Coming out of a timeout midway through the second quarter, Hamilton quarterback Nicholas Lindsay dumped a screen pass to Semaj Aldridge, who took it down the left sideline for the first score and a lead that would hold. Aldridge was one of the players who had to sit the first quarter, and he ended up with the game’s lone two touchdowns.
“We had some issues early in the week that I took care of, and we had some guys that weren’t out there first quarter like they were last week, so we’re changing the culture and the way we act here in Hamilton, and that’s what’s gonna get us over the top in the future,” Hamilton coach Arvie Crouch said. “I’m just proud of our kids and how they responded to a horrible outing last week, and our coaches. This program is going in the right direction.”
Crouch said Hamilton (2-1, 1-1 Greater Miami Conference) re-evaluated things after a tough to Mason last week and the coaches decided to shave the playbook and keep things simple.
That especially was the case in the first quarter, but the offense picked up once Aldridge and others entered the game. Still, Middletown’s defense made things difficult for long stretches. For a while, it seemed Aldridge’s touchdown reception might be the lone score, but the Big Blue added insurance on a second Aldridge score, this time 52-yard run, with 5:39 left in the game.
An interception the ensuing drive helped the defense keep the shutout, and Hamilton tacked on a 27-yard field goal from Conner Stephens with 37 seconds left to finish the game.
“We just got better at some certain things that we need to do,” Crouch said. “... That’s a good Middletown team with Middletown kids, and I kind of feel bad for them because they’re good kids it seems like, the coaches are good guys, but you know, I will take that dub over the Middies any day of the week.”
Hamilton forced three turnovers for the game, including an interception on the opening drive of the second half. That put the Big Blue on the Middies’ 41-yard line, but Lemond Chambers recovered a Hamilton fumble to give the ball right back to the hosts.
A 45-yard pass by Kellen Davis set up Middletown (1-2, 0-2 GMC) just outside the redzone, but the Middies couldn’t get anything out of it, thanks to penalties and a sack backing them up.
The final interception after Aldridge’s second score put Hamilton on the 14-yard line, but this time the Big Blue lost a fumble. Middletown ended up turning the ball over on downs, leading to the late field goal.
“We shot ourselves in the foot too many times,” Middies coach Don Simpson said. “I mean that one touchdown they got (in the first half) was on blown coverage. We had everything else covered up, so we knew we were playing solid defense. We just had to start executing and put together a drive on offense, and we just weren’t able to continue when we did. We would do those self-inflicting wounds where we have a holding penalty, we’re jumping offside. Young teams do that, but we’ve got some veterans on this team that shouldn’t be making those type of mistakes and we continue to do it.”
Middletown was led by Chambers’ 51 yards rushing on nine carries. Davis finished with 89 yards passing and one interception. Talan Malicote caught four passes for 75 yards. Ronan Casanova racked up a team-high 12 tackles.
For Hamilton, Aldridge finished with 87 yards and one rushing touchdown on 18 carries, while Jaylan Garrett added 12 carries for 39 yards. Gabe Verdon led the defense with 10 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and one sack, and Trey Verdon had seven tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and one sack.
“It’s no secret to anybody our defense is pretty thick, so I really don’t care who we’re playing, we’re gonna figure it out,” Crouch said. “We’ll come back next week, and we got a tough Princeton team coming into our house and we’ll see what happens, but that was an unbelievable performance tonight.”
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