By Justin Feil

With the defense generating the first points of the game on a safety to set the tone, the Hun School football team rolled to a 43-0 win over the Blair Academy under the lights last Saturday night.

The Raiders thrilled their Homecoming crowd with a dominant performance on both sides of the ball to bounce back from their only setback of the year and improve to 4-1.

The Raiders got the early safety from Owen Wafle on a bad snap, and those two points were enough with another dominant defensive effort coupled with a balanced offensive attack. Hun never looked back from there as it rebounded from a mistake-fueled 17-7 loss at Malvern Prep (Pa.) on September 29 to rout Blair, the first of three Mid-Atlantic Prep League (MAPL) opponents it will face this year.

“It was a good effort,” said Hun head coach Todd Smith, whose program saw a 21-game winning streak snapped by the defeat to Malvern Prep. “The kids made some good plays. We still made our share of mistakes against Blair but we were able to recover. Defense played very well and put the offense in a very good position.”

The Hun defense returned many of the same pieces that made it such an important cog in their winning every game a year ago. The Raiders have picked up where they left off by limiting foes to just 5.6 points per game. Wafle, a senior committed to Michigan, is a four-year starter on defense, and has wreaked havoc out of his defensive tackle spot.

“Owen is just a force to be reckoned with,” said Smith. “He’s done a great job honing his craft. He’s extremely physical. He runs sideline to sideline. No one knows how deal with him, and rightfully so. Not many kids are built like him or have a motor like him or as strong as him. He’s doing a great job for us. He’s got four more games for us and then he starts to get ready for his college career. He’s been a force for us for four years now. This is his swan song a little bit.”

The Raiders have come to expect Wafle’s dominance on the line that also includes his brother, Luke, a sophomore who is in his first year at Hun, as well as Kole Briehler, a junior defensive tackle. Wafle checks all the boxes for a star defensive player and combines them in a rare combination.

“He has a lot of freakish qualities,” said Smith. “He’s a 290-pound kid but he runs a 4.9 40. He is 6’2, but he has a 7-foot wingspan. So he’s got these freaky measurables that allow him to do these things and then when you add the motor on top of it, that’s what makes him really special. When you have big kids that are twitched up, they’re just really hard to match up against and that means you have to dedicate more than one guy to him, and when you’re doing that, that means someone else is getting a one-on-one matchup. It’s not just the plays he makes. It’s the blockers he takes up as well.”

The win was Hun’s first shutout of the season as the defense held the fort even after losing linebacker/running back Kamar Archie to injury during the game. Their play would have made the safety alone stand up for a win. The defense has continually given the Raiders a strong starting point.

“The defense is doing very well,” said Smith. “The defensive line is doing a great job of getting pressure, and when you can get pressure with four it takes a lot of pressure off everyone else. We did a good job of pass coverage. Luke Sutphen had to shift over to Mike linebacker which he hasn’t played in years, but when Kamar was injured we just moved him over and he did a great job at Mike linebacker for us (Saturday) night. He really controlled the inside of the box, and Owen and Kole did a good job of getting pressure on the quarterback. We were really happy with that. The DBs kept everything in front of them and we didn’t give up any big plays. I think we gave up two first downs on the night. We’re not afraid to play field position just because we know the defense can put us in a good spot all the time.”

The Raiders took the possession following the safety and moved quickly down the field with Miles O’Neill connecting with Bryce Kania for the first of three touchdowns that each would account for in the game. O’Neill, the Texas A&M commit, connected on 17-of-25 passes for 332 yards and three touchdowns and one interception. Jack Moran, the highly touted junior quarterback, also played and finished 6-of-9 for 143 yards and three touchdowns.

Chase Enlow led the rushing game with 36 yards on six carries. Enlow picked up the slack when Archie was injured and missed the remainder of the game after recording one carry and one catch.

“We had our playmakers step up and make some really good plays,” said Smith. “Kamar got hurt early so there was opportunity for some young guys to step up and take over which was great. We kind of patch-worked it together. We had a bunch of significant injuries, but I thought kids stepped up and we did a good job.”

Hun had eight different pass catchers. Liam Thorpe led the receivers with seven catches for 138 yards and a score. Kania had four catches for 140 yards and the three touchdowns. Enlow also had four catches for 59 yards. Christian Soltis caught three passes. A.J. Schwartz and Eric Urbaniak made touchdown catches among their two catches apiece, and Drae Tyme also had one reception.

Between the running and passing game, the offense piled up 524 yards a week after only mustering seven points on a defensive touchdown. Most of the issues against Malvern, though, came from Raider mistakes.

“Last night we did a great job moving the ball, and then we’d go backwards because of self-inflicted penalties,” said Smith. “We had a personal foul at one point, a holding at one point, a clipping at another point. That part’s a little frustrating when you’re committing these things, but we do have a lot of young guys on the field so it’s a lot of great experience. Miles did a great job of putting the ball in great spots. We had some inopportune drops, so sometimes we weren’t doing ourselves any favors. Jack came in and did a great job. Both quarterbacks had three touchdowns so it was good.”

Hun will go on the road for its next three games. The Raiders look for their second league win in a row at Hill School (Pa.) on October 14 before playing at St. Frances Academy (Md.) on October 21 and then at the Peddie School on October 28.

“We have to rally the troops,” said Smith. “We had some significant injuries and we’ll see how Kamar bounces back. We have some young guys that have to step up, and we’ll get ourselves ready during the week. We’ll get the 11 ready to play and we’ll take on Hill next weekend.”