Steers fall for first time this season against Hirschi

It was a battle from start to finish during the opening game of district play for the Graham Steers against the Hirschi Huskies. Unfortunately, the Steers came out on the wrong side of things and suffered their first loss of the season in a tight matchup 27-26.

Graham’s offense faced its most formidable challenge yet this season Thursday, Oct. 5, as the Steers were used to establishing dominance early and riding the wave until the end of the game. Before the loss to Hirschi, Graham’s lowest point total was 36 points scored against Springtown in a win. The final score of 27-26 was the score at halftime as neither team managed a single point in the second half.

The game wasn’t decided, however, until the remaining minutes of the fourth quarter. Holding onto a 1-point lead for most of the remainder of the game, the Huskies began a drive on their own 19-yard line. While they hadn’t been able to punch the ball into the end zone since the second quarter, they had excelled at extending drives and chewing up the clock.

As Hirschi made it deep into Graham territory, the Steers defense stepped up and made a critical stop on fourth down inside their own 10-yard line. The visiting Steers had a little less than five minutes to go 93 yards to try to win the game.

Quarterback Ty Thompson and running back Rylan Monsey took on the bulk of the work. On third down, Thompson scrambled out of the pocket to his right, looking for any open receiver. As a lefty, he twisted his body and tossed a short pass to receiver Harison Brockway for a 7-yard gain to get a first down and keep the drive alive.

But the struggles continued. Eventually, the Steers faced a fourth-and-two at their 37-yard line. Thompson ran a quarterback keeper to the right side and tried to get past the edge. But the junior came up a yard short and Graham turned the ball over to Hirschi, who ran out the clock for the rest of the game to secure the Huskies’ win and the Steers’ first loss.

“(The Huskies) kind of woke up, they were ready for Graham,” head coach Ken Davidson said. “It’s kind of a rivalry game and they were ready to play. But, man, we battled, it was a tough game.”

The Huskies defense came ready to play and made things difficult for the Steers from the beginning. Graham received the opening kickoff and went three-plays-and-out on the team’s first drive.

Meanwhile, Hirschi’s offense marched right down the field after starting on their own 8-yard line and took an early lead on a 1-yard touchdown run.

The Steers found themselves in an unfamiliar situation, trailing in a game for the first time this entire season. But the team started to figure things out on the second drive of the game.

Utilizing a healthy dose of the run game with Monsey combined with the arm and legs of Thompson, the Steers traveled 68 yards down the field and tied the game up on a 2-yard touchdown run from Thompson.

In this game, Monsey ran the ball 20 times for 76 yards to lead the team while Thompson carried it 16 times for 54 yards and Jace Gill ran four times for 25 yards. The Steers struggled to break any big runs, however, and each ball carrier’s longest run was just 12 yards long.

“(The Huskies) were big, you know, and the line of scrimmage is important and they did what it took basically to win,” Davidson said.

Graham’s offense struggled to get in a rhythm all game. The plays that typically went for lots of yards against other opponents were snuffed out by Hirschi’s defense. Each Steers touchdown required a lot of effort and took a lot of time off the clock.

Thompson led the charge each time and scored all four of Graham’s touchdowns in this game with runs, his longest score a 6-yard rush.

One of the biggest errors for Graham’s offense came on Thompson’s only interception in the game and just his second one thrown all year. A Hirschi defender picked off Thompson’s throw over the middle and ran it back 73 yards for a touchdown that pulled the Huskies within a touchdown at 26-21 in the middle of the second quarter.

Meanwhile, Graham’s defense had an up-and-down day. While the Steers didn’t allow a lot of points, they missed multiple tackles throughout the night and allowed Hirschi the momentum to keep drives going and take time off the clock.

The highlights on defense, though, were safety Zathin Reyes’s two interceptions, one of which turned into a Graham touchdown.

“Our defense held them a little bit— not a little bit, a lot in the second half,” Davidson said. “We had our chances and we just couldn’t execute good enough to get us the lead.”

Graham is now 6-1 on the season, but 0-1 in district play with three games remaining in the regular season schedule. The Steers will get an extra day to prepare for their second district game Friday, Oct. 13 when they welcome the Snyder Tigers to Graham.