Bryce Smith’s big night, big plays lift Hopkins, 37-35

It was a night Bryce Smith will never forget and it was the most satisfying victory for Hopkins in at least four years.

The Vikings Friday night pulled out a thrilling 37-35 triumph over a visiting Belding outfit that had started the season 2-0 and was coming off a 9-3 playoff season in 2017.

The contest featured a little bit of everything — plenty of offensive fireworks, a couple of long kickoff returns for touchdowns, surprising pass plays by two teams notorious for loving to run the football, big plays on defense, and worst of all, a plethora of penalties, particularly in the last quarter.

Hopkins had to come from behind to claim the victory, trailing 28-21 early in the third period and then limiting the Black Knights to one touchdown the rest of the way, and that one coming with just 48.8 seconds showing on the clock.

Things looked pretty bleak in the early going. Belding marched the ball from about midfield to the end zone, playing classic smash mouth football, and Nick Heintzelman went the final five yards with the game less than eight minutes old.

The first of many big plays was next on the menu. Hunter Lewellyn took the ensuing kickoff at his own five-yard line and darted this way and that, reversed his field, broke tackles and raced to what may be the longest kickoff return in Hopkins school history to tie the game at 7-all.

But the Knights seemed to find a way to dig themselves out of holes created by occasional big defensive stops. For example, Bryce Smith and Drew Weber came up with a couple of sacks, only to see Riley Hart find enough daylight for first down runs.

Weber finally halted a Belding threat by blocking a field goal attempt, but not long afterward, the Knights got the ball back just 43 yards from pay dirt and Hart took it in from three yards out to stake them to a 14-7 advantage.

Until midway into the second quarter, the Vikings had registered nary a first down offensively. But quarterback Nolan Smith, no relation to Bryce, completed an electric 65-yard TD pass to Bryce, but the receiver was whistled for grabbing his defender’s face mask, so the score was nullified.

No matter, a couple of plays later Belding was called for pass interference and Nolan Smith broke loose on a quarterback keeper down to the 2-yard line. Colin Weber on the next play wedged over the goal line and Jake Glascott kicked the second of his extra points to knot the count at 14-14.

There was just shy of four minutes left in the first half, but that was enough time for two more touchdowns.

Bryce Smith blocked a punt and pounced on the pigskin at the 15. Nolan Smith just two plays later hooked up with Bryce for an 18-yard TD aerial to give Hopkins its first lead of the evening at 21-14.

But Belding showed off its “who’s got the football” kickoff return routine and the Vikings guessed it was Heintzelman too late, resulting in his 80-yard TD return. Because Bryce Smith blocked the extra point, Hopkins was up 21-20 at intermission.

Belding went back to digging itself out of a hole in its first drive of the second half. After a penalty it was backed up to its own 27 with second down and 27, but a trick halfback pass resulted in a 30-yard completion and first down near midfield. The Knights ran eight consecutive smash mouth plays with Hart going the final four yards, and then quarterback Cole Reeves hit Cam’ron Antcliff with a two-point conversion pass.

That was to be the last score for Belding until less than a minute remained in the game.

Nolan Smith rose to the occasion in response, tossing a 46-yard pass to Colin Weber and then on the next play hooked up with him for a 20-yard scoring strike. That was 66 yards in two plays. But the extra point try was blocked, so Hopkins was still down by one point.

Then came one of Bryce Smith’s big plays again. He tacked Antcliff in the end zone on a muffed punt return to put his team up 29-28 at the beginning for the fourth period.

Then Lewellyn turned in yet another excellent kickoff return to the Knights’ 31 and Cole Marschall rambled to the end sone from there on the next play. Colin Weber scored a two-point conversion to widen the Vikings’ lead to nine points, 37-28.

Much of the rest of the evening was highlighted by big defensive plays and marred by penalties. Carsen DeLeo made a big stop on a kickoff, lineman Ethan Gilder and Ben Roberts combined efforts on a big fourth down tackle, Mason Moomey and Drew Weber had a crucial sack.

But Belding was able to take advantage of three penalties to finally score its last TD on a nine-yard pass from Reeves to Hart. It was too late for the Knights after Trey Collins foiled their ensuing onside kickoff attempt.

Interestingly, Hopkins has yielded 108 points in its first three games, yet it is 2-1 with a victory over a highly-regarded opponent. Also of interest was Reeves’ unusual feat of being called for intentional grounding twice in the same half. Is there a record for that?

COVER PHOTO: A Belding running back is swarmed by Hopkins defenders while Cole Marschall (28) and Drew VanDenBerg (68) provide support.