By: MATTHEW MOWERY
DAVISON — Just call him the clean-up hitter.
That's where the biggest home run sluggers reside in the batting order, and nobody — but nobody — hit more home runs in Friday's non-conference football tilt against Davison than Detroit Catholic Central's Evan Haeger, the Alabama baseball commit.
The center fielder-turned-running back had touchdown runs of 48, 77, 1 and 80 yards, rushing for 242 yards to go with the career-high four scores in CC's 44-34 win over the Cardinals.
"I feel like how many people can catch me? So, I mean that's the big thing for me just getting past the one linebacker and I feel like it's once I do that I'm in a good spot. But, I mean, they (the linemen) open it up for me they do amazing job — my line does an amazing job," Haeger said. "My line played great. I mean I'm so proud of our line. We're young. We went out and did the job. I'm so proud of them."
The three long runs all came on one-play drives for the Shamrocks, as they handed the ball to their senior runner on first down, watched him step through a tackle or two at the line of scrimmage, then burst through a seam, and go the distance.
"He's a special, special running back you know, and special athlete. … He's, he's fast. And there's a reason he's going to Alabama to play centerfield. Right? So he's got the speed," Catholic Central coach Dan Anderson said, comparing him to a CC great from the past. "Derek Brooks. One of the coaches was talking about you know that he hasn't seen a running back like that in a while. And I said, Derek Brooks. That's what he reminded me of tonight. Because Derek Brooks would fit through a seam like that big (holding his hands six inches apart) break a tackle, and he was gone."
Gallery: (9-2-2022) CC vs Davison (9/2/2022)
The success Haeger was having running the ball opened things up for the passing offense, too, as sophomore signal-callers Beau Jackson and Skyler Hunter combined for 225 passing yards, with Jackson chucking a pair of touchdown passes — a 35-yarder to Derrick Lee and a 69-yarder to Brady Blakita.
"With coach (Kevin) Glenn calling plays, we're gonna take our we're gonna take our shots. I mean, we've got the athletes, we got the quarterback take our shots. It's beautiful thing. Just if the line opens (a hole) up, I can bust loose and then after that, it opens up the rest of our offense," Haeger said. "We can be really explosive. I mean, you saw our wide receivers beat one-on-ones against very good corners. Beau stepped up huge today. Beau matured five years today. So did Skyler, I'm just so proud of our guys."
Davison (1-1) has an explosive offense, as well, with quarterback Braylen Himmelein tossing touchdown passes to Teon Armstrong (80 and 9 yards) and Henry Carstarphen III (57 yards), and running in a fourth score.
After the Cardinals jumped out to a 7-0 lead on the first play from scrimmage, the first TD connection between Himmelein and Armstrong, Haeger gave CC a 14-7 lead with two long scoring runs, compiling 132 yards on his first three carries, only to have Himmelein hit Carstarphen with a bomb to tie it at 14-14.
Haeger's third TD run put the Shamrocks up again, then Jackson hit Lee to put CC up 27-14 at the half, and made it a 20-point game with the long post touchdown to Blakita on the first drive of the second half.
Davison scored twice in the span of a minute in the third quarter to get back within one score, as Himmelein capped a scoring drive with his quarterback sneak, then Tyler Dosh had a scoop-and-score with a fumble recovery, his 7-yard TD return making it 34-28.
One play later, Haeger was busting a tackle behind the line of scrimmage, and off to the races again, his fourth touchdown making it 41-28 with 4:33 to go in the third.
Jake Matigan hit a 26-yard field goal to expand the lead to 44-28, then the CC defense would turn Davison over on downs twice in the fourth quarter before the Cards scored their final TD with 11.3 seconds left.
It was a step forward for the Shamrocks, after losing a late lead in Week 1 against Chippewa Valley.
"Our theme all week was finish and improve. So I felt like we finally took a step forward and we're moving towards finishing football games," Anderson said.
The Shamrocks host DeWitt next week.
FULL ARTICLE: https://www.theoaklandpress.com/2022/09/03/catholic-centrals-evan-haeger-piles-up-home-run-plays-in-shamrocks-44-34-win-over-davison/
