6’4, 304 pounds), Jordan Morris (6’3, 319 pounds), Ryan Van Demark (6’7, 265 pounds), Cameron Williams (6’3, 295 pounds) and Caedan Wallace (6’6, 299 pounds).

“Our blocking is insane, our line is really big,” said a smiling Henderson, who ended up with 170 yards rushing on 13 carries in the win over the Buccaneers. “I just follow them, to be honest. I run the plays coach tells me to run and I do my best.”

With Hun extending its winning streak to 17 with the victory over Blair, Henderson and his teammates are determined to keep that run going.

“It is a goal in the back of our mind, we don’t want to end it at all,” said Henderson.

“It is a great feeling to keep winning. It is really important to us to focus on one game at a time and win each one of them when we can.”

Although Hun head coach Todd Smith saw some lapses in focus in the first half, he was pleased with the Raiders’ overall effort.

“We left a lot on the field in the first half, but at the same time we had some good things happen too,” said Smith.

“We want to just keep building and getting better and better each week. This was a great step forward. We threw the ball a lot better than we have, so we will just keep going forward.”

Smith credited Henderson with making a great contribution on both sides of the ball.

“We rely on Josh; I think we could have handed the ball off every play of this game and he would have had 1,000 yards rushing but we didn’t want to do that,” said Smith.

“Josh makes us a complete team, the fact that he plays both ways is phenomenal for us. He is a leader on defense and a leader on offense. He is fantastic.”

Hun played some fantastic defense against Blair, holding the Buccaneers to 20 yards rushing in registering the shutout.

“Coach (Bob) Ziegler and coach (Tristen) DeFazio did a great job of game-planning all week and they do a great job with these kids,” said Smith.

“They understand that they are really smart, they play off of that. They give them quite a few things to handle but the kids did a great job.”

With Hun playing at the Hill School (Pa.) on October 15, Smith is looking for his players to keep up the good work.

“We can’t sleep on anybody; we get another week of practice and we will get ready to go to Hill next week,” said Smith.

“I know they are a much improved football team so we will see what happens.”

Henderson, for his part, is confident that Hun can keep making good things happen.

“We are just going to keep coming out strong and try to play our best game every single afternoon,” said Henderson. “Coming down and playing with my boys is a great feeling. I know that we are capable of going all the way.”