Harrisonville holds off Hannibal in home opener

To say that the first home game of the Hannibal football season was charged would be an understatement.
It is likely that the stands probably would have been brimming Friday night with the introduction of the new FieldTurf. But with the recent loss of Colin Krigbaum, the night took on a whole new dimension.
That’s probably why the 31-13 loss to the Harrisonville Wildcats was an especially tough one.
But for head coach Mark St Clair, there was still victory in the defeat.
“It was extremely important for us to just get over this hurdle and get out there to play,” St Clair said. “We met with the kids on Wednesday and we left it up to them (whether or not we would play.) I think they made the right choice. Getting back into the groove, or at least as best they can, was good for them.”
The first half of play for the Pirates was defined by big plays, but a failure to capitalize on them. Early in the first quarter, Hannibal was forced into a fourth-and-10 situation, which the Pirates converted with a punt fake by Zach Nichols. However, just four plays later, the Wildcats took over for a drive that resulted in a touchdown by the Bobcats’ Sam Cooper.
Again in the second quarter, Hannibal’s Kayle Boehmer came up with a big interception, but the Pirates failed to turn Harrisonville’s misfortune into any tallies on the scoreboard.
In the second half, the offensive bug bit, showing up mostly in the Bobcats’ play, with three touchdowns for the team from Harrisonville within a four-minute time frame.
St Clair said that some of the difficulty his squad had was due to a lack of preparation.
“We’ve had a total of about an hour and a half of practice all week to prepare for a team that does a lot of stuff,” St Clair said. “For them to be able to battle the way that they did and to show the courage that they showed, I am extremely proud of them and proud to be associated with them.”
But it was in also then that the Pirates were finally able to get on the board, when quarterback Ian Hatton connected with Mat Sims. However, a miscue on the snap left the Pirates walking away with six points, instead of seven.
It looked as though the Pirates were going to mount a comeback after the combination of a 45-yard run by Jay’Kob King and the subsequent red-zone touchdown pass from Hatton to Chase Clayton.
Hile the points will go down in the scorebook for Hatton and Clayton, St Clair said this also had to do with the skills of his linemen.
“Our offensive line had trouble early picking up their blitz packages,” he said. “Later on, I think we found a couple of things that worked. It was kind of surprising that we were able to move the ball, considering the fact that they were (keep fresh players for each side of the ball) and we’ve got kids going both ways. Our kids really stepped it up.”
But Hannibal picked up another enemy in the fourth quarter – the clock. Both sides of the ball accelerated play for the Pirates, but there just was not enough time for them to put anything else together, bringing the final score to 31-13.